Arrived home after driving from the suburbs of St. Louis. No pictures as I am sure you already have seen enough corn and soybeans. Very uneventful trip although the Google Maps lady needed a lot of convincing that we really wanted to go up I-39 instead of the Tri-State Tollway, less traffic and more relaxing.
All told, we put just under 4800 miles on the car, some local and Phoenix driving included. We are glad to be home and also very glad we made the trip. Until this fall when we are off to France!
Had a rainy drive to Tulsa to visit Linda’s Cousin Kent. We got there in plenty of time to relax before we drove to downtown Tulsa to Kent’s club for their picnic in the sky to watch the fireworks. The view from the 30th floor was wonderful.
Sunset over Downtown Tulsa
Fireworks over Tulsa
On Saturday, Kent drove us around Tulsa and then we went to the Philbrook Museum. The museum is in the home of one of the Phillips oil barons. There have been additions but the home and grounds have been left largely in tact.
Philbrook Museum gardens
Today we drove to East St. Louis. The first part of the drive was pretty and uneventful, but about an hour and a half out of St. Louis traffic got slow. Of course today is the coming home day for the Fourth of July Weekend.
Traffic on I-44
Tomorrow we drive to home. It has been a wonderful road trip. Tomorrow will be very exciting trying to guess if it will be corn or soybeans next on the left!
Had a rainy drive to Wichita Falls today. We drove through an oil field in New Mexico, and farm and cattle land in Texas. The rain was sporadic with heavy rain at times. For this reason, there are no pictures. We enjoyed a wonderful BBQ dinner last night and settled into out hotel.
Tomorrow, we drive to Tulsa to visit Linda’s cousin Kent. We will celebrate the fourth with them and enjoy the visit.
Today is our last full day of touring. We visited Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks. Our weather luck finally changed as we drove to Carlsbad Caverns. As we started to the visitor Center, the skies opened up and we got pretty wet. We had a 10:30 reservation for the self-guided tours. We opted for the shorter 1.25 mile Big Room tour that used the elevator to and from the caverns.
Linda and I have been to both Carlsbad Caverns (NM) and Mammoth Cave (KY). If you have never been to one of these National Park caves, they are well worth the time. At Carlsbad, the Big Room Tour is paved and had handrails along the entire route. While it does gain and lose elevation, it is still an accessible tour.
Linda in Carlsbad Caverns wearing her new hoodie for the 56 degree temperature
The Giant Dome and Twin Domes
The Big Room from the overlook
After we left the caverns and had lunch, we took a chance that the low ceiling would improve so we could see the peaks at the nearby Guadalupe Mountains NP. It was still somewhat socked in but the fog did lift a bit and we got a few pictures.
Guadalupe Mountains in the fog.
Tomorrow we are heading for Wichita Falls, TX. We are mostly done with sightseeing after seeing 4 National Parks (Giant Sand Dunes, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, and Guadalupe Mountains), 3 National Monuments (Canyon de Chelly, Rio Grande Del Norte, and Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks) and 1 National Historic Landmark (Cumbres & Toltec RR). We hope to get a picture or 2 of Texas as we drive through.
We started the day going to the new Organ Mountains -Desert Peaks National Monument. The Organ Mountains dominate the city of Las Cruces. After stopping at the Visitor Center, we took a short hike on one of the trails. The views from the trail were wonderful.
View of the Organ Mountains
View from the trail
Linda on the trail
After we left Organ Mountains, we went to White Sand National Park. The park is right in the middle of the US Army’s Missile Range. The range has a long history and was used during WWII to train pilots in dropping munitions. White Sand is a new National Park, but it was a National Monument formed in 1933. The sand is a white gypsum unlike any other sand. As we drove out to the dunes, it was just like driving in a snowstorm.
The Dunes
The Dunes with the mountains behind.
After we left the dunes we drove to Alamogordo, NM for lunch and then visited Pistachioland, a true tourist trap, home of the world’s largest pistachio, we did not take a picture. After the trap, we drove to Carlsbad, NM. The drive was through the mountains as was quite beautiful. Tomorrow, is Carlsbad Caverns.
Had an enjoyable week with our daughter and son-in-law, Debbie and Darrell. During the week we went to a concert at the Music Instrument Museum and also went to their special exhibit on Stradivarius and the Golden Age of Violins and Guitars.
Albert Lee at the Music Instrument Museum
Last weekend we went to Prescott to the Merrick’s mountain house in the National Forest near Prescott. We had a great time and had a few natural visitors and watched lots of stars.
Thumb Butte from the house
One of our visitors.
Drove to Las Cruces today in I-10. The desert was beautiful but we were going to fast for pictures. Tomorrow we drive to Carlsbad and will see White Sands National Park and other sites along the way.
One of the joys of road tripping is that plans can change. We decided to change our route from Santa Fe to Canyon de Chelly. Our original rout had us taking I-25 and I-40 for much of the way. Instead , we routed ourselves through Farmington in NW New Mexico. By going this way we ended up on minor (but very good) road through the Navajo Reservation. The scenery was breath-taking.
