These are windmills in Texas. There were so many of them on both sides of the road,
we couldn't count them all.

The great Mississippi River in Jackson, MS

Carlsbad Caverns, NM

Mountain Cactus Flower

Carlsbad Sunset

Cavern Beauty

Roswell, NM

We visited the UFO Museum in Roswell............everybody needs
at least one alien, right?

Santa Fe, NM

We had lunch in the park square in Old Santa Fe. Isn't this a beautiful setting to eat Carnitas? They were soft wraps filled with marinated beef strips with onions & peppers that made our mouths burn & our eyes water, but they were really good!

Some of the old buildings in Santa Fe; churches, inns and art galleries.

Highway 64 from Mesa Verde to Taos, NM

On the Rio Grande River, this is a training group, practicing falling out of a raft during a trip through rapids. These folks turned their own rafts over & then climbed back in. Notice the wet suits? The water temp is probably about 40 or 50. We watched them for a while as we were driving on the road above and then pulled over, sat on rocks and photographed them as they came by. They're hardier than we are.





Outside Taos, NM, there is a community of over a hundred earth homes. They are built into the ground about 4 feet & then bermed as well. The houses are completely self-sufficient; they generate their own electricity thru solar and wind power & recycle their water to drink, bathe in, flush toilets & water their indoor gardens. It's a super idea and I'm about ready to build one in Florida. Anybody game???





We drove through the San Juan Mountains on Highway 64 after leaving Mesa Verde. These shots were taken at 10,339 feet! There was snow everywhere, but the roads were kept clear. We were pretty happy to get out of those mountains.

Mesa Verde -- highest road altitude 8571. We drove up & down these roads at 20-35mph for 15 miles just to reach the bus tour we took into the park. The motor home did great!!

The people before the cliff dwelling builders lived in these pithouses. They were dug about 4-5 feet under ground & then covered with poles & branches of juniper and then they mudded over the roof & walls to make them even warmer.

This is a kiva, used for meetings & gatherings.

Cliff dwelling probably housed about 80 people. They farmed on the plateau above.

This is the biggest cliff dwelling we saw -- estimated population 120. They used ladders to move around & they could remove them if threatened. Without the ladders, the dwellings are virtually unreachable.

Some scenery along 191 & 160 near Four Corners.........four state borders meet here, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico & Arizona. It's the only place in the US that this occurs.

Petrified Forest -- these trees are 225 million years old! Erosion & uplift have revealed them as the soil around them disappears and the ground rises from below, pushing them up. Some are still in their original form as they broke into pieces & some moved apart when they tumbled down slopes before coming to rest again. The soil conditions turned them into quartz and they look like they're filled with colored glass.

The terrain in the park is spectacular, huh?

Petroglyphs found in the Petrified Forest -- there were two sites where these were visible.

Painted Desert -- wow -- what else can we say?

GrandCyn-Flagstaff

We had hoped to see the clear walkway at Grand Canyon, but this is what met us as we entered the park. There was 6" of snow on the ground & we caught some flurries while we were taking pictures. Even Judi wasn't interested in walking on a slippery surface today !

This is the watch tower at Desert Trail observation site.


Highway 89 into Flagstaff -- we had snow beside our rv in the park where we stopped.

More Zion

These are more pictures from Zion Nat'l Park.

Zion Nat'l Park

We wanted to post more pictures, but so far none of the rv parks has strong enough internet signals to upload them. We'll have a rash of pix as soon as we get to a good WIFI area.

These are from Zion Nat'l Park in Utah. The first is called 'Weeping Rock'. We walked up a 1/4 mile paved trail past a small waterfall to get here. The rock has water seeping through it and it drips on your head...........there are flowers growing all over the rock face and that area is called 'hanging gardens'. Much older people than Judi were trudging up that trail & making her feel guilty for the burning legs & knees. It took her a little while to get to the top & she doesn't believe it was only a half mile roundtrip. Thank goodness the return was downhill!!



This is a shot of one of the cliffs through the shuttle skylight we took into Zion. A river runs through it, too, and you can get off the shuttle at several stops to walk around, take pictures or start up one of the trails. Shuttles run constantly, so you can pick up the next one when you're ready to go on. We saw rock climbers way up on the side of the cliffs.

We're taking a couple of days off in honor of Mother's Day :)

Today we cooked a pork roast in our little gas oven and it actually turned out pretty good. Today is 'pamper day'. Our children have sent Mother's Day emails & phone calls and we feel quite special.

Tomorrow we drive to Zion Nat'l Park so we'll have more pictures when we find another camp site with WIFI.

Remember, you can see all these pictures in larger size by clicking on them.

We stumbled onto this site just above Cedar City in Utah. It's called the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs historical site. The drawings are thought to be done by prehistoric Paiute Indians.

This is Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park in Utah. Aren't these beautiful? It reminds me of huge office highrises or condos. Our altitude (which impresses the heck out of a native Floridian) was 9115ft in the park. There were times when it was hard to breathe, until we were acclimated to the thinner air.