Phoenix, AZ

Dates of stay: Jan 24 - 26, 2022

Campground: Casa Grande RV Resort

Sad to leave Tucson as we loved our time there and 4 days wasn’t enough! That said, Phoenix was a fun stop as we got to see a lot of friends and family. Arrived at the RV park - we are easily 10-15 years younger than everyone else camped here! It is actually a bit difficult to find an RV park in and around the Phoenix area that is under 55 AND takes kids. But this place did. Very nice - great hot tub and pool and very friendly. They had a small market one morning selling Native American themed jewelry and fresh lemons - a huge bag for a buck!

During our time here, we had the Megan Gehrke family (her, husband and 3 boys) over for tacos at the RV. I made a big pitcher of really good lemonade with those lemons! They moved from Farmington, MN about a year ago and so it was fun to be able to swing through and see them. I was also able to visit my friend Nancy for the first time in real life. We met each other through Refine, a Christian women’s networking group, and she lives in Wisconsin. Funny thing is is that just a couple of weeks ago, she posted on Facebook that she was at an RV resort in Phoenix for the winter - just so happened she was about 15 minutes from where we were staying! So I made the trek over and we had so much fun chatting.

Finally, we spent the majority of time visiting Charlie and Rita Healy, Tom’s uncle and aunt, as they winter in the Phoenix area. We hung out at their place and had the chance to visit an amazing museum - the Zelma Basha Salmeri Gallery - which has one of the world’s largest private collection of contemporary Western American and American Indian art in the world. This one was a favorite:

We departed Phoenix the next day for Sedona, and had an extremely close call with a pilot car trailing a wide load - they pulled out RIGHT in front of us at a high speed. Thankfully, Tom is so adept at maneuvering this rig - crisis averted thankfully!

Tucson, AZ

Dates of stay: Jan 20 - 24, 2022

Campground: Gilbert Ray - Tucson Mountain Park

We arrived at a beautiful county campground, outside of the city. It’s gorgeous! So many huge saguaro cactus and we have a lovely spot to catch the sunsets. The coyotes were out tonight and howling, right by our campsite, I swear - they sounded so close. There are lots of great trails here to explore.

Gorgeous weather, and we did a hike on the Golden Gate trail, just out of our campsite. We’ve noticed that people are popping the hoods of their RVs and cars open. We asked a ranger about this, and she said it is due to the packrats - they rest in the warmth of the engines at night because they are heated up by the sun. Sometimes they chew on the wires and can do a lot of damage. Supposedly the drafting helps prevent it; we were also told that essential oils sprayed around the area help (I did this), and string lights under the vehicle also helped - which also makes for pretty campsites I found out! We enjoyed another gorgeous sunset on our second evening, and made pizza on the blackstone (so that must’ve been a Friday)…

Side note: during this trip, we found out that Mom and Dad Conn purchased a home in Florida, so we are excited to have a place to escape to NEXT winter!

We also discovered the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, which was just 5 minutes from our campground. Using the term museum to describe this place definitely falls short. It’s home to a zoo, an aquarium, botanical gardens, an art gallery, an education center, an incredible raptor show, fossils, and more. The docents - both junior and adult docents - were incredibly well versed and taught us quite a bit. We spent almost the entire day there (6 hours) and still didn’t see everything. The day we were there, they had a mineral hunt going on for the kids. There were stations around the entire museum, and at each station, you would learn about certain minerals and then you would be able to have a specimen of each of the minerals. Was a pretty neat way to engage the kids. There is also an art gallery here, which is focused on conservation of all sorts of animals - it’s a really lovely place. Even the onsite restaurant was decent! Not to mention, the gift shop was really nice and we picked up our own little Saguaro cactus…

The museum sits on the edge of the Saguaro National Park, so we drove through this area to see all the cacti. We drove a scenic loop that took us by the rock art, and other areas that were built by the CCC in 1933 - ramadas, picnic areas, restrooms. The rock art here didn’t come close to what we saw at Seminole Canyon, but it was still interesting.

It rained tonight (which I am hoping will make the cacti flower), and also watched the Packers in the playoff game. Happy we were able to stream it. But they lost.

On our last day, we found the Titan Missile Museum, as this was a highly recommended stop by the Fulltime Families facebook group. So glad, because it was jaw-dropping amazing. From the website: “At the Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Arizona, visitors journey through time to stand on the front line of the Cold War. This preserved Titan II missile site, officially known as complex 571-7, is all that remains of the 54 Titan II missile sites that were on alert across the United States from 1963 to 1987.”