Shiprock. We could see this for miles and miles as we crossed the desert
The road and scenery in the Navajo Reservation
As we approached Canyon de Chelly, we were on the North rim road. We went in on overlook (Antelope House) which turned out to be one of the most difficult trails to an overlook in the Monument. I ventured all the way to the Fortress Rock overlook by scrambling over sandstone rocks. Linda went part way and waited for me to see the pictures.
Views from the Fortress Rock Overlook
We went to the Visitor’s Center and got some useful information about the difficulty of reaching the various overlooks. We decided to check in to the Thunderbird Lodge and have dinner and go out to see some of the South Rim Overlooks in the evening and at Sunset.
Spider Rock
View from the Spider Rock Overlook
View from the White House Overlook right before Sunset
Sunset over Canyon de Chelly from the White House Overlook
The next morning we visited two more overlooks, the Tunnel Overlook and the Tsegi (Navajo name for the Canyon) Overlook, on the south rim before leaving for Phoenix.
View from the Tunnel Overlook
Views from the Tsegi Overlook. This monument is unique in that it is a joint effort between the Navajo Nation and the National Park Service. The Navajo are permitted to continue living and farming in the monument, including within the canyon, as they have done for centuries. This is part of the cultural significance of the Monument
View outside the Monument from the Tsegi Overlook
Left Canyon de Chelly and drove to Debbie and Darrell’s house in Phoenix. The ride was again almost all non-Interstate roads except for the small portion near Holbrook, AZ where AZ77 used the I-40 for a few miles and the 101 Freeway in Phoenix. The trip was 2247 miles, including some local touring miles, mostly off the Interstate system except for Day 1 and part of Day 2. This compares to a 1,757 mile direct trip, according to Google Maps, from Wisconsin to Arizona. We will again post on June 30 as make our way home on a southern route. Until then!
Went down to the Santa Fe Plaza area to see the sights. We used an audio tour that gave us some interesting information about the buildings and Santa Fe. One of the things we learned was that the headquarters for the Manhattan Project was in Santa Fe. Today it is a Chocolate and Cashmere shop. We also learned about the connection of Jewish people to Santa Fe.
In the Plaza, many Native American craftspeople were selling jewelry and other items. Linda got a beautiful turquoise bracelet and I got a copper engraved guitar pick, Not sure I will use it too often but it is beautiful.
San Miguel Chapel, the oldest church in the continental US
St. Francis Cathedral
Santa Fe Plaza, the restaurant where we had lunch is next to the white building at the end of the street
Linda at lunch at the Plaza Cafe, founded in 1905.
Went out to dinner to a restaurant that had New Mexican cuisine. I had a blue stacked enchilada with green chili and Linda had tamales with red and green chili. Excellent food and the price was reasonable.
Tomorrow we will be on the way to our last stop before get to Debbie and Darrell’s house. We will be going to Canyon de Chelly, a smaller canyon with cliff dwellings in the middle of the Navajo reservation.
Started the day with a visit to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. This is a very popular park and the lot was very full when we got there. There are a lot of other large sand dunes in the US, but this one is unique in that it is right next to the mountains, creating a very spectacular setting. We took a short nature trail and looked at the desert flora. The prickly pear cactus were very small but they were in bloom.
View from the Visitor’s Center of the dunes with the Sangre de Christo mountains in the background
Prickly Pear in bloom
After our visit to Great Sand Dunes, we drove to Taos, NM for lunch and shopping. Along the way we stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. There is a rest area next to the bridge and there are sidewalks so you can safely walk out on the bridge to see the gorge.
Rio Grande Gorge
Plaza at Taos
After lunch we headed toward Santa Fe, and took the High Road to Taos scenic byway. It was a beautiful drive and the road was very good and fun to drive. In Santa Fe, we had a steak dinner. They serve the steak New Mexico style, that is with mixed vegetables, beans, and a cheese enchilada with chili. I had green chili and it was a very different experience from the typical Wisconsin Dinner Club steak dinner. Tomorrow is for exploring Santa Fe. We can’t wait.
We rode the Cumbres and Toltec today. This was something I have wanted to do for a long time. After the Rio Grand Railroad abandoned the line in the late sixties, the States of Colorado and New Mexico took over the line and the C&T was formed. It is a 64 mile railroad with original steam equipment. It was a long day that started with a one hour bus ride to the other end of the line. The scenery visible from the train is outstanding and generally not something you can see without riding the train. It was a long day but the experience and views were worth it. Did I mention the delicious lunch that was served at the halfway station.
Ready to ride the railroad
A number of views from the train, including the Toltec gorge.
We will be visiting Great Sand Dunes National Park tomorrow, and then we will go to the Taos area and on to Santa Fe, where we will spend the next day and a half.
