Wandering Orbit

Monday we headed back to Chickasaw National Recreation Area.  We stopped by in December, since it was on our route, but of course, it was closed! We were happy to find it open today! The Travertine Nature Center is a really cool building that is built OVER the stream Tuesday we went to the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library & Museum It is located on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas Scattered throughout the museum were these dog houses and a dog When you opened the dog house, there was a "bone" inside with a piece of trivia that went along with the exhibit There was a replica of the Oval Office during Bush 41's term (to keep the two separate, father and son, they are often referred to as Bush 41 and Bush 43.  The website for the museum is www.bush41.org) And there was a replica of his office at Camp David One of the most favorite things S has liked about the presidential museums is that the

Monday we headed to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  These mountains are on the border of Texas and New Mexico.  The slice of Texas isn't all that far from the border, so we went through yet another border patrol checkpoint as we drove away from El Paso to New Mexico. Absolutely breathtaking mountains It was super windy and cold, so we didn't do any hiking, to the disappointment of J and S Then we headed to Carlsbad, New Mexico which was only about an hour away from Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  We were greeted by Google with a park ranger, an alien and a chili pepper (look closely!) Tuesday we came back to Carlsbad Caverns so we could hike it! This map really does not give you any kind of sheer scale of the caves Nor does this one MAYBE this one does. See the clear rod? That's the elevator running from the visitor center to the bottom of the Big Room Before we headed into the cave we were briefed on what to do or not do