Our tour guide served for four years here when he was in his early 20s. He was an outstanding guide, and he took us through a simulation to give us the experience of what it would have felt like if they were given the instructions to launch the missiles. It was bone-chilling in a way, and a very moving experience. As I still remember the movie “The Day After” from the 80s, which was all about middle American during the Cold War, this visit made that part of my childhood very real and it gave us all a close up look at how these individuals were serving during this time frame. HIGHLY recommend visiting if you are in the Tucson area - be sure to make reservations in advance. Today, the escape hatches are permanently locked into place and kept partially open so that the Russian satellites can see into the area, which was an agreement as part of the peace treaty when these things were decommissioned.

Wrapped up our final day with an afternoon bike ride through the desert scrub, and amongst all the cacti. Bumpy, rocky, sandy, not well marked, but fun. And thankfully, we did not end up on any cacti. Off to Phoenix to visit family and friends.

Deming, NM

Dates of stay: Jan. 19, 2022

Harvest Host stop!

We had one night in New Mexico, which happened to be at the D. H. Lescombes Winery, which is a Harvest Host location. We arrived around noon, and had our pick of the parking lot - which was huge. Over the afternoon, there were about 6-7 other RVs and vans that pulled into the location and we still had plenty of room.

They have a lovely tasting room, so we took advantage of this Wednesday afternoon to try their wines and grab a bite to eat. We also just happened to run into the only other couple in the place at that time - who were from Minneapolis! A very small world indeed.

Grabbed dinner from a Mexican food truck in town, drove around for a bit, then headed back for a quick overnight stay. Our next destination: Tucson!

Alpine, TX

Dates of stay: Jan 14 - 19, 2022

Campground: The Lost Alaskan

We departed Lajitas for Alpine, TX - decided to extend our stay here until Wednesday, given the weather in Carlsbad which is cold and below freezing. We just didn’t want to have to make an unnecessary move, so we’ll just visit Carlsbad Caverns from here.

After pulling into the Lost Alaskan RV resort, we went to explore the town. After getting skunked on a propane refill at Tractor Supply - again (kind of becoming a trend for us), we were driving down the road and saw a sign that said “Sul Ross student meat market.” Sul Ross is a state university and of course, I was intrigued so we had to pull in. It’s run and managed by the university and it’s students. It’s mission is to teach best practices in the area of agricultural and butchering processes. They butcher and process all of the meats onsite at this facility and then sell everything to the public - and by everything, I mean everything (hearts, organs, etc). We passed on those but picked up some hamburgers, breakfast sausage and beef jerky. We made a stop at the visitor center, which is really a must on these stops and walked away with an armful of brochures and maps.

On our drive around town, we came to a very low bridge, commenting that the RV would never make it - well neither did the Sleep Number truck we encountered on the other side. Apparently, the driver was either not paying attention or wasn’t sure of the height variance but the top of his truck had been completely sheer off - it looked like a giant sardine can with the top completely rolled back. It was certainly and interesting site and not an experience we want to have….

The next day, we started off a very cool morning at the very small Farmer’s market - a bread stand, a place to buy microgreens, and a stand with jams and pickles. Pretty sparse, but we picked up some sourdough and cinnamon raisin bread. Tom and Owen went in search of an oil change for the Jeep and I wanted to explore some of the murals that the town is known for. There are also a number of shops and galleries that looked intriguing. I found so many beautiful paintings and photographs of the Big Bend area, pottery, other sculptures - but once again, reminded of the space constraints in the RV!

We explored the MCDonald Observatory Observatory and took a guided tour of one of the massive telescopes they have on their campus - approximately 200 tons of it. One of the telescopes here was the first to measure the distance of the earth to the moon, within 2 inches accuracy. Today, the measurements are within 1/2 an inch!

We took a 3 hour drive up to Carlsbad Caverns National Park (CAVE). On our way there, we passed the Prada “store” in Valentine, TX, complete with tumbleweed passing in front of it. This is actually an art installation that was created by artists in Malfa, in collaboration with Prada. I read about it years ago, so it was fun to see this on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

Our drive up to Carlsbad was beautiful, as it took us through the Guadalupe Mountains and we finally arrived at CAVE. The crowds at this time of year are very low, and it was a wonderful time to visit. We entered via the Natural Entrance (you can take an elevator from a different spot), but if you are physically able, walking through the natural entrance is absolutely amazing. This is basically the bat cave, and in the summer, you can see them fly out of here in the afternoon as they go hunting during the night. Inside the cavern it is very cool - about 53 degrees, so dress warm.

We highly recommend the audio tour for an extra $5 pp, as it really enhances the experience as it has info on the history of the cave’s discovery, indepth data on the geology, and the overall composition of the caverns and how they’ve been explored and preserved over the years.

