Austin, Texas

Our next major destination after leaving Carlsbad was Austin, which happened to be right on the way to Livingston. (Livingston, Texas is the headquarters for the RV club we belong to – Escapees – and where we need to stay for a few weeks in the near future to change our state of residency from California to Texas.) Another Capital to visit, and this brings our total to 6, only 44 more to go! We rolled into the town of Buda (pronounced Bew-dah) which is just on the edge of Austin, on Saturday, October 20th. We stayed a couple of days, touring the capital on the first day and the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library on the second. We wanted to explore the 10-mile Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail established by Lady Bird Johnson, but a big storm blew in the night before we planned to do this, and conditions weren’t favorable for outdoor activities. Both Dan and I enjoyed Austin very much and felt like we really needed more time to fully appreciate everything it had to offer. We may come back and spend more time here in the future.

Next Stop: Livingston, Texas!

Carlsbad Caverns

We left Albuquerque on October 14 headed towards Roswell, New Mexico for a layover on our way to Carlsbad Caverns. Our intention was to stay over one night in Roswell, tour the UFO museum, and arrive in Carlsbad the following day. As it turned out, we had an issue with our truck and had to stay two nights in Roswell. That was okay; the RV Park we stayed in was very nice and we took the extra day to tour Roswell on our bicycles. We actually didn’t visit the UFO museum in the end, as it just didn’t seem that intriguing to either one of us. Although all the shops in downtown Roswell took advantage of their UFO heritage to try to lure people in, we didn’t have any close encounters. At least, we don’t think we did, but there are a few hours missing from our memories that neither one of us can account for. Hmmmm… ;-)

We arrived in Carlsbad on Tuesday, October 16th. We stayed in White’s City RV Park just yards outside of the Carlsbad Caverns National Park entrance. The RV Park has definitely seen better days, but it had what we needed for a couple of nights, and it put us in close proximity to the Caverns. The first afternoon we drove to the Visitor’s Center and got the information we needed to decide what tours we would be taking the next couple of days. The tours ranged from very, very easy paved road tours with (minimal) lighting to the adventure tours that required negotiating slippery slopes with knotted ropes and ladders and squeezing through tight spaces with the only light provided by your helmets. We decided we would take both of the easy self-guided tours and three progressively difficult guided tours over the next two days. We also stayed long enough one evening to watch the flight of over 1 million Mexican Free-tailed bats as they exited the cave for their nightly foraging. That was spectacular! The bats flew out of the cave shown in the attached picture with the long winding path. We were not allowed to take photographs of their flight, so this picture was taken early in the day. This is called the Natural Entrance and is the point of the very first exploration into the caverns by Jim White in 1898.

The self-guided tours are intended to be handled on your own, and as expected, they were like a walk in the park, albeit an underground park! The sights were spectacular! The lighting is very, very low, I presume to preserve the formations as much as possible in their original states, and to give one as close an idea as possible of how the caves appear in their natural setting. Following these two tours came the first guided tour which took us off the beaten path, but still on paved trails, still minimally lit, and led by a Ranger who gave us a lot of history of the caves and early exploration. The second guided tour was a little more adventurous – off the paved paths, illuminated only by candle lanterns that each of us carried, and every once in a while, some uneven or wet and slippery spots. Now, the third guided tour was the most adventurous, and it’s a good thing we worked up to this one. As it was, I almost didn’t go down, but at the last minute I just threw caution to the wind and took the plunge. Dan had no fear. Funny, there were 6 men and 3 women on this tour, and none of the men had any concerns, and all of the women were nervous. Especially me, I was the most nervous! The hike started out with a 10 foot descent down a wet and slippery slope using a knotted rope to guide yourself down. Following the rope descent, there were three stainless steel ladders taking you down another 50 feet to complete darkness. Our only means of illumination were the helmets we were wearing. But when we finally got to the bottom of the cave and began our hike, it was well worth it! Such beautiful formations, very hard to describe, and even the pictures can’t do it justice. I have never explored caves before, and am not sure I will do so to any extent in the future, but I am extremely happy I had this opportunity, and that I was able to overcome my fear and take the final tour – not even the most adventurous of what is offered.

In each of our guided tours we were able to experience what it was like to be in the total darkness of a cave over 800 feet below ground by having everyone extinguish their lights and sit in the complete blackness of an underground cave. Now that is dark!! You literally cannot even see your hand in front of your face. It’s amazing how much a small butane lighter will illuminate these places, as our guides demonstrated. Each time we returned to the surface, I was relieved!

Next Stop: Austin, Texas!

Santa Fe, New Mexico

The Balloon Fiesta runs for nine days, and we knew we wanted to attend at least one or two days there, as well as visit Santa Fe (the capital), and make a trip to Taos. Our first visit to the Fiesta was on Saturday, October 6. On Monday, October 8, we drove to Santa Fe, checked in to a Super 8, and spent a couple of days touring Taos and Santa Fe. Taos is a fun and artsy tourist town, and in the winter (so I’ve heard), a great place to ski. We spent Tuesday in Taos, and Wednesday touring Santa Fe, including a visit to the Capital building and trying to see as many of the highlights as we could manage in one day. We really enjoyed our visit to Santa Fe. The capital building is round, built to replicate the Zia sun symbol, which is the symbol on the New Mexico state flag.

