Let's Go To Papagos! Everybody Let's Go!

 Over 52,000 acres, the Petrified Forest is home to most famously the fallen fossilized trees that were from the Late Triassic period, about 225 million years ago.

With all these parking buttons and kiosks we’ve used, we’ve discovered one common thing. The three of us girls are pretty short. And sometimes, well to be frank, most of the time, we just can’t reach the buttons without crawling halfway through the window, or sending out back up from the passenger seat.
We decided we just need to invest in one of those sticks with a hand on the end.

Historic landmarks such as the BNSF Railway, Southern Transcon, the Puerco River, and U.S. Route 66 all are crossroads within the park!

 "Because I have to go to work."



The next day's bizarre 80 degree weather made our day very hot and beautiful as we hiked around (and up through the hole!) of the red rocks at Papago Park!



The view of the city was unmatched atop that rock and created the perfect place to soak up some Phoenix sun and watch the city buzz with life.



Memorializing Arizona’s support during the wars, the grounds of the Capitol has one of the most well done and beautiful memorial parks that we’ve seen.



Without the brave men and women who are fighting for our freedom, it would not be possible for us to be exploring this wonderful country.

Waterfalls are always a wonder, whether they are natural or man made, but even more so when it’s in the middle of a desert!

The Arizona falls, formed by a natural 20 foot drop, rests on the grounds of a hydroelectric plant in Phoenix. Built in the 20th Century it remains a historic place of enchantment for learning, interaction, and reflection.

 "Usually to pee!"

The tales of Dreamy Draw Dam are ones of intrigue, mystery…and sheer speculation. Crashing head first into the hot Arizona sand, an alien spacecraft is said to have made an unexpected and permanent landing on Squaw Peak on a hot fall night.

Discovered by a local, two 4 ½ foot life forms were recovered from the wreckage and stored in his freezer until officials came and toted them off.

Shortly after the whole incident occurred, the Army Corp of Engineers concealed the wreckage with transported building material that they erected into Dreamy Draw Dam…a dam with not a trace of water around it.

We may never know what happened here on that night of October 1947, but the humming coming from the grounds of the dam, the abundant fences, and the many Area Closed signs sure could lead someone to figure this strange mystery out.

To the lovely scenic rocks of Arizona & mysterious dams,
Love,
The Crew

Gunslinging Girls of the Wild West

Us girls usually spend most of our time with guns hunting deer.  But we are also not opposed to a bit of target practice either.  Especially when that target practicing involves musical targets!

Pick a song.  Hit the targets.  Simple as that. 

The targets are set up in proper scale order. 

And us girls couldn't have been happier as we tried to pluck out the riff from Smoke on the Water!

Thanks Cowboy Johnny for letting us use your firearms!

After a morning of target practicing, we'd worked up quite the appetite which led us to the St. James Hotel.

Infamous for its rowdiness, this hotel was known as the go to place for gunslingers in its day.  

The decor reflects the hotel's history by keeping preserved famous rooms and details such as bullet holes in the ceiling tiles.

"I get to be of service to others because of my sobriety and since life is an adventure."

The St. James Hotel bar remains original to the establishment.

Home to wide open spaces, Raton is also home to friendly people and a fun downtown.

   

Walking around downtown Raton. Pronounced Ra-Tone  Don't say, Rattin'.  You'll get kicked out.

"I wake up in the morning because I love my job(s)... And I love my town!"

"I wake up in the morning because I am happy to wake up. Because I am old."

We especially love the American flags and family owned businesses, like Solano's.

"I wake up in the morning because I have a beautiful home with four acres-love to see the sun rise and walk with my dogs on my property. Life is good I look forward to waking up and living life here in Raton!"

Be sure to check out their collection of retired cowboy and cowgirl hats circling the store, donated by actual ranch hands!

"I wake up because my friend Pepper wakes me up."
"I wake up to make my sweetie coffee and have coffee with the boys and feed my horse bullet!"

We even stopped to see Johnny and Karen one last time...and get a bite of Johnny's spectacular stuffed peppers!

"I wake up in the morning because I wonder what is around the corner and I am compelled to experience it."

Thanks to our amazing New Mexico family! We really had an epic time watching & living the Western life! :)

To another great day out in the west,

Love,

The Crew

Driving Tank to Tank

As much as we tried to avoid the tumbleweeds, we still arrived to our destination in New Mexico sporting a mighty fine one all tangled up on the front of our car.

If there ever was a time we looked like we weren't from around those parts, it was probably then, with a tumbleweed practically a fourth the size of our car.

Without directions to the Ranch, our New Mexico family said, they'd be waiting for us on the side of the road in a black SUV, so we could follow them to their house...  sketchy, for sure.  But we were so glad to see a familiar smiling face after a few hours driving through the desert Texas panhandle.

No matter how many western's you've seen it truly is hard to describe the wide open spaces present in the land of New Mexico.

With this landscape comes a particular kind of beauty for sure.  And we were excited to spend the next couple of days exploring something that really is so very different from home.