There’s a “lunchroom” area, which actually used to serve the crowds back in the 50s (fried chicken was the best, supposedly) and there is a post office box where you can mail postcards from. Today, it still serves but only drinks, chips and candy bars. The structure/decor of the area is within the cave itself but it is very dated - definitely a mid 1900’s feel.

The original tourists had to descend down in a oversized BUCKET, then make their way down a crickety staircase .That would’ve definitely amped up the experience. You can still see this area today, from the walkway.

Very grateful for our ability to travel to CAVE, and our physical ability to experience this park - Owen had a real appreciation for the beauty and wonder of this place and it’s been one of his favorite stops.

Other fun excursions included the mural tour for art class (well, I thought it was fun). Alpine is a really artsy town (also - go visit Desert Rose Provisions store if you get the chance - great art and other finds). The Visitor Center provides a map of the murals as well as scavenger hunt type document for them, so we used this as an opportunity for art and history class. The murals vary from landscapes of west Texas, to all of the musicians that are originally from Texas - that was a favorite one perhaps. We also came across a woman who was working on fixing a telephone pole that was covered in mosaic tiles. She explained to us that the town is currently working to cover all of their telephone poles in this way - we found a couple of others, and they were really beautiful.

We also hiked up to Desk Hill, which has become an iconic location in Alpine. This is a short 20-30 minute hike up a hill not too far from Sul Ross Campus. Back in 1981, three students decided to haul a school desk up to the top of the hill above the campus of Sul Ross State University - supposedly to have a quieter, more serene place to study. The desk stayed there, and now it is the endpoint of this hike up Hancock Hill where visitors can sign the notebook kept in the desk as well as take in the spectacular view of the school and surrounding town - which we did. Bicycle Tree is also up there (bikes in a tree - not sure what this is about).

On our final evening, we enjoyed a campfire with our neighbors, who lived near Austin, TX. They were traveling for a few days in their Airstream and invited us to come and visit them so they could take us sailing sometime! yes please….

We departed Alpine the next morning before sunrise and I got to drive….while treated to some gorgeous vistas as the sun came up. The roads are flat and straight here, which made for an easy drive.

Seminole Canyon State Park - Comstock, TX

Dates of stay: Jan. 2 - 7, 2022

Campground: Seminole Canyon State Park

Beautiful drive down into this part of Texas - it’s starting to get really remote, with lots of wide open spaces. This state park is really in the middle of nowhere, and snuggles up to the Rio Grande river, effectively allowing us to see into Mexico. This state park is known for its famous pictographs - rock art from over 4000 years ago that still remains on the canyon walls.

We did not have full hookups at this site (no sewer) and the bathrooms didn’t have any hot water for the entire week we were there, so it was a little “rougher” than normal but not bad at all as we still had water, and the hot water heater! The mornings were cold, and the days were sunny and warmer. We took to exploring the trails pretty quickly here, and discovered Canyon Rim Trail, a gravelly, rocky trail that snakes alongside the Seminole Canyon.

The Canyon Rim trail is about a 3.5 mile trek containing lots of undercut rock, fallen boulders, and large swatchs of creme, salmon and grey cliffs - it’s quite beautiful. Also, lots of ocotillo plats (NOT a cactus we learned), as well as prickly pear cactus along the trail. Didn’t see any wildlife out and about, but did witness a spectacular sunset from our campsite. Supposedly there are illegal border crossings in this area, with people coming up through the canyon. We were also told by our guide that the canyon area within the park is filled with sensors, to detect any activity. We weren’t really certain whether this is true or not, or if it’s a warning to keep people out of the canyon beyond visiting hours so as to deter any vandalism to the canyon walls/area (also a good idea). One day we did see the helicopters circling the canyon so maybe….we decided not to to find out.

One afternoon, Tom and I explored the surrounding area - Pecos River, Pecos River Bridge - beautiful canyon area. From this point, we were finally able to over and into the mountains of Mexico from the Amistad Recreation area. We met a couple with a truck camper and talked to them for a bit as we think that could be a good set up for us down the road (post Owen’s graduation….)

We toured Seminole Canyon within the park with a guide today and saw the many petroglyphs left over 4,000 years ago in this area. We also learned that this area is defined by 3 different biomes - the Acacias, desert, and Juniper and ash trees/bushes. The visitor center here is spectacular!

Struggled to do it, but I got my butt out of bed for a sunrise hike and took the Canyon Rim path to the lookout point. Glad I did, as it offered up one of the most peaceful and serene mornings I’ve had yet.

The trails here are also pretty good for biking, and we explored those on our last day here. We wanted to take the trail all the way to the Rio Grande, but we were running out of sunlight so we weren’t able to make it .