Highlights from today: (click here for pictures)
(Click here for Video #1) (Click here for Video #2)
Breakfast took a little longer at the Chinese restaurant today. Don’t know why but it appears that the Chinese place is also the place for townspeople to come and eat-very strange but they do have a pretty good breakfast. When we left, the GPS said that we should arrive in White Sands at 12:15-but we were determined to make up some time…and we did.
The road was again straight and flat but then it suddenly it turned into mountains. We stopped in Cloudcroft for a bathroom stop and picked up a brochure for our next stop: The Apple Barn. The snookered us in with fudge but we ended up only buying candy and a little tiny something for Reagan’s birthday.
Near the White Sands Missile Range is White Sands National Monument. I was especially excited about this stop-and after a quick run the the museum and then the gift shop, we were driving out to the sand dunes with the sleds in the back of our car. The sand dunes are made from tiny particles of gypsum blowing in from a nearby barren lake. The dunes were huge and white. It looked just like snow and we hated that the kids weren’t there. Though, we would have had to carry them up the dunes since they were so steep-and it was hard enough for us to climb to the top. The sand was cool and perfect to sled down. It was pretty fast and I even scratched my elbow when my sled went over a huge bump-I am lucky I didn’t break a bone! It was lots of fun and I am planning to bring the kids back. When I told Reagan on the phone about it, she said “I wished I was with you.”
We had lunch again in the car as we headed up North towards Albuquerque. Everyone was stopped by Border Control and they asked if we were US Citizens. And Robby answered “si, si” (kidding!) Robby wanted to stop in the town of Truth or Consequences. We drove there but they didn’t have a good sign or ice cream-what kind of town is that?
I had read in my book that the Ft. Craig National Historic Site was a good stop on your way to Albuquerque. My book was wrong. We exited the interstate and within a mile or two we were on the dirt road and then the sign told us we had 10 more miles to go. I tried to encourage Robby to turn around but he didn’t listen. Finally, we made it and Robby bet me that there would be no one at this place. He was wrong-apparently someone lives in their RV beside the museum and when someone drives up, they come out of their RV to let them in the museum. When we saw the lady, Robby asked the obvious questions: do you get many people out here? She replied, “We do actually, it is kind of weird.” I wanted to tell that lady that it was kind of weird that you live out here in the MIDDLE of nowhere.
I unwillingly followed Robby as he walked around the fort site. I was the lookout and told him that if I saw someone else walking on this trail, I would hightail it to the car. It was a spooky desert place-except for the crazy lady that worked out there all alone. Obviously, they didn’t have any ornaments in the gift shop. Robby tried to think of ways to get the lady to come back out of her RV and go back to the museum. As we were using the restrooms (surprisingly clean) Robby noticed a flier looking for “motivated couples” to come and work there. He tried to convince me by saying we could live in an RV, home school, the kids could have land to roam and he wouldn’t have to work too hard out there. I quickly changed his mind by reminding him that he couldn’t travel if we lived there.
After we finally made it back to the main road, we were needing gas. We finally found some near Albuquerque and then called to check on the kids. It had been raining on us and we spotted a small rainbow in the sky. We found our hotel-right by the airport. After unloading our suitcases, we drove to Old Town to eat. Old Town was quite a happening place tonight. On the square, a band was singing and lots of people were out. We had supper at Church St. Cafe and the food was HOT! It was the spiciest food I had ever had-probably won’t sleep any tonight. The poor server was swamped and we didn’t get pour sopapillas so I was disappointed. We walked around the Old Town and looked in a few shops. There was a neat little toy shop that sucked us in and kept some of our money. After getting back to the hotel, we repacked and started to work on our computers.
Dennie Kids Update: Sounds like the kids had a pretty good day: playdough, coloring, naps, playing outside (but they had to come inside since it was so hot). Pops decided that they needed to run off some energy so they loaded up and went to church with their bikes. I was talking to Graham on the phone until Jason came and then they were all off to run and greet him.
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