Day 7 - Daiquiri Oasis & Horse Shoe Excitement in Monroe

   We spent the morning just talking with Stu's parents and sister. We did make one important stop....and that was at the Oasis Daiquri . Actually it wasn't a stop it was a drive thru. We couldn't believe our eyes but in Monroe they have a drive thru to get alcoholic beverages.. We pulled up to the drive thru and saw a big sign filled with choices you could have....so many flavors and funny drink names to choose from. Of course, Stu insisted he order a Jamacin me crazy daiquiri for me. I wonder why that was??? I can't believe I had bothered him at all....maybe too much car time ...The drink  was delicious....lots of coconut  in it.

That evening Gary played a great game of horseshoes....and ended up taking 3rd in his age group. Winning both a trophy and cash!!! Celebration time!!!.....

strategizing

 

and unfortunately time to start our long journey back..........hate saying good byes. ..but look forward to being with 'our' family at home.....i bet jamie and nike are counting down the days....???

Day 6 - Aviation Museum & Antique Alley

No trip is complete without a trip to military museum for those that serve. Chenault Aviation and Military Museum has artifacts from all branches dating from Civil war to present time. In particular the museum focuses on Gen. Claire Ler Chennault and the Flying Tigers . There is also a section there from Delta Airlines, which actually started their business in Monroe.  

From there we headed to Antique Alley in another section of Monroe. A great place to browse for those antique treasures. Lunch was next on the agenda and we heard of a great spot along the river. Warehouse one was an old cotton warehouse. Much of the interior is still true to its original purpose. Very quaint and very friendly . Found we were in the South when my sister in law ordered unsweetened tea and our waitress remarked " oh you must be a Yankee!"

View from Restaurant

View of barge from Restaurant

Enjoyed spending the evening watch Gary once again in his zone playing horseshoes . He definitely has a gift for this.No better way to spend the evening catching up with family and just enjoying the conversation.

Day 4 & 5 - Monroe, LA - horse shoes & horsing around the bayou

  Day 4

We drove from Dallas to Monroe Louisiana. In Monroe we met up with Stu's parents and his sister Pam His father was there for the world horseshoe pitching contest .We watched Gary, Stu's dad, practice throwing horseshoes at the civic center there . Stu even threw a few and got a ringer! We went for dinner and spent time catching up.



Day 5

The 5 of us drove to Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge.We took a walk on the boardwalk that stretches out over the Bayou.We got a good sense of what a bayou is like. After this we went to watch Gary at his finest throwing shoes(technical term for throwing horseshoes).

Day 3 - Cavernous Crusades

entrance of the caverns

We drove from Los Cruces to Carlsbad Caverns! we purchased tickets for the self guided audio tour . One Of our favorites was the big room - the size of seven football fields. We walked for 2 hours on the path viewing each section of the caverns in awe.Finally stopping about 800 feet down. In listening to the audio we learned that the water we saw dripping down into the csverns actually came from rain that occurred months ago.

This region was scorched months ago from massive fires that burnt right up to the visitor center. Still the beauty of this place from the outside view to inside wonder will be one of our favorite stops! Had to force ourselves to leave to drive to Dallas.

Day 2 - Dunes & Tunes in New Mexico

We started our 2nd day at 6 am. Now thats what i call a vacation!!! First stop was the Historic District of Las Cruces. Lots of quaint shops and friendly people. One shop owner had a cute shop with countless varieties of salsa. She gave us cardboard boxes for sledding down the dunes at White Sands.Before we headed out we stopped at Break an Egg , a cute restaurant decorated like a movie theater and filled with old movie posters and photos of actors from the 40's. They even play classic movies like Casablanca on tvs. Loved this place!

We drove to Three Rivers Petroglyphs.we hiked to view a few of the 21,000 petroglyphs.can you tell which one is authentic and which one i did with chalk?

Final stop for the day was White Sands, an amazing place. It is the largest gypsum dune field in the world . This is where our cardboard box came in use. Anyone can sled down the dunes and our friendly shop lady (remember her)gave us our needed material. You can tell by the video that wasn't so easy.

Check out the second video and you may see that the problem may have been faulty equipment . Now we are traveling cross country with a new sledding saucer. Perfect ending to the night was a full moon over the dunes and concert . Nothing like dunes and tunes!!!

Day One - Arizona Adventures

Reveille came at 3 am!! I think we woke up the birds as we loaded up our car. The one and perhaps only benefit of such an early departure is that we saw a beautiful sunrise outside of Yuma Arizona!

the rewards of early reveille

My husband, once an aviator always an aviator, planned our romantic first stop --- the avaitional boneyard as it is called on Davis Monthan Air Force base. There are over 4,000 retired aircraft parked there.Most of the planes are military -however we did spot a few from commercial airlines and one Presidential plane.Quite interesting!

the ever-romantic aviational boneyard

Our next stop was Tombstone,Arizona.Tombstone is the site of the O.K. Corral.A legendary gunfight took place there. Wyatt Earps brother deputized Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and one other. He wanted help in disarming some cowboys and there a gunfight ensued.

We also stopped at Boothill cemetery where three of the cowboys were laid to rest.

Boothill Cemetery

Jamie you wouldn't believe some of the stories.Tombstone is like a step back in time to the old west.A Stagecoach will take you for a tour through town and you can view old printing presses in the newspaper office.
Most of these buildings are very authentic.Even the 'townsfolk' are dressed in true 1880's fashion.I even had an amazing experience of riding a horse in the center of the O. K. Corral!!

Taming a bucking bronco

Ended our day in Las Cruces at a fantastic Mexican restaurant and some much needed rest. Only 900 miles to go !!!!!!!!!!!