From Texas, and LouisianaMississippiAlabamaTennesseeKentuckyWestVirginiaMaryland, to Virginia! - Pt 2 AlabamaTennesseeKentuckyWestVirginia

Last time we talked about the beginning of the trip - Louisiana and Mississippi, leaving off with Moss Point, MS on the Gulf Coast...

We crossed through Mobile (which has the COOLEST tunnel under their port.... or so I thought until I drove under Baltimore's bay in the COOLEST tunnel ever!) and headed up to Montgomery, or Birmingham (i don't remember) to crash for the night at a campground. This was back in the day when I needed showers and flush toilets and was willing to pay for them, like a CHUMP, at a private campground. Nowadays I am willing to forgo those niceties for a FREE campground :-).

The next day we headed up to Lynchburg, TN to visit the Jack Daniels Distillery. Neither R or myself is in to whiskey but why not visit anyway. The distillery is set in the hills and is a gorgeous ride... much like the Maker's Mark Distillery visit of my youth. It was a great way to be introduced to the Appalachians. After that stop, we continued north to visit Mammoth Cave National Park. On a previous road trip, R and I went to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and we liked it so much, we decided to check out another one. This cave was very very different from Carlsbad. No huge rooms like "the Big Room", but with over 300 miles of underground riverway, there was plenty to explore.

We chose to hit a ranger-guided tour that involved a bus ride to a more remote part of the cave. There, in a wooded dirt parking lot, was a pad-locked metal doorway into the side of a small hill. Only slightly creepy. The guide warned us that there were over 100 metal steps to go down right at the beginning to get into the main chambers, and they were slippery. Slightly more creepy. He failed to mention the THOUSANDS of SPIDERS that were living at the entrance on the roof overhead, waiting for the door to open and admit the tiniest amount of light. Once they see the light, they begin to bounce. OMG way more creepy!
(If you need a refresher on my history with spiders.... here, and here.) And you can't run, NO, not with the slippery steps of death or the line of 30 people who all want to run with you. NO! I spent the whole walk down the steps alternatively pushing the old man in front of me and squealing "get them off of me!". In actuality, there were no spiders on me. It's a mind-fuck.

Once we got down to the bottom, everyone chilled out. The place was cool and damp, dark and long. Its not overly decorated like Carlsbad but it has some fantastic history. The locals used it as a tuberculosis ward back during the Civil War and up to the turn of the century. Awesome! Survive the spiders to die by TB...

We did survive, and drove on up to Louisville and headed west to West Virginia. In all honesty, I don't remember West Virginia on that trip.... sorry West Virginians. Here - interesting fact to make up for lack of being memorable - If you ironed West Virginia flat, it'd be larger than Texas.

Ok, moving on to Maryland and Baltimore next time!

*If you took nothing else away from this piece, remember to always ask if there will be spiders on your cave tours....

Vacationing in Northern New Mexico... part 3 - Campfires and Pecos history

ok... so we left off with camping and freezing, right?

We drove up into the mountains just outside million dollar homes overlooking Santa Fe, arriving at a gorgeous pine-scented forest service campground with the BEST campsites I've ever seen on public land. At 9,000 feet and with an afternoon storm blowing in (I'm completely convinced that it dumped snow somewhere nearby), it got cold pretty quickly. M went off in search of water (all the spigots were still shut off due to impending May snow), and I quickly put on layers... a long underwear layer, followed by a thermal layer, followed by a fleece skintight layer, followed by a fleece vest layer. To top off my ensemble, I pulled Lennox's Mexican blanket out of the car and wrapped it around me baby-burrito style.

I'm clearly more of a 'sun' person.

When M came back and saw me, he simply laughed and announced that he was heading out into the woods for firewood.... To keep moving, and keep warm, I worked on putting up the tent.

My man and his fire, keeping my feet warm

Reheating his BBQ sandwich from earlier in the day

We spent several hours warming by the fire, reading and talking, while unknown birds made foreign noises above us. M was in charge of keeping the home fires burning while I was in charge of discovering how awesome burning pine cones look. :-) I had leftover cake for dinner - using the theory that Eskimos eat whale blubber and Iditarod dudes eat sticks of butter to keep warm. Denial.... or Genius.....?

Finally the sun went down and I had to add a final layer to my very bulky frame.

Once the fire was out and it was officially too cold, I headed to the bathroom one final time. In this super-awesome campground there was only one issue... the bathroom. Bathroom isn't the term to be used. Latrine is more accurate. A pit-toilet in the freezing cold with spiders and beetles watching can only be described as a latrine. I had girl scout camp flashbacks.... (I should totally tell you guys about my experiences at camp. Another time.) I had taken the flashlight and the lantern with me into the outhouse, but was surprised when I opened the door and a motion-detected light came on. I was more surprised when the fucking light went out 70 seconds later, just as I had pulled my pants (all of my pants) down around my ankles and was hovering (NEVER sit...) over the hole! Before the spiders and beetles could attack, I calmly (re. totally freaked out) ran around, still pants around ankles, trying to find my lantern or flashlight that I had turned off in total confidence of the damn light. I kicked the flashlight into beetle territory and was not going to go fishing for it in the dark. I managed to get the lantern on after what felt like 5 hours. As I stood up, I triggered the motion-light and the room was bright once again.

Note To the Dumb-ass Latrine Designer Guys: Point the fucking motion detector at the toilet, not the corner by the door! OR change the timer for 5 minutes! Who pees, or worse, in 70 seconds from pants down to pants up?!

Anyway, after escaping death in the latrine I headed back to camp to tell M all about my experience. Humility is healthy....