While in Santa Fe, we also visited the St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral / Basilica. That has to be one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in. The woodwork, art work, stained glass, and statues were gorgeous! We also visited the Loretto Chapel, which is no longer a part of the Catholic Church, but now a private museum. This is the chapel that has the mysterious stair case; you might have seen this on television. Here is the link: http://www.lorettochapel.com/ We also toured the Georgia O’Keefe museum, an artist typically associated with the American Southwest. After returning to Albuquerque, we spent one more day at the Balloon Fiesta. The last two days we were in Albuquerque, the hot air balloons from the Fiesta were actually floating directly over our 5th wheel and landing in our RV park! It was awesome, to say the least!!

Next stop: Roswell, New Mexico on our way to Carlsbad Caverns.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Several weeks ago we reserved an RV site in Bernalillo, New Mexico, which is right next to Albuquerque, in order to attend the annual Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. So, after leaving Okalahoma City, we made our way to Albuquerque, arriving on October 4th. On Friday, the 5th we just explored Albuquerque, finding the Trader Jo’s and the Whole Foods, which made us very happy! On Saturday, October 6, we attended the opening day of the Balloon Fiesta. All I can say is “WOW”!!!! I don’t know what I really expected. I knew there would be lots of hot air balloons, but beyond that, I really didn’t know! We arrived on the grounds at 5:30 a.m. so we would be sure to find a parking spot and to witness the Mass Ascension. The Mass Ascensions is a launch of all the participating balloons just as the sun begins to rise, and is the most spectacular display of sound and color in all of aviation. During mass ascensions, balloons launch in two waves. Launch directors, also known as “zebras” because of their black-and-white-striped outfits, serve as “traffic cops,” coordinating the launch so balloons leave the field in a safe and coordinated manner. Weather permitting, balloons begin to launch at about 7:15 AM on mass ascension days, and for about two hours balloon after balloon is launched. Everywhere you look, a new balloon is going up, in every direction. It’s hard to describe the scene on the launch field. Literally hundreds of balloons are packed into the field, and you are able to wander among them as they are filling up with air and propane, then up-righting themselves, then launching. You can actually walk right up to the balloons and talk to the pilots, touch the balloons, feel the heat of the propane flame, and hear the awesome roaring sound as the balloon inflates. We took over 200 pictures because we could never decide which balloon was the most spectacular, which colors were the best, which angle was most impressive! We ended up hanging out all day at the grounds, waiting for the twilight glow – when the balloons launch again after the sun starts to set, and you can see the glow of the torch light within the balloons. However, that afternoon the wind kicked up pretty good, so the evening events were cancelled. However, we were able to enjoy a pleasant day walking around, eating, visiting the vendor booths, and lounging on the greens. The evening festivities wrapped up with a fireworks show around 8:00 p.m. We plan to go back one more day before the Fiesta concludes; hopefully we’ll catch a twilight glow then.

Oklahoma City Visit

To be honest, the idea of visiting Oklahoma City and touring the capital wasn’t real high on my list of things to do. I never had any reason to be in Oklahoma, there wasn’t any big draw to the area, and I wondered if we should even bother. But, since we were passing right through on our way to Albuquerque, and it is our goal to visit all of the State Capitals, and we had an extra day to burn somewhere before we were due to arrive in the Albuquerque area, it only made sense to stop now for the OK visit. Since we were going to be here, we also planned a visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial, which was “created to honor those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever by the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.” I was pleased, if that is the right word, that I would have the opportunity to visit the memorial since we would already be in Oklahoma City, but I wasn’t prepared for the enormity of my response to the memorial. So, when we left this morning our plans were to visit the Capital first, then the Memorial, then the Myriad Botanical Gardens.

Lesson – don’t prejudge something you’ve never seen or know nothing about. The visit to the Capitol was outstanding! The interior of the dome was one of the most beautiful, kaleidoscopic visions I’ve ever seen! Hanging on the walls throughout the building were beautiful paintings, and we were also treated to a quilt display depicting Oklahoma’s history. Outside we saw the Indian Nations Flag display which was also quite impressive. We were worried about a big storm that was predicted to come in, so we didn’t stay too long at the Capitol before leaving to visit the OK City National Memorial. As I said, I was quite unprepared for how overwhelming this memorial would be. The instant we approached the entrance to the Field of Empty Chairs, I was overcome with emotion. I would encourage anyone who is in the area to visit the memorial; it is hard to describe in words the impact of this place. In the Field of Empty Chairs, 168 chairs stand in nine rows, each representing a floor of the building, and represent the 168 lives lost on April 19, 1995. The field is located in what was the footprint of the building. The “Gates of Time” are two monumental gates that stand as entrances to the Memorial site and frame the moment of destruction, one side showing the time just before the blast at 9:01 and the other side showing 9:03, just after. Between the two entrances is the Reflecting Pool, standing 3/4 of an inch deep; the calming water of this pool stands where 5th Street once stood, and shows the reflection of someone changed forever by their visit to the Memorial. It was hard to be there.

We broke for lunch after visiting the Memorial, sort of regrouped, and then took a visit to the Myriad Botanical Gardens located right in downtown Oklahoma City. It was a small enclosed garden preserving tropical plants from all over the globe. It was a very nice way to wrap up the afternoon. I really learned that you never really know what a city, or any place, holds. Every place is unique; every place has its secrets, its treasures, and something worthwhile for those willing to take the time to look. I hope this pictures can capture just a little of what we experienced today.