Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona

Hi Everyone,

 On Friday, May 7th we drove 280+ miles to Tucson, Arizona to visit and explore Saguaro National Park.

As you can see, Dad has put on shorts because the temperature is 103 degrees in southern Arizona. The Saguaro cactus grows up to 40 or 50 feet if it is unmolested and as big around as a tree.

In Arizona, it is actually illegal to cut down or damage a Saguaro cactus, with a prison term imposed on offenders. In the late Spring (now) the cactus blooms with pretty white flowers.

The rangers told us that the cacti were not in full bloom yet and that we should come back early in the morning in a few weeks to see them at their best. 

Here's Dad and I standing next to a small one.

Getting too close to these big plants is out of the question. They have really nasty prickers that will get you if you are not careful. Those spikes are two to three inches long and very sharp too.

The Prickly Pear and Barrel Cactus were also blooming, creating a nice bouquet of colors in the desert.

The bougainvillea was just beautiful!

Even though it was very hot, we spent a couple of hours driving around the Cactus Forest trail before we left and headed to Pheonix, about 120 miles away.

It is only about a two-hour drive back to Tucson from Peoria, AZ. where we are now.

Just as we were leaving the park Dad spotted a travel trailer with a unique message painted on the back.

We drove two more hours to get to Pheonix, arriving just at rush hour, so Dad had to deal with heavy traffic to get around the city to Courtney and Chri's new house in Peoria, AZ. Dad says the trip odometer says we have traveled 4,236 miles on this trip. Wow, that's a long way.

Mom and Dad found us a nice house to rent in Sun City, AZ and we will be staying there for a while when our furniture arrives on Tuesday from the POD company that transported it across the country.

My human parents and I are planning on taking the next phase of our Great adventure later in June or July up into the mountains of California to see more of the big national parks. 

Stay healthy and safe!  See you then😎.

Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains and White Sands National Parks

 Hello Everyone,

On Wednesday, May 5th we left the White City Cavern Inn where we spent the night and drove 7 miles to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Again, Cute puppies like me were not allowed in the cavern, so Dad and Mom had to go in separately.

Mom wanted to go into the cavern through the traditional outside entrance but it required an extra two hours to get to the bottom of the self-guided tour and another hour and a half to tour the bottom part of the cavern.

Instead, they both chose to take the elevator down to the self-guided tour. After descending 750 feet below the surface in the elevator to a wonderland of stalactites and stalagmites.

These pictures were all taken in the big room.

After visiting the national park we stopped for lunch at White City on the way back out of the park. A local resident stands guard outside of the only restaurant within miles of the national park. 

There were some interesting statues there too.

We drove several hundred miles further south, back into Texas, to explore Guadalupe Mountains, National Park.

The Mountains are beautiful, but the only way, into the park, is by foot on the trails. Well, it was 99 degrees that day, so we decided to forego any hiking and took a few pictures, then moved on.

We finished the day by driving through the desert to El Paso, Texas, and from there to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where we spent the night.

On Thursday, May 6th we drove 75 miles to White Sands National Park in the New Mexico desert, very near Alalmagordo the US Military's missile testing site.

Even though these dunes look like snow, they are white sand that was deposited millions of years ago when this area was an inland sea.

The dunes are very hot so there is a boardwalk out among them so visitors can explore them without causing damage to the environment.

Dad and I took a break in the shade of a shelter while Mom was taking pictures.

There were several picnic areas around the park road and some dunes that sand-sledding was allowed, to the delight of the younger crowd.

We finished the day by driving 200+ miles to the Western side of New Mexico.

Tomorrow we will be exploring Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona😃.

Dallas, Texas to Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

 Hello Friends,

Late Sunday afternoon, May 2nd we arrived at Sandy and Paul Schnieder's new home in Flower Mound, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. I liked their house very much and the second they opened the door I ran through each room checking it out, while Mom and Dad chatted with our friends that moved here from Rochester.

We all had a great time reminiscing about all of the times we enjoyed each other's company in Rochester and a shared vacation to Vermont several years ago.

They insisted that we should go with them to explore a "true Texas experience" in a unique gas station/convenience store Texas-style. Buc-ees' (buck-ees)is an over-the-top place that has close to 100 gas pumps surrounding a huge convenience store, and/food court with everything from beer coolers to cowboy hats and boots. These places are about the size of a Walmart store and provide everything one could imagine and then some.

I guess it is true, "everything in Texas is bigger than life" (including their gas stations and convenience stores).

On Monday, May 3rd we bade our old friends goodbye after a great blueberries pancake breakfast lovingly prepared by Sandy, an extraordinary emergency room doctor, and mother of Courtney's best friend from school in Rochester.

After driving for nearly four hours, and another 285 miles, we stopped for the night in Sweetwater, Texas in a nearly new La Quinta hotel. Texas is a huge state that takes more than a day to drive across and Sweetwater is near the center of the state.

On Tuesday, May 4th we drove for another 200+ miles to Andrews, Texas where we stopped in a very nice park for a walk around the man-made lake in the city park.

From there we drove another 200+ miles past the oil rigs, long-horned cattle, and wind turbines of West Texas to Carlsbad, New Mexico. In Carlsbad, we found another nice walk along the Pecos River.

The city park runs adjacent to the Riverwalk, complete with picnic areas, a bandstand, and even a water park for everyone to enjoy. It was a very nice place to visit and the sun was very nice to stroll in.

There was even a small manmade waterfall to enjoy.

We finally stopped for the night at the White's City Cavern Inn near the Carlsbad Caverns National Park entrance. There are very pretty prickly pear cactus plants here that are in bloom, so Mom took some pictures so you could all enjoy them as much as we are.

Tomorrow we will be exploring Carlsbad Caverns, National Park😃.

 

On the Road - 2,675 Miles into our Trip

 Hi Everyone,

On April 28th we drove over 400 miles through very beautiful mountains across the state of Tennessee. As we drove along through rural Tennessee we found some towns with interesting and unusual names like Bucksnort, Tennessee.

We drove through rain off and on, some of it very heavy, to the city of Memphis on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River. The home of Elvis Presley, Graceland, was nearby where we stayed overnight, but we decided not to visit because of the large hordes of tourists and that access for cute puppies like me was limited.

The next morning, April 29th we took a nice 2-mile walk on the Greenway/Riverwalk in Memphis. After that we packed up and headed West across the Mississipi River, crossing into Arkansas. Another long day in the car, over 360 miles, took us to Hot Springs, Arkansas. At the edge of the city, we found a sign stating "Welcome to Hot Springs, the boyhood home of Bill Clinton".

The next morning, April 30th, Dad drove us past "Bathhouse Row" a street full of high-end hotels equipped with mineral baths originating from the "hot springs" that spew forth from the mountain behind the hotels. These bathhouses are the original spas that have attracted people to this tourist destination for over one hundred years, including American Presidents, celebrities, and international dignitaries.

After talking to our host at the hotel we were staying, we decided to drive to the summit of West Mountain to the overlook.

 Once there we took advantage of the nice weather and tried a  2 1/2 mile hike around the mountain.

On Saturday, May 1st we drove another 350+ miles from Hot Springs, Arkansas to Sulphur Springs, Texas. As we drove through Arkansas, and the edge of Texas we encountered more uniquely named towns, Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and Texarkana, Texas.

On Sunday, May 2nd we left our hotel and drove a few miles away to take a nice three-mile hike around a pretty lake in Coleman Park in the City of Sulphur Springs, Texas.

We are all excited because later today we are driving to the Dallas, Texas area where we are planning a visit with friends from Rochester that moved to Flower Mound, Texas there a few years ago😎.