M went right to sleep. I did not. I read until my fingers were frozen then burrowed deep into my 20 degree bag, still in all the layers and the coat, under the Mexican blanket. Throughout the night, as i got warmer and more claustrophobic, I pulled off the layers until I was down to just the one super-sexy electric purple long underwear.

The next morning - I really don't remember the next morning. There was no coffee. I remember that. The plan was to drive back down to spring temperatures and find a breakfast spot with cheap food and tons of coffee.

Once appropriately fueled, we headed to Pecos National Historic Site. M had a friend to see there and I had a passport stamp to acquire.

Ever wonder the difference in quality between a really nice digital camera and an iPhone?  Here....

Top: M's camera with a large battery... mine died. Bottom: my iPhone


Pecos was cool - and by that I mean cold, windy, and truly interesting.

An homage to geology?

I'm totally sure that goofing off for cameras is what the scary evil Conquistadors
had in mind when they built this chapel and killed any natives who wouldn't
submit to the lord.... yep, totally accurate.

heathen!

not to be outdone by the Conquistadors, the natives had their own
ceremonial chambers

heathen squirrel....

totally M's camera, my iPhone wouldn't get this awesome

After hanging with M's friend and touring the grounds, we headed back onto the highway and crossed the most boring section of New Mexico ever created. They really should have tested bombs here, and not in the mountains near the Trinity Site. 5 hours and tons of Todd Snider later, we were back home.

The unpacking took days, but the showering off 5 days of grime took minutes. Nothing feels as good as a shower after a long camping trip!

Vacationing in Northern New Mexico... part 2 - Mountains and Deserts

One of the best parts of Bandelier is it's location to the Jemez Mountains. One afternoon, M and I took a drive up into the aspens to check out a place called Valle Caldera. http://www.vallescaldera.gov/ This national preserve is an experiment in nature preservation. A Board of Trustees manages the land - allowing for recreation, ranching, and natural processes to occur in unison on the land.

The day we visited, it was windy and chilly, so we stayed on the highway instead of hiking down into the 12-mile wide natural caldera. I was hoping for elk but we'd have to get up at 4 am to see them... That's too early for me, vacation or not. So we headed on up the highway and stumbled upon a great little hike by a high mountain stream.

Las Conchas trail runs along the east fork of the Jemez River

The geology was amazing

Michael really wanted to get his feet wet....

It was a bit chilly - he's standing on a thin sheet of ice

yuck....

Someones artwork on a tree - I love random acts of art!

Once we left Bandelier and the mountains, we headed down to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. KKTRNM was the catalyst to going on this trip. M and I saw some pictures of this place and knew we had to go there.

I felt like I was back in the canyons of Utah

Once through the canyon, we climbed to the top of the mesa for some fantastic views!

I think they're a bit phallic.... :-)

Looking down into the canyon and narrows

Ginormous Ponderosa

After the very hot morning hike we headed into Santa Fe for lunch. Found a great local spot, the Blue Corn Brewery, who had excellent food. I highly recommend you check them out if you find yourself up there.

We had planed to camp at a recreation area by a reservoir. We both had reservations about that. Rec areas are notoriously crappy places for tent camping.So we scrapped that idea and headed into the woods once more. We camped our last night at a campground outside Santa Fe at 9,000 ft.... it was more than chilly. More on that next time...

Vacationing in Northern New Mexico.... part 1 - Bandelier (Ruins, Ponderosas, and Lazy Camping!)

M's photo - one of the Ancestral Puebloan
cave homes (caveates)

After a rough week, I was in need of a vacation so M and I road tripped up to northern New Mexico.... Bandelier National Monument, Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, and Pecos National Historic District. It was to be a week of hiking and exploring - my two favorite things!

First things first - driving through east-central New Mexico is extremely boring.

4 hours of this.... ugh

But it got really good so it was worth the drive.

M and I spent 3 days camping and hiking among 1000-year old Ancestral Puebloan ruins among ponderosa pines and amazing rock formations, before stumbling upon a mountain stream above 9,000 feet and hiking among the hoodoos of the flat desert. Oh yeah, all the while learning about ancient peoples, discovering rock art, and hanging out with mother nature. In other words... a perfect vacation.

We had the campground almost completely to ourselves, leaving the crowds below the canyon rim. This was  perfect for so many reasons... no loud families next door, no creepy neighbors to smile at when you step out of the tent first thing in the morning, and completely empty bathrooms.

low-lighting and a cell phone camera = fuzzy M

camp food: fancy-pants homemade risotto with Fritos :-)

Bandelier National Monument is a fantastic place to learn about some of the people who lived in the southwest deserts and canyons between 800 and 1300 A.D. Its also a fantastic place to climb around in the homes they left behind.

Along the main trail in Frijoles Canyon

M, ever a park ranger, takes a photo for the cool couple who took ours
on the ladder

Checking out the inside of an Ancestral Puebloan home

original plastered wall with artwork - preserved for 1000 years...

Bandelier is full of ladder fun! 

We found a lot of pottery shards at one ruin site

seriously, full of ladder fun

Ghostly footsteps of the ancient Ancestral Puebloans,
carved forever in the soft rock

I'd love to look out onto this view from my yard!

 There was also plenty of goofing off to be done...

Scary skull-rock face

Checking out the water levels from a flash flood in 2011

M trying to speed up geologic processes

 Besides the great archaeology, Bandelier was a great place to commune with nature...

M's photo - he loves his black and whites.

Watching a super-cute squirrel find his stash from last fall

Looking down into Frijoles Canyon

M watching the sunset and enjoying the
afternoon silence

me watching the water fall through the canyon

M looking out into the canyon where the Frijoles Creek meets
the Rio Grande

Inquisitive coyote on the side of the road.
He was very responsible and waited until
we passed to cross the street.

The one place you DON'T want to see wildlife....