national park

San Antonio to Carlsbad

This section of the trip took us from civilization to no man’s land. Well, that’s not entirely true. There were an awful lot of oil men drilling for black gold. It was a beautiful drive until we hit the last hundred miles to Carlsbad. This is where we turned on to a two-lane road with posted speed limits of 75mph and potholes that could rip the tranny out of a monster truck. There were semi’s barreling by and an uncountable number of F150’s. All these trucks were there to service the oil derricks that dotted the landscape like toothpicks on a party tray. Oh, and did I mention that the winds where gusting 25-30+mph which is really fun in a big land yacht with a topper on it. We made it just as the sun was setting. We tucked into our hotel and got ready for a fun day deep underground.

The Caverns of Carlsbad

The caverns aren’t actually in Carlsbad. (FYI) You need to drive about 30 minutes. It is well worth the effort. After a beautiful drive through the park and up to the cavern entrance, you’re greeted by a breathtaking vista of the Chihuahuan desert. On the way up we got to see a type of Bighorn sheep which was a cool surprise.

The visitor center is well staffed has an excellent museum to get you oriented. Once you’re ready to visit the caves you have two options. A quick 1 min elevator ride or a 45 min hike into the cave system from the mouth at the surface. We opted for the elevator on our first day as we had a guided tour we needed to meet. The next day we decided to hike in and it is AWESOME!

But I digress, day one we went to a cave system called the King’s Palace. This was a guided tour and was wonderful. The cave system was well lit and had thousands of stalagmites and stalactites, rock curtains, and impossibly thin rock tubes called soda straws. Truly an awe-inspiring experience. The guide also turned the lights out half way through so we could feel the intenseness of complete darkness. Colette and Sienna both loved the excursion into this hidden world. On day two we hiked into the cavern from the surface. This gives you a real sense of what it must have been like to first come upon these caverns and explore them. We highly recommend hiking in one of the days if you visit this place. Once at the bottom we went on the self-guided tour of what they call the “Big Room“. The Big Room tour is about two hours and takes you buy some of the most spectacular otherworldy structures you’ll ever see. Carlsbad Caverns is a remote location and we’d recommend tacking it on to a bigger exploration of the Southwest.

More of the Surreal

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

The caverns aren’t the only thing to see when in Carlsbad. About 20 minutes past the caverns lies the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We are always in awe of the national park system and what they protect and this was no different. Beautiful mountains, pristine wilderness, and Jr. Ranger Program!!! We love these.

There are a few short hikes here, but it really caters to longer overnight hikes to experience the park. We opted to drive around and get some great shots after the kids became Junior Rangers at the museum.

Believe…….

We spent about three full days in the area exploring and found that to be a good window of time to experience a taste of the caverns and mountains. On the way to our next destination, we needed to make the pilgrimage to the town made famous by the alien spacecraft that crash landed there 72 years ago. Roswell, NM is a surprisingly big town, much bigger than Carlsbad. Our only focus for passing through was to visit the UFO Museum and have space lunch. The museum is a fun place to visit and does a great job recapping the history of the alien crash investigation. There’s are lots of fun and cool art and exhibits to enjoy as well. I love Aliens! So making the effort to land here definitely was a check off my bucket list. I’m not sure if Katie felt the same way, but the kids had a blast. A worthwhile place to spend an hour and get some lunch. Though space lunch was not found we did have a nice bite at a deli up the street. Our next stop is Santa Fe for a couple weeks.

Texas is BIG

So we all know Texas is big but man this state is fricken HUGE! We had a seven-hour drive from our stay in Louisiana so we buckled down and ground it out. We were on our way to San Antonio. The kids were taking turns studying school work and blowing off steam with the iDevices. The longest most stressful part of the drive was the hour it took getting through Houston. Eight lanes of traffic packed with cars all going 70+?! Glad that’s over and definitely not our cup of tea. We eased on into San Antonio and were pleasantly surprised by our Airbnb for the week. A beautiful Southwestern home North of the city. Plenty of great things to do close by and space to spread out.

The Alamo

I’m guessing the one thing everyone does when coming to this city is going to the Alamo. We were no different. It’s located right in the heart of the city near the famed Riverwalk. Nestled between towers of steel and concrete was the historic mission that gained so much fame from the fact the everyone defending it died. The people of Texas are very proud of this monument, and rightly so. It’s a testament to the resolve of early Americans to defend to the death what they believe in. 200 defenders went up against 2000+ professional Mexican soldiers under the leadership of López de Santa Anna. One thing That has come to surprise me (and somewhat sadden me as well) is that all the historical sites are heavily encroached upon by the modern world. I guess my mental image of these places was a more romanticized vision of the sites sitting pristine with nothing around them. I take great heart though in knowing that they are being protected and that no matter the marching progress of the future, they will stay the same. After visiting the Alamo we spent the rest of the day walking around the Riverwalk and checking out the downtown sites. Due to cool and wet weather, we didn’t spend a whole lot of time exploring the Riverwalk. I guess we’ll need to come back again for that.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Time to Monkey Around

