Carlsbad Caverns National Park
While in Las Cruces, NM we took the opportunity to go to the Carlsbad Caverns. Since the caverns were about 200 miles from Las Cruces, we decided to drive over to Artesia, NM (about 45 miles north of the park), stay the night & start fresh on Saturday morning. We were fortunate enough to go during the week the national parks had free entrance, so although saving $15/each was a huge bonus, I think the crowds may have been a bit thicker than normal. The caverns are a wonder to see & are referred to as the Grand Canyon below ground. After hiking below ground about 75 stories (750′), we had the opportunity to see limestone caves, crystal clear ponds/creeks, stalagmites & stalagmites. It is quite beautiful, minus the guano smell when you first start down. The hike is pretty intense on the way down due to the steepness of it, but the switchbacks make it possible. It’s all paved, so no fighting loose rock or anything like that. It is semi-lighted, although we had flashlights with us. We were below ground for about 3 hours & then took the elevator back up…no way was I walking back up (& it’s discouraged anyway due to the amount of people going down & the path being a little narrow). It was super humid down there & around 55 degrees so we were glad we were prepared with long sleeves.
Some info from the official Carlsbad website: High ancient sea ledges, deep rocky canyons, flowering cactus, and desert wildlife—treasures above the ground in the Chihuahuan Desert. Hidden beneath the surface are more than 119 caves—formed when sulfuric acid dissolved limestone leaving behind caverns of all sizes.
The first picture below is a little mountain town we drove through on our way to the caverns…don’t remember the name, but it was super cute & cold due to the elevation we were at. Some of the pictures aren’t great due to the darkness, but we tried out best.
Quartzsite, AZ
Didn’t take but a few photos while in Quartzsite! Don’t worry, you aren’t missing much!
Curacao, Dutch Caribbean
Island-hopped over to Curacao for a long weekend. Had a pretty good time at an all-inclusive. Curacao is bigger than Aruba & since we didn’t know our way around too well we tried to stick to the resort & relax. However we did do a little bit of snorkeling for a few hours.
Aruba Pictures
See the blog for more details on our trip here. More adventures to come & photos to be added!
Avenue D – “After” Photos
Here are the after photos…we are thrilled with the way it turned out. Much more info in the blog section. Check it out!
It’s a Construction Zone at Avenue D
What a mess the house turned out to be.
Avenue D, Mississippi – “Before” Photos
It was a long, slow rehab, but we got it done-ish!
Aruba, Dutch Caribbean
We spent the last 2 weeks of September 2023 in Aruba. We met Mom, Dennis & Trent down there & celebrated Mom’s 70th birthday…best 70th birthday she’ll ever have. See the blog for more on our adventures.
Avenue D., McComb, MS
Here’s the pictures we took right after we purchased the house. Haven’t really taken any of the progress, because we can’t seem to get any one thing done…we’re ADD where we get a little done here & there. We’ll need to change that & hopefully soon we can finish up some project & we’ll get some pictures posted of the progress.
May Caribbean Cruise
We went back to Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao…I jumped from the cliff into the water (6th picture)…what a rush!
Hattiesburg, MS
Finally updating some pictures. More in the blog section.
January 2023 Cruise
Check out the blog section for more details on this cruise…it might make some of these photos make sense.
More Galveston Pictures
In addition to these random Galveston & Galveston State Park pictures, we’ve added more pictures below under Galveston & also added some from Kemah.
Kemah Boardwalk
We took a day trip on 1/14/2023 to Kemah Boardwalk at the suggestion of a gal in one of the outlet stores we visited. We were glad we did, because it was great. We had great weather & walked around to see the sights. It’s about an hour north of Galveston, so an easy day trip.
Galveston, TX
What a fun city to walk, bike & drive around.
More pictures below.
Juarez, Mexico
We hopped the border while staying in Las Cruces. El Paso was only about 50 miles away, so we spent the day in Juarez.
Las Cruces, NM
We haven’t taken any photos in Las Cruces, but these photos are of our recent trip to White Sands National Park & Pistachio Land, both outside of Alamagordo, NM. The white sand was cool & felt really good on the toes! I got to make a “snow” angel & didn’t even have to be cold. At Pistachio Land, there were more pistachio flavors than I knew existed…green chile, garlic, maple & brown sugar, dill pickle, lemon pepper, ranch, just to name a few…samples were interesting! We ended up buying pistachio brittle which was super yummy!
Caribbean Cruise
We cruised out of Miami & stopped in the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire & Çuraçao) in the southern Caribbean.
Ship Photos:
Cruise Ship Towel Animals:
Aruba:
Bonaire:
Çuraçao:
Sandia Peak & Tramway
10,300′ above Albuquerque. Beautiful views of the entire Bernalillo Valley that is Albuquerque.
Albuquerque & Santa Fe, NM
Our latest photos from our current location & our Saturday trip to Santa Fe.
St. George, UT &
Zion National Park
This is BEAUTIFUL country!
Parcording
We did a bit of paracording…from bracelets to “people” key chains. The girls had a great time & it absolutely wore mom out! I’ve been making other stuff too since then!
Crescent City, CA