New Mexico & Nevada

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March 2004
Alamogordo, NM We quickly discovered that this was the “birth place” of rocket and jet propulsion. There were several museums with large displays of early rockets and lots of history. We took a nice drive up into the mountains, (9,000 feet to be exact) to see an observatory dedicated just to the sun. It had snowed the days prior and we were treated to about a foot of snow, not to mention several fantastic views of the valley below, and White Sands National Monument. Later that day we found ourselves at White Sands, looking back up at the same mountain and could see the tall white building which was the observatory. From here we drove south into Ghost Town country. We spent one whole day exploring several ghost towns.

Viva Las Vegas: This was our 5th visit to Vegas, but a lot had happened since our last visit; even if it was just 2 years ago. We had a nice visit with a friend of ours from the military, who now lived here and saw a few shows. Cirque de Sole “O” and “Zumanity”, both excellent and unique. We discovered a great buffet at the Aladdin Hotel called the “Spice Market”. Good Eats!!

Pahrump which is 60 miles from Las Vegas was a nice detour to let Kathy reacquaint herself with a friend from her school days. We hadn’t seen one another since high school and found each other through the Classmates.com website. She breeds and raises horses and any other animal that happens by. I felt like I had stepped into a Dr. Doolittle movie set. When we went out to meet her horses we got bumped and rubbed against, our shoes untied and they tried to pull our t-shirts off. The cat called Freeway wraps her paws around your neck and gives hickeys. The 3 dogs are entertaining as well, she lets her border collie out into the corral for a romp where he keeps himself busy trying to herd the horses. When Lynne gets toys for her pets they all play with them. The horses kick and nose a ball around their corral and a bucket only lasts about a week before it gets mangled. Two firsts for me were riding a stallion (okay, I really just sat there while Mike took my picture), and riding a mustang. Lynne’s place was like a breath of fresh air for me. In between visiting Lynne and loving her horses I helped do stable chores. I’m sure she appreciated the help as much as I appreciated the horse interaction. Thanks again Lynne, for the wonderful visit and our reconnection

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