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Texas to New Mexico to Texas to Oklahoma to Texas again!

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

Including no gum, cough drops, or chewing tobacco.  Any kind of sugars in the cave attract the wrong critters who then upset the cave's ecosystem

And into the cave we go! The switchbacks did not quit until we got to the bottom

This was about halfway down, still more switchbacks!  Also, my regular camera was useless for photos in the cave but my phone camera on "night vision" took excellent photos!

Look closely: this was where water once was! Look at the edges of the "pool" that no longer has water in it. The crust was originally hanging out over the water!

Another cool cave formation: The Lion's Tail!

When we got down to the bottom, there were the elevators going back up to the visitor center, a gift shop, restrooms, and even a mailbox!


The Mr. and S took the elevators up while J and I hiked out.

The elevators go down 750+ feet to the bottom

Watching the "floors" fly by

Since we didn't get to ride the elevators, but had to go back to the visitor center for Junior Ranger, J and I got on the elevators and rode them down and back up, just to say we did!

As we drove out of Carlsbad, J noticed that the road was National Parks Boulevard

We made it to Roswell in time to visit the UFO Museum

Roswell embraces its UFO reputation


The UFO McDonald's




Wednesday we headed out to find cemeteries and ancestors!

Middle of nowhere eastern New Mexico


And then we were back in Texas!

The RV park we stayed at had the Texas longhorn theme going on


All of the limos above (with the longhorns) were the free shuttle to a steakhouse

Thursday we headed north to Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument and Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, which are right next door to each other.  Especially because we have already been to Pipestone, Alibates was also a place where people traveled and traded from afar for the substance found only here.  The flint is harder than steel and can cut a bison hide as easy as pie!

We even got to watch a flint knapper at work!


Friday we headed out from Amarillo to head to western Oklahoma and saw a few sights as we went including a 1929 Phillips 66 station.


And the U Drop Inn which was the inspiration for Ramone's shop in Cars.

A nod to Mater and Sarge!





And then we made it to Oklahoma, barely over the border, to find a cemetery


We also met up with a cow who was a little spooked by us, even though I slowed down to a stop.  When I moved forward a little, the cow was a little startled and basically hopped across the road to get out of our way

We also found ourselves "offroading" down a few dirt roads to get to the cemetery!

Lots and lots of cotton fields in this area

Look at these cotton bales!

We saw cotton bales being hauled on open bed trucks, this was the first truck I was that was enclosed

We made it to Lubbock and went to see Buddy Holly's grave


We capped off our day with a visit to the Lubbock Texas Temple

Saturday we made it to Abilene and explored the Storybook Garden downtown. It's actually some statues scattered around downtown by the old train station and then some by the convention center. Most are from books by William Joyce who wrote Guardians of Childhood which became the movie Rise of the Guardians















Look closely, this is Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Charlotte's Web

Stuart Little




Today we attended the Abilene 2nd Ward and I forgot to get a photo of the building.

I found this a little humorous--call 911 but there's no phone here to help you out!

We headed out of Abilene to find more cemeteries and ancestors


We've been seeing a lot of these "tree trunk" headstones

Apparently, Woodmen of the World was a fraternal organization of sorts!

We made it all the way to Wichita Falls where we saw the "World's Littlest Skyscraper". The developer did not tell his investors exactly how he was going to measure things. All the plans were laid out in inches instead of feet so they all got massively swindled!

We're almost done sightseeing in Texas.  The shutdown really slowed us down and we've attempted to NOT drive around Texas a dozen times, but it still feels like that is what we've done.  We've enjoyed what we've seen and really enjoyed the non-snowy, very sunshiney winter weather.

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