Since Claudia and I have never been to New Mexico, our expectations were high.  We were not disappointed.  Our first stop was at Carlsbad Caverns which is like no other cave that we've ever seen. We decided to hike the mile and a quarter trail down to the main area of the caves rather than take the elevator. Then we hiked for another mile and a half to see the prime areas of the cave including enormous rooms and tiny passages.  We spent three hours exploring and enjoying each section.  Unfortunately, no pictures can describe
the beauty and size of Carlsbad Caverns.  This is one place you need to see for yourself to appreciate.  We also took a drive over to the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens, a State Park a short drive from our campground.  It was a beautifully laid out environment with lots of potential but unfortunately, most of the animals were hiding.  The next day, Claudia, Stella and I headed back to Carlsbad National Park for a 9.5 mile scenic drive.  The National Park Service has built a dirt road (more like a trail) through the mountains around the caverns.  The road is not traveled by many and gave us the feeling that we were all alone in the wilderness.  We made hairpin turns, drove through dry creek beds and saw some of the most beautiful country ever.  We almost "chickened out" when we saw the road we were planning to take but the car held up fine and we are so glad we went.  We arrived at our next stop in Las Cruces, New Mexico after a beautiful 3 hour drive.  The weather was perfect as we drove through some gorgeous scenery along the Guadalupe Mountains and across the Salt Flats in Texas.  Once in Las Cruces, we took a 210 mile scenic drive (not including side trips) that felt more like 400 miles but every mile was something special. Our first stop was at White Sands National Monument.  Come to find out, there really isn't a "monument" there.  The sand is the monument.  And there's a lot of it.  Miles upon miles of powdery white sand always cool and as soft as anything you've ever touched.  At one point we took off our shoes and climbed a couple of dunes.  Even Stella struggled to work her way up the dunes and through the sand.  Then it was off for a trip through part of the Lincoln National Forest.  We saw beautiful mountains and canyons on our way up to the Mescalero Apache Indian reservation and saw snow for the first time since we left home.  Of course, we were thousands of feet high and when we took a drive up to the Windy Point Vista Lookout just below the summit of Sierra Blanca we were just under 12,000 feet.  That ride by the way, was a white knuckle drive up 10 miles of switchbacks, mostly without guardrails.  We didn't take a lot of pictures on the drive because we both had our eyes closed (LOL).  The drive back down was even scarier.  Our last stop on our scenic drive was at the Three Rivers Petroglyph site where there are thousands of petroglyphs.  On the way we witnessed the devastation from an enormous forest fire that happened two years ago.  It was
amazing how much of an area was completely destroyed and we could clearly see where the fire line ended as we left the area.  New Mexico turned out to be a real pleasant surprise for us and we enjoyed all our travels through the areas we
covered.  Next year we’ll be returning to see more of the northern portion of the state and we’ll be looking forward to it.  Ed

In Florida, they’re called Snow Birds.  In Texas, Winter Texans.  These are the Americans and Canadians who head south for the winter to escape the cold.  It looks like we’re Winter Texans this year because after San Antonio, we decided to head back down to Sandpipers Resort in Edinburg rather than heading north and west to New Mexico as originally planned.  It’s just too early to head north with the weather being as cold as it has been north of us.  The weather was great after returning to Edinburg and we had a blast.  I played plenty of tennis and we both played lots of water volleyball.  I even participated in a water volleyball tournament and our team won a silver medal.  Claudia also tried Pickleball (a variation of tennis) and she continued with her bi-weekly sessions of Zumba.  We also enjoyed our 4:00 happy hours on most days. One evening we decided to go to the pavilion and encourage some of our fellow campers doing karaoke. Little did I know that one of my new "friends" would put my name in to perform.  Yes, I did do karaoke and I sang "The Great Pretender".  I walked off the stage to a standing ovation but I'm sure the standing ovation was due a lot more to the fact that I got on stage than with my singing talent.  On one day, Claudia and I joined our friends Randy & Sue for a trip into Mexico.  We spent the day doing lots of shopping, eating and drinking.  We parked in the US and then walked across the bridge to Mexico.  We also enjoyed a day in Brownsville with about 80 others from our campground to participate in a "Shrimp Boil".  We took a tour of a shrimp boat, learned all about how shrimp fishing happens and were able to sample some shrimp that just came off the boat.  Yum!!  There’s nothing like wild caught shrimp.  After a final morning of tennis, we spent our last day in Edinburg enjoying a special happy hour where we were able to say goodbye to all our new friends at Sandpipers.  Once we left Edinburg, we made a brief 2 night stop at Lake Case Blanca State Park in Laredo, Texas where we were able to enjoy a couple of great hikes over some typical Texas landscape.  When we left Laredo, we headed out early for what we thought was going to be a long, boring, seven hour drive to Fort Stockton.  That tells you how little we knew about the area we were about to cross. We decided to take the Pecos Trail running along the Mexican border rather than the interstate.  What a great decision that was.  We finally saw the Texas that we had only seen in pictures and western movies.  With the flat lands behind us, we drove past beautiful canyons, rolling hills and mesas that were just gorgeous.  This trip only added to our excitement for what we still have ahead of us.  Once we arrived in Fort Stockton we took a day to explore some of the history there.  Fort Stockton started out as just a fort, primarily consisting of Buffalo Soldiers used to protect the settlers and travelers through the area from Apache and Comanche attacks.  The nearest town was over 300 miles away.  When it did develop into a town itself, it became a typical wild west town full of gunfights.  This was the first major visit to Texas for both Claudia and I and we were thrilled with what we saw.  We hadn’t realized how beautiful Texas is.  We’ll be going back!!  Ed