We left Glen Rose, TX and found this BBQ restaurant in a small town - so yummy!
Ribs were awesome!! 👅
All throughout western Texas, we saw miles and miles of oil pumps
Our first night, we spent in Monahans Sandhills State Park.
Our rig - I definitely felt like we were in the middle of nowhere!
Kids and friends at the top of the sand dunes
Sliding down! We met up with a family we’d met the previous week to enjoy some sledding time with them.
Video - Jackson tumbling
Video - Grace flying down
Video - Jason in slow mo
After a night in the sand dunes, we headed south to Fort Davis, TX. The purpose for this stop was to visit the McDonald Observatory. The kids and J did a day tour.
There’s a small interactive area for the kids
And a tour of the massive telescopes
Telescopes
Huge meteorite
Jackson exploring space
That night, we all went back for the star party. It was AMAZING! We bundled up and got to look through several of the telescopes outside to see so many amazing stars, constellations, planets, and the moon. No pics of those as it had to be pitch black to see the stars.
One gift from the observatory - model of the planets
Another view we saw throughout western Texas and into New Mexico - so many oil refineries
After two nights in Fort Davis, we headed north to New Mexico to visit Carlsbad.
Our campground was outside of Carlsbad. The kids enjoyed the playground and even made some friends.
And of course, climbed the trees
Giddy up!
Carlsbad is very close to Roswell so there are lots of alien related items and venues to visit. We didn’t go to any but kids like the alien campfire in the KOA store
Our reason to visit this part of New Mexico - the Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
Bat sculpture in the visitors center
Working on their Junior Ranger books
Video - getting their Junior Ranger badges and sworn in
We decided to walk down into the caverns versus taking the elevator. Jackson pushing his luck with the thorny bushes
The descent
We had no idea when we started this how deep and far we’d go
Pic of me taking a selfie with Grace
Down we go!!!!
Caverns
Caverns
Caverns
Caverns
Caverns
Caverns
Caverns
Walkway down to caverns
Caverns
Caverns
Caverns
Caverns
Caverns
Caverns
New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico
We left Carlsbad and drove through the Lincoln National Forest
We found snow! We climbed and descended about 5,000 feet during the drive through the National Forest
The views were amazing
Rest stop!
We got over to Alamogordo NM - Jackson picked some prickly pear fruit and tried to squeeze the juice out!
Our stop in Alamogordo was to visit the White Sands National Monument
We watched a video about the park and how it was formed along with how the wildlife has adapted to this environment over many years
Ranger showing the kids how the gypsum mineral deposits turn into crystals then fine grain sand
Another Junior Ranger book complete and taking their oath!
A quick tailgate lunch before sledding the white sand dunes
Pics do not show the vastness of this park
Sand hills for miles
Grace sledding
Climbing back up
Jason couldn’t quite get the right position to sled with any speed
The gypsum rock in the mountains in the distance gets rained and snowed on, as the water runs down from the mountain tops, it lands in a pool of water at the base of the mountain. It evaporates and the wind blows on the leftover crystals until they are broken into fine grains of gypsum sand
Video
Video - Jackson decides to do somersaults instead of the sled
Video - Grace was the fastest
We used chunks of wax to lather up the bottom of the sleds for more speed
Pretty good path!
Undisturbed sand
Up and down for hours
Our inside joke...Jason learned in the FL Keys that playa is beach in Spanish (it is not slang for player)!!! 😂
Short hike with their new friends from the gift shop
Fantastic way to end the day and the week!!