One of the first things anyone needs to know about Sarah is that she adores snow, but not necessarily the cold.  Which for anyone who's been through weather class, knows that this can pose quite the problem.

New Mexico was glorious because not only was there snow, but it was sixty beautiful degrees out, and that was perfect for us to go hiking!

...and even a bit of rock climbing!

Be wary however of the clever cacti that sneakily hide underneath the lovely glistening piles of snow. It's not the snows fault. But just keep your toes away from that vegetation of death that are the cacti needles.

Usually driving gas tank to gas tank on the road, we had to alter this rule slightly for our vast western trek.

Now we drive until we see a gas station and then quickly pull over. You never know when, or if, there will be another one for the next few hundred miles of tumbleweeds.

 

To climbing rocks and avoiding the cacti!

Love, 

The Crew

The Theory of our 'Come At Me Bro' Driving

Sure Vanilla Coke is nice, Sprite’s a good pick me up, but Dr Pepper? Dr Pepper has the degree that really cures all.

And where better to have the birthplace of Dr Pepper than Waco, Texas itself?

"I gotta go to work."

"My cat needs to be fed."

We weren’t exactly brave enough to try their signature ‘hot Dr Pepper’, but we had to stop off on our way to Dallas for a quick Dr Pepper float!

Dallas is a special place for many people. Some know it as their favorite place to visit, others know it as their home, but for the nation as a whole, it is a remembrance for where our  beloved former President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot 200 yards away from this plaza. The light that glow below this stone memorial at night gives the impression to any passerby that the columns are floating on light.

"I wake up to go to work and make money."

Smack dab in a grove by the streets of Dallas you can be up close and personal with a real life statue collection of a Cattle Drive!

Jeanette and Jennifer even hoisted themselves up (well, with a little help from Sarah and our friend Tony) and fit right in with the whole rope wrangling scene!

Some things in Dallas really are quite eye opening.

Like this giant eyeball in the middle of a courtyard. There was lots of construction going on, and we’d left our ladder in our other bag, so we had to settle with just seeing it from behind the fence. Less time at the huge eye meant more time at the hospital though!

The lobby of the Baylor Medical hospital that is. And that’s where we found the Adrian E. Flatt M.D. Hand Collection. In an attempt to prove that there wasn’t a stereotypical ‘surgeon’s hand’, Dr. Flatt began his collection of bronze hands castings with those of fellow surgeons.

Eventually he expanded his collection to include a wide variety of hand castings including Walt Disney, Dr. Seuss, Abraham Lincoln, and one of our favorites: Ethel Merman from I Love Lucy! The collection today now holds over 100 castings and is open to the public 24 hours a day.

"I get up in the morning when my peeps open."

We pulled into the graveyard quite a bit later than we’d planned.  Knowing of her reputatuon and having heard more when we visited Kentucky, one of the most infamous criminal duos, Bonnie and Clyde were cornered, captured, and killed on May 23rd 1924. While they are now buried in separate grave sites, their notoriety lives on inseparably.

"So I can use the bathroom. I don't return to bed because I want to end every day contributing more to society than taking from it."

"I can't sleep past 6:00 because that was my Dad's wake up time."
"Another day, another opportunity. Besides, my wife wakes me up!"

Thank you bunches to our incredible Northern Texas family! It was so great to meet you all and chat with fellow travelers!

This adventure has brought about many new experiences for us girls.  One of which to date is the idea of a 'Wind Warning.'  Listening to the radio as we're going along we hear the announcer state that if anyone has anything to do today, to do it all in the morning because there is a wind warning for the afternoon...

We weren't sure exactly what that meant, but now we know.

Turning your wheel to the side while driving straight, was our first sign.  Then when we stopped at the Cadillac Ranch for some pictures we had to be especially careful opening our car doors because they slammed right back shut.

We thought we liked the idea of tumbleweeds.  We had seen them in movies and seemed so neat.  They made us feel like we were really traveling west!  How exciting!

That was, until they started attacking us. What is the protocol for this?  Do you slow down?  Do you speed up?  We just knew we probably didn't want to hit them.
It was like playing a professional game of Frogger as we systematically attempted to avoid the horizontal confrontations…AND the tumbleweeds that would roll down beside us like they owned their own lane or something.
It was really quite frightening.

Until we developed the Theory of our ‘Come At Me Bro’ Driving, then we picked up a little extra confidence.
The theory is as easy as this and can be applied to both tumbleweeds and rude drivers.
We know that we’re from a small town and our car is tiny.
We understand that you’ve got places to go, but so do we.
We’re not asking for much, just to let us change lanes every once in a while and drive without the fear of being swallowed by a rolling ball of foliage.
And frankly, we’ve driven our sweet car over 18,000 miles in the last 3 months.
So Come at Me, Bro. We’ve had the last 32 states to prepare us for this.

But seriously, please just be nice.

To not being swept away by a tumbleweed,

Love,

The Crew