Last trip for 2010: back to Colorado!

After being home for a month and two days, it was time for us to get on the road again. We had been home long enough to get things cleaned up, finish the scrapbooks for the grandchildren, do Christmas shopping, wrap presents, bake and drive down to Tucson twice! It was a busy month! Besides that, Don had to be an usher at church and I had altar duty for the entire month of November. Where is all this spare time we're supposed to have when we retired??!

We left on December 2nd, and the drive to Colorado was uneventful. I even remarked to Don how the weather was better than it had been in May when we did the same trip. I should have not made the statement....it came back to bite me two weeks later!

We arrived at Ken and Lisa's house early Friday afternoon, Dec. 3rd. Their house in Parker, Colorado backs up to an open space and they always have plenty of wildlife around. They even had raccoons climb up to their second story deck, much to the chagrin of their two cats. The two deer pictured below are just beyond their back fence. The next evening the 4 of us were in downtown Denver to have dinner and then watch the light parade. I was sure glad the temperatures were above normal that night, since I get cold very easily.

The next weekend found us at Bret and Kim's home in Windsor, just in time for us to watch Tatum, Nate and Ella in their Christmas program at church. After church we all gathered at their house for a pre-Christmas meal and to exchange presents.

Below is Tatum (11), Bret, Ella (3 1/2 yrs), Kim and Nate (8 1/2). The kids were still on their best behavior since the presents hadn't been opened up yet!
Ken and Lisa joined us for the day, driving an hour and a half from their house. There was no snow this year, so their drive was much easier.
For the two weeks we were in Colorado, there was no snow on the ground. What does it start to do the night before we leave for home? Snow, of course! We were surprised that Raton Pass was clear and the road was dry. However, by the time we reached Las Vegas, New Mexico, the snow was coming down hard. The CD was playing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" and we were hoping to make it to Santa Fe without it getting much worse. We loved seeing the high desert draped in white, but sure didn't like driving in it!

Our plans before the storm were to drive to Gallup. Forget that. Even before we got to Santa Fe we were down to 30 mph. We stopped at 2 PM and by the 6 o'clock news they were stating that I-25 was shut down between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and I-40 was also closed. The next morning I was outside with the camera to capture the snowfall on the wall outside the pool.
The storm forced us to take the long way home, through Deming, NM and Tucson since they were predicting even more snow along the I-40 corridor. At least we made it home in time for Hailey and Kyla's Christmas program at Grace Church. Can you tell that Kyla was really liking that lip gloss she got recently? Their program was a week later than the one in Greeley, thank goodness.
Here we are on Christmas Day at Glen and Heidi's home in Glendale, Arizona. Hailey is now 11 years old and Kyla is 8 years.
The Lord has richly blessed us this year and kept us safe during our travels. Praise the Lord, for He is good and His mercy does endure forever. We look forward to traveling again next year, seeing new places and meeting up with family and friends along the way.

Las Cruces and Karchner Caverns

Well, I am finally catching up on the blog! We got home November 1st, and there was plenty of work waiting for us. Not only did we have an overgrown yard, but this year we had to completely empty our trailer to get rid of the brown stink bugs that had managed to ride with us all the way from Pennsylvania! Every last piece of clothing, towel, book, box, etc. had to be gone through. Ugh! All the clothes were run through the dryer before being put back into the trailer or brought into the rest of the house.

Our last stops on our summer trip were Las Cruces, New Mexico and Kartchner Caverns State Park near Benson. Kartchner Caverns is a great campground and at that time of the year was not crowded at all. We had our pick of spots in the campground. At night, Sandy, Jerry, Don and I walked around the park just to look at the Milky Way that streamed across the darkened sky.

Even though we had a nice shade tree by our site, it was too cool and windy to sit under for our evening meal.
We did manage to get in a short hike in the park. Sandy and Jerry stopped on the trail long enough for me to get a picture of them. They are going to try their hand at being hosts at this state park for a few months early next year. I know they'll do a great job.
Here we are pulling into the Sunny Acres RV Park in Las Cruces.
Even though we didn't stay here long, we managed to get in a trip to the small town of La Mesilla, where we bought Hatch chilies, local pecans, gifts and some excellent wine. This quaint little town once was a mail stop for the Butterfield Overland Trail back in the years 1858 to 1861.
In addition to this, Mesilla is famous for the place where Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to hang for his crimes. Guess the sheriff wasn't "Kidding" around with Billy. The building below also housed the capitol of Arizona and NewMexico before it became the courthouse. We supported the local economy by purchasing gifts and other items here.