It had been a while since we hit a zoo and we found out San Antonio had a nice one. We packed everyone into the ride and headed down. We love zoo’s I don’t know what it is but each of us has our favorite animals and we just love seeing these creatures in real life. We saw Jaguars, an untold number of funky monkeys, a baby anteater hitching a ride on its mom’s back and many others that would make Dr. Dolittle proud. This zoo really packs a lot of exhibits in a relatively small space while still keeping the animal environments decently big. We had a great time. The pics will tell a better story than I can. One cool thing we saw was during lunch, we had packed a picnic and decided to sit and watch the Giraffes. This zoo has a Giraffe feeding area that’s attached to the elevated lunch area we were sitting at and the animals come right up to within 5 or 6 feet of you. Very awesome to see these big guys at eye level. Colette, Sienna , and Lennox also made these plastic injected molded toys you can get at a machine in the park for $2. Both Katie and I had these little treasures when we were young so it was a cool moment to share that with the kiddos. San Antonio Zoo.

Cowboy hats, Cowboy Boots and….Cowboys!

One thing both Katie and I wanted to do on this trip when we were in the west was attending a rodeo. It just so happened that our timing was such that we hit town the same time as the huge San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. At first, we looked for tickets and found nothing for under $200. We thought we were out of luck. Then late one night, on a whim, I checked to see if anything was available. To my astonishment, we found five tickets in the nosebleeds. (center corral?) So the next day off to the rodeo we went. What a spectacle. So much pride in the event from both the attendees and the participants. You could really feel these people’s American pride and happiness. We saw buckin’ Broncos, steer wrestling, calf roping, barrel racing and of course bull riding. We won’t pretend that we’re longtime fans of the rodeo or even know much about what a “good” ride is, but we certainly found a new appreciation for the men and women that call this their profession. We had a blast and at the end, we were treated to a country concert from the band Midland. Katie the girls and Lennox really had a great time and hopefully made some memories.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

McLeod Kids – Texas Junior Rangers

So as many of you may know, our kids love the Jr. Ranger programs at the national parks. San Antonio just happens to have a National Park for the Spanish Missions. We decided to forgo our traditional homeschooling and supplement it with some good old-fashioned hands-on experience. There are four missions in the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park; Mission Conceptìon, Mission San José, Mission San Juan, Mission Espada. These beautiful structures are 250 years old and in many ways remarkably well preserved. Even though these missions evoke a sense of wonder for times long past, they also serve as a reminder of a dark chapter in history. A history filled with the exploitation of native peoples and the destruction of a noble culture. The missions were built on the backs of the native peoples that lived in the area at the time. they were forced to give up their traditions and embrace an alien way of life. It’s always a bit sobering to find out the true history of some of these landmarks. It serves a good teaching moment for the kids. Katie and I just hope that they come away with a deeper appreciation of cultural diversity and the notion of right and wrong. This is a really good tour and you can bike from mission to mission if the weather is nice. Our weather was cold so we drove, which is just as easy.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Meatfest 2018 – Chama Gaucha – A Dinner in Pictures

St. Valentines Day – Big Air and Time Machines

We always like to do something special for the kids when holidays come up. Valentine’s Day was no exception. Katie and I celebrated the night before so we could spend the whole day and night treating the kids to a fun outing. We chose a spot to go to during the day but we didn’t tell the kids. We like to surprise them! We just happened to be talking to my parents when we drove into the parking lot of the destination when all of a sudden Colette let out an ear piercing scream. This was quickly followed by Sienna and Lennox. My parents must have thought we crashed. Really we had just pulled into Altitude Trampoline Park. This place was awesome. The whole floor of this massive warehouse was covered in trampolines. There was a foam pit, basketball nets, and dodgeball courts to play at as well. We spent the day going nuts. I managed to reclaim some old days of glory by pulling a double front flip into the foam pit. The kids were in heaven. The only downside was that Katie and I Spent the next couple days recovering from pulled and sore muscles.

Later that evening we went to dinner at what we found out was a local San Antonio landmark; The Magic Time Machine. This place was the perfect place to end our day. First off, every table is built into its own nook and has a theme. The theme could be anything from a cave to dragons lair. We sat at a table with a rocker theme, which was cool for us old ones. The other really fun part about this place is that all the wait staff are dressed up as characters like Draco Malfoy, Thor or Wonder Woman. They also stay in character which adds tremendously to the wackiness of this place. We had a young lady dressed as sponge bob complete with all the funny one-liners and affectations. We highly recommend hitting this place up if you’re in San Antonio.This is a great city and we had an awesome time exploring at this stop. We’re looking forward to coming back someday. Next, we are heading out into the desert in search of some caves.