July 2-3

July 2, We started our family trip, drove all day and never left Texas. We made a stop outside of Vernon, Texas at Tolbert Cemetery in which I documented over 50 headstones for Billiongraves amid many flapping crickets or grasshoppers, while the kids ate lunch. We got out to photograph  the sign of a small town with the same name as one of Rhys' best friends who is moving away this summer. In the late afternoon we went to Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo where the kids scavenged for spray bottles with paint left in them and made their additions to the art. It was real windy so Rhys ended up with what looked like a sun burnt forehead and red tinted bangs from his red spray paint. Luckily it came off his glasses lenses. We ended the day with swimming at the hotel pool.

July 3
We started the day at the Seismore RV Museum which spotlights restored vehicles that you can step inside and see how people have camped throughout the years. The kids were amazed how small some of the toilets were and I must agree they seem they may have been quite challenging to use. It was also fun to see the dated patterns on the curtains, upholstery, and floors.

Then we traveled into New Mexico's Capulin Volcano and this is wear I noticed it takes me longer than Google Maps says it will take me and this theme was true throughout the trip so we planned accordingly. The ranger station at the bottom of the volcano warned us that annoying gnat-like insects were plentiful at the top of the volcano and attracted to white--which is what we are and what I wore.

At this point I would also like to say that every ranger station/tourist stop must have a video that is 11-16 minutes in length with poor, old visual output, often with lame but still educational narration.  We love these. We usually make them our first priority so we know what we are actually seeing next.

At the top, the bugs did not disappoint as they were the only thing my kids could talk about for over half of the hike around the rim. It was great to see the old markings on the bare desert floor below of lava flows. We met some locals that pointed out landmarks while we were literally swarmed by these bugs. The climb was very steep at times but paved which was a good introduction to working our bodies with less oxygen at 8000 feet. Once all the all the way around we went down into the vent, said yep there is a bunch of volcanic rocks here, and then tried catching little periwinkle colored butterflies on our way back up to the car. This is wear we found the bugs feasting on the dead bugs that had splattered onto our car during our trip. Fascinating and gross.

in the vent

catching butterflies

Outside of Trinidad, CO we stopped to see the old coke ovens in...wait for it...Cokedale! We learned a bit about coal and coke ovens on Google because we were not familiar with the process. We took a little drive through the old mining town in which many still live and spotted 5 wild turkeys on the road between an old church and some sheds. 

We spotted smoke and fires afar off as we made our way into Pueblo West to stay with Kira and David. Do you know how I know they love me? They had their new trailer all ready for me so I could sleep like a baby without my kids being able to bother me and I did. The kids took the couch.