A public post for my grandmother.
A sunset in Mathis the night before we left.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ROSWELL, New Mexico
A couple photos from Roswell, New Mexico. That place was really lame and we didn't stay long. It was a big letdown.
And some place we stopped at/tourist trap:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico
Freddie @ Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico. Gorgeous sunrise over the mountains.
Me on a hike at the Great Sand Dunes, Colorado
Garrett and Freddie walking into the Dunes in Colorado.
Freddie, as a tiny little speck at the top of a dune! These sand dunes are the tallest in North America at 750 feet from the base.
Taken by Freddie
Crazy red sunrise light at Lincoln National Forest, NM
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This place was really awesome. FREE camping! Anywhere on the side of this forested mountain. It was cool and the air smelled SO GOOD! We were all alone in our camp site, so it was so quiet and very nice.
The first thing I saw when we set up camp. :3 A big ole rainbow piece.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
My first time!
Tallest mountain I've ever seen at 14,351 feet. Not too much shorter than the tallest mountain in North America. Also the first 'rocky mountain' i've seen.
The road to the dunes was lined with yellow flowers. :3
first view of the dunes
Great Sand Dunes from the visitor's center
this is fail
flying
The giant lightening storm that blew in while we were on the dunes:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
garrett looks a little cave manish here. haha
A bunch of awesome
Kivas at Pueblo Bonito. Also note the two tiny people for scale.
One of the great
Kiva
Standing inside one of the buildings.
The fourth day of our trip (after spending two at the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado), instead of just driving back down through Santa Fe like we originally planned, we headed out West. Drove west in Colorado before heading south on the west side of New Mexico. Wow, the drive through Colorado was pretty magical. TONS OF TREES and very tall mountains. Everything Colorado promises. Lots of wood houses and lodges. Sort of pics of the drive later. But for now:
We needed a place to stay that night and we ended up at one of the most amazing places,
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
. Wow. I just want to get up and move there asap...those Indians had it right! Situated in this GORGEOUS canyon surrounded by red and orange sandstone cliffs, sits a bunch of ANCIENT chacoan/puebloan ruins. We are talking 850 AD here. These places were HUGE!!! Camping was really cool there, right up against the rocks. There was even a night program and an observatory! Star party. So we got to look through a few awesome telescopes and learn about the
CCC. Saw some Elk! and a bunch of different reptiles.
How they think it looked.
That was just one of the structures (the largest) but there were several more:
This picture has a story
We camped overnight and upon morning, woke to a group of people from Holland all standing in a circle, for like an hour. They also stood, facing one of the large cliff faces for a long ass time, too. I thought they were some kind of prayer group but turns out it was a spiritual *crystals and energy fields* type of workshop.
Garrett went to the restroom (their circle was by it) and one of the ladies waved him down. He waved back, but avoided talking to them and went into the bathroom. He said when he came out, the lady ran him down and asked if he was the same guy that had waved at her earlier. Now, my friend Garrett is quite white. The lady told him that when he went into the bathroom, he was a tall, native american with dark brown skin and long hair and when he came out, he was just a white guy. lol. She said he must ov been a native american in a past life along with all this other stuff.
So later in the morning, I went to the bathroom and some lady comes barging in and asks if I am a Rainbow Child. I tell her I have no idea what she means and she says "I think you are. You have rainbows and butterflies around you. Following you around." Oh. Ok? "I can see those things, you know. I can't help it."
So i ask her if it is good and she gives me some long ass symbolism about how rainbows mean i bring light into the world and butterflies are the spreading of rainbow wings into femininity. Or something.
The whole thing was pretty weird because we had been seeing rainbows all over the placed during the trip. both natural and like everything in Colorado is named "rainbow this and rainbow that." and garrett had the double rainbow song stuck in his head.
So yeah, apparently my aura is made up of rainbows and butterflies lolol and garrett was a native american.
The place was amazing. AMAZING.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Here are a few panoramic pictures! Very large!!
Lincoln National Forest SunriseAnother LNF sunriseGreat Sand Dunes 1Sand Dunes 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A few pictures of driving through Colorado:
Mountain Tunnel. This time in Colorado.
Driving West through Colorado. Looked like this most of the way. Descended a very tall mountain.
Elephant Butte lake. Camping on the beach (see the tiny campers down there?) was free, but we couldn't get down there, so we picked covered camping up top.
There was ANOTHER HUGE FAT TRIPLE RAINBOW HERE (didn't get a pic of it b/c i was grumpy after all the horrible service) but what??!!. RAINBOWS EVERYWHERE DURING THE WHOLE TRIP.
:3
And Garrett's pictures from the trip:
broken
idk what he is doing
freddie is on top of that hill...maybe
being carried by butterflies and rainbows
idk why garