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 Parkš.
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