So this year we decided to do the road trip that was originally planned for last year until my 50th class reunion came up. I spent many days carefully planning this out & making reservations. Day 1 was a long drive from home to Pecos, TX, a city along the way with hotels & before we hit the boonies. Pecos is in the heart of Texas’ Permian Basin and very much an oil town.

On day 2 we headed for our first national parks. We first stopped at Guadalupe Mountains National Park and did a few short hikes. Very scenic but didn’t see any wildlife. So, on to park 2 – Carlsbad Caverns. Now, this one is worth seeing! We did the self-guided tour and walked down forever! Lots of “rooms” with all sorts of rock formations. We had fun coming up with our own names for some of them. Dan got awesome pics when the kids with”cave helmets” didn’t have their lights on. Thank goodness they have an elevator, which we took to the surface. We stayed for the bat flight at sunset – hundreds of thousands of bats flying out. Dan tried to do some night sky pics after everyone else left, but conditions weren’t good.

Day 3 was another driving day, and I managed to develop some kind of bug that has me coughing, sneezing & sniffling with a slight fever. We are in Mesa Verde at the Far View Lodge and we definitely have a far view. From here we can see Shiprock in New Mexico. We did some driving exploration of the Mesa this morning (Day 4) then came back, ate lunch and napped. I’m saving my strength for the Twilight Tour of the Cliff Palace tonight.