Page 12 of kengelha Travel Blog Posts


North America » United States » New Mexico April 28th 2009

Our morning began at the New Mexico Museum of Space History, an older museum in Alamogordo. While there, we learned about early rocketry, Skylab, meteorites, etcetera. Jeff & I walked through John P Stapp Air & Space Park while the boys played in a replica of a Mercury capsule. (No one with claustrophobic need have applied!) Our next stops were in Roswell, where Mark Akland told us we had to go. The AAA Guidebook listed the Roswell Museum and Art Center as a GEM, so that's where we went first. It includes Dr Goddard's original laboratory, where he designed early rockets. They also have exhibits about western history--native Americans, conquistadors, etcetera. Most of the museum is art, though, and some of it was fabulous. Some was more contemporary and a bit on the weird side, but ... read more
Roswell Museum & Art Center
New Mexico Museum of Space History
Int'l UFO Museum

North America » United States » New Mexico April 27th 2009

We spent last night in Silver City, the biggest city relatively near to Gila Cliff Dwellings. Jeff and the boys had a big breakfast at Holiday Inn Express and we headed off the forty-four miles to the monument. We should have worried a bit when the sign said "travel time two hours," but we've done worse. About 1/4 of the way in, Liam asked the title question. Since the answer was no, he puked all over himself and his car seat (fortunately not all over everything). I was able to find his tray which served as a bucket for the next few times. Did I mention we were on a narrow windy mountain road with no shoulder? By the way, he had sausage, eggs and cranberry juice for breakfast, among other things. We made it to ... read more
Gila Cliff Dwellings Nat'l Monument
Gila Cliff Dwellings Nat'l Monument
Gila Cliff Dwellings Nat'l Monument

North America » United States » New Mexico April 26th 2009

This morning, we drove from Gallup to El Morro National Monument. We were told that bull snakes may be sunning themselves on the path, which is never a good thing to tell Jeff (because he's very much not fond of snakes) or Liam (who thinks it'd be really cool to see a snake). We didn't end up seeing any, which was fine with me. We did have a nice time walking around the Inscription Loop Trail. At one point, I told the boys to watch out for the number 11 and Cole was the first to recognize it. Where'd that come from? My favorite two inscriptions were E Pen Long and R H Orton, which I think are both pictured here. Cole was very glad to have seen bugs--one that looked like similar to ones at ... read more
El Morro Nat'l Monument
Salinas Pueblo Missions Nat'l Monument
Salinas Pueblo Missions Nat'l Monument

North America » United States » Arizona April 25th 2009

After Liam decided we needed to go to the Grand Canyon on this trip, too, we changed up our itinerary a little bit. Unfortunately, it meant getting up early. Jeff was up at 5, but we still didn’t get out of the hotel until 6:30ish. Thankfully it’s Saturday morning so traffic around Phoenix wasn’t too bad. Our first stop was Montezuma Castle National Monument in Camp Verde, Arizona. It is Junior Ranger Day in the national parks, so Liam and Cole both received laminated guides for a scavenger hunt. Liam had a blast singing a new song, “We’re going on a scavenger hunt, a scavenger hunt, a scavenger hunt . . .” He found cacti and other spiky plants, a tiny lizard, a squirrel, and of course the ruins. He was disappointed to not see any ... read more
Grand Canyon Nat'l Park
Tuzigoot Nat'l Monument
Grand Canyon Nat'l Park

North America » United States » Arizona April 22nd 2009

I really despise driving all night. It wasn't bad from 5-7, but boy am I tired. It doesn't help that it's so dry down here that my eyes feel like sandpaper. (Now I remember why I don't want to live here). We decided to take a slightly different route through northern Arizona to drive through Monument Valley. We had planned to pull in and pay to do the self-guided tour, but saw many formations from our drive on 163 and decided not to. It would've been nice to have the map beforehand to be able to identify the monuments, but it was still impressive. The sun was in a weird place, though, so the pictures aren't fabulous. We also decided to stop at Navajo National Monument, just off 160. The guidebook mentioned two ranger-led tours, which ... read more
Monument Valley
Navajo Nat'l Monument
Monument Valley

North America » United States April 21st 2009

The boys have been lovely so far. Jeff tells me Cole was in a huge mood for most of the day, so why is it that he is an angel once we are on vacation. Is it actually not our boys and us who are the problem? The car is telling us we will get to Scottsdale tomorrow evening after 11. It is going to be a miserable day if that’s true. I even got out of work 45 minutes early, thanks to all my appointments coming early, bless their hearts. We’re going a different direction than originally planned, too, putting us coming in from the north. We’ll be going by Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments, our destinations for Saturday. I proposed stopping there tomorrow, at which point we realized Jeff left our National Parks ... read more
Liam

North America » United States April 21st 2009

We've got a list. The clothes are in. We're going to forget something, because we always do. I feel bad leaving right after work because it leaves Jeff to do all the packing. Okay, maybe I don't feel so bad. The boys have been in Texas once. It was another spoke vacation, staying near Canyon Lake and taking day trips to Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Austin. We also stopped in Dallas on the way down and back (so we could see the Packers play at Texas Stadium). Jeff and I drove through northern Texas on Route 66. We saw Cadillac Ranch, of course, and also took a tour at Alibates Flint Quarries Nat'l Monument, which probably not that many people have done. This trip will keep us in west Texas before making a mad ... read more
Mission Concepcion (2007)

North America » United States April 19th 2009

It's 42 and overcast right now, limiting my desire to do much. It's supposed to get to 98 in Scottsdale today and be 80s all week in southern New Mexico. Sigh. We will spend the majority of this trip in New Mexico, seeing most of the NPS sites we haven't gotten to yet. As I mentioned yesterday, we did some in 2004 while driving through on Route 66. Specifically, we visited Ft Union, Petroglyph, and Bandelier (where we first saw Abert's squirrels). We also spent a day in and around Santa Fe, disappointed that we couldn't tour the Los Alamos National Labs as Jeff did when he was younger and that the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum was closed. We did see the Rattlesnake Museum, though, and played an unusual game of hide and seek with a little ... read more
Petroglyph Nat'l Monument (2004)

North America » United States April 18th 2009

When planning this trip, I thought working Monday and Tuesday made sense. Leaving as soon as possible after work and driving 24 hours made sense. What on earth was I thinking? (Jeff just helpfully suggested a different schedule would be nice.) It's not that I don't mostly enjoy what I do, but I want to be gone. Yesterday it was 70+ here and sunny. Today's good, too, but tomorrow it won't get above 50 and it's supposed to rain. We should be gone. But we're not. So instead, I'm exploring travelblog.org. Some of the posts are really interesting and people are going places Jeff & I will most likely never see. This blog will be tame in comparison. That's okay. This is for our families to see our travel photos without having to slog through my ... read more
Walnut Canyon Nat'l Monument (2004)
Tonto Nat'l Monument (2005)




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