Somehow managed to delete this by accident!
Albuquerque, NM
Memorial Day 2013!
Got to Alb in great time!
Nice drive. Leaving early works
well, and having the kids eat breakfast in the car. Will do that again for sure! Setting up the RV is down to an art. Takes us..under an hour, I think. Then the kids swam for about a half hour, but
it was too windy and chilly. So I did
laundry, and then we decided on a treat…eating out! We went to Golden Corral. First time for all
but Steve and Mariah, and WOW, were we thrilled! Everything was good, and we ate till we were
stuffed, then home to put the kids to bed.
Next day, we decided on the Albuquerque Bio Park. Zoo, Aquarium and Botanical Gardens. Well, it was AWESOME! A bit spendy, but SO worth it. We never even MADE it to the Botanical
Gardens, either, except the part where the train does a loop through, lol. The zoo was awesome. Really nice habitats, where you could really
see everything, but the animals looked like they had plenty of room, and stuff
to do. Running water, like streams, in
every enclosure. Lots of baby
animals. Giraffe, Orangutang, prairie
dogs, elephant… The reptile house is
big, with LOTS of awesome stuff. Mostly
venomous, which the kids loved of course.
Wolves. So much! And then you ride a train (included if you
buy the combined ticket for all 3 attractions) the 2.5 miles to the
aquarium. Again, WOW. Really great, especially once you get to the
bottom level where they have the shark tank, with the sea turtles. Everyone was in awe. Lee was the first one around the corner to
see it, and just started yelling “Mommy!
Sharks, I see sharks! Daddy! SHARKS!”
It was really great.
Next day was boring really, lol. Groceries and such. Stopped at Camping World for some roof patch,
walked through a nice motorhome. A
Seneca. Maybe someday… And with that, New Mexico was over!
Amarillo, TX
Thursday, we left Albuquerque for Amarillo, TX. Not a bad drive, left early with muffins for
breakfast in the car. As we got into
Amarillo, we saw Cadillac Ranch!!! Steve
was thrilled, as that was on his bucket list.
SO we parked the RV at the park (not a fancy place, lol, but cheap) and
went to Walmart to get some spray paint then back we went. Sprayed cars, lots of pics, great time was
had by all. Then we decided to splurge
on a burger place I’d heard of but never been…Whataburger! Oh, very good. We enjoyed that a lot.
Sherman Tx
Friday, May, 31.
We decided NOT to stay in Amarillo another day. Nothing we wanted to see really, and my good
friend was having a graduation party for her daughter the next day that we
wanted to get to. Long drive, but we
made it all the way to Sherman in about 6 hours. The drive was beautiful! We thought Tx was all desert, but turns out
it’s got some amazing gorgeous green areas.
Especially fell in love with St Jo, which looks like a movie set town!
Set up in record
time, then off to visit! Had a wonderful
few days visiting a friend I’d never before met in person. I’m going to miss her, and her whole
family. They were lots of fun! After worrying that it wouldn’t be “the
same”, finally meeting in person, it was better. Just like being with family. So comfortable, joking and laughing and
relaxing. The kids got along great,
too. It was a wonderful break from our
travels.
Sunday the 2nd we decided to go into DFW. The kids had specially requested a trip to
the McDonalds shaped like a Happy Meal, so that was our lunch destination. Funny for looking so odd on the outside, the
inside was fancy shmancy! Crystal, wood
seating, nice…very little plastic. And
the play area was much bigger than we were used to! The kids had fun for a bit, then we headed
out to see the cattle drive in Forth Worth.
Got there in time to walk a bit, see the shops, buy postcards, see the
train…and the cattle drive. Smaller than
I’d hoped, but still worth seeing. Those
longhorns are gorgeous!!
After some shopping and visiting, Tuesday morning was
it. Time to go. Hugs and love to my friend and her
family. We all made friends, even Jack,
who is hard to win over! And Sasha now
wants a piano…and Mariah wants to join Civil Air Patrol after visiting it with
my friends girls…
West Monroe, LA
Another longer drive, but such gorgeous scenery! The green, the trees, the vines… Beautiful!
I love trees and green, so we are definitely getting into my kind of
environment!
The park here is nice enough. Would be better if the pool wasn’t out of
commission. They found a crack in it
just this week, so no swimming.
Waaah. Especially with this
humidity and heat! We will adjust, I’m
sure, but it is a HUGE change!
Got here and set up, and just hung out in the trailer in the
a/c for the evening. Just too hot to do
anything. Then, after a good nights
sleep, we were off and running!
First was Duck Commander.
We all love to watch Duck Dynasty, so getting to take pics here, and get
a shirt for Dad and his collection, was a big deal. Sadly, none of the stars were there, but we
didn’t really expect them to be.
Next was the farmers market.
Not huge, but nice. Got some
delicious peaches, green beans for dinner, and fresh (not roasted)
peanuts. Very different, but not bad. Mariah LOVES them. Cool to try new stuff, you know? And again…those peaches!
Last but certainly not least, the Beidenharn Museum! Neat place.
First, it’s a coca cola museum, since the Biedenharns were the first to
bottle coca cola. They even sell Coke in
bottles for .05 each during the tour, from an old fashioned vending
machine! That was awesome (though I paid
for the caffeine that night, let me tell you!).
During that part of the tour, they explain all about the bottling, how
it came about, how they do it, etc.
Neat. Second part of the tour is
the gardens, and then their home, which has been kept as it was decades
ago. Gorgeous, and the ladies doing the
tour had great stories to tell! And then
lastly, Emmy Lou Biedenharn had a Bible collection, which you get to tour. Awesome.
Had a leaf from a Gutenburg Bible, lots of old and unique Bibles,
etc. And some other cool stuff, like
ancient greek jugs, Biblical coins…neat stuff.
After that, it was time to come home for a late lunch, and
relaxing again. The kids rode bikes
around and read and such. Nice day. Its awesome to be out of the wind finally, so
I can grill. Steaks were delicious for
dinner again!
That night, I was up for hours, and was treated to something
new. A Southern storm! Lightning.
Thunder. It went on for hours,
with some rain in there, too. Gosh, that
was amazing! Loved it!
The next day was Thursday, and it seemed like a good day to
hang out and relax (and do some laundry), since it seemed more storms were
coming. None ended up hitting us really,
but the kids rode bikes, played pool, watched a movie and we all generally did
nothing for the day. After an early
bedtime, it’ll be time to head to Mississippi in the morning!
