On the Road Again

 2/25/23

On the road again!  AND in and out of time zones!  First we were one hour behind and then 2 hours behind, then one hour behind, and so on!  

This is Guadalupe National Park in New Mexico!  We saw Guadalupe Peak (El Capitan) for a LONG way off!  It was really beautiful, but the winds were extremely high, so no hiking!

Not sure you can tell, but the bark from this Texas Mandrone tree is really red in color!  

The ranger at Guadalupe National Park suggested we overnight at Chosa Campground, which was about 20 minutes away (another FREE campground).  There were several people camped there, and even a few cows that meandered the area!

We intended to stop at Carlsbad Caverns, BUT they were sold out of tours, so we had to settle for a drive to the top of the entrance to the caverns and some lovely scenery!

We headed into the city of Carlsbad for a trip to Walmart for some groceries and what was beside Walmart?

We have only eaten out ONCE on this trip so far!  We decided to treat ourselves to a nice hot breakfast!  Ernie had Huevos Rancheros and said it was the best breakfast he ever had!  I had good old avocado toast and it was pretty darn tasty as well!

Now the next couple hours took us from the desert...to the snowy mountains...to a ski area....and back to the desert!

This was Lincoln National Forest and it was really nice to see green trees after SO much desert!

Cloudcroft Ski Area at Lincoln National Forest (we did not ski)!

Back to the desert, but what a pretty view!

We needed a shower!  SO.....since we didn't get any walking in, we did a quick workout (only 3 miles) and then a nice HOT shower!  Don't ever take for granted jumping into your nice hot shower in your own home!  When you are traveling, you are never really sure when that will happen!

And since we burned a few calories, we HAD to add a few more and stopped for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant (in Alamogordo NM or as Ernie calls it Algorithm, NM) for a couple Margaritas and some authentic cuisine! It was SO delicious, you can't even imagine!

Just outside Alamogordo (Algorithm) and on the way to White Sands National Park, was a nice little place to camp called Holloman Lake (FREE)

The views were amazing (you can see the mountain we just descended in the background)

But the sunset was........(I have no words)! 

Top 5 sunsets (Yes, I will be framing this photo)!

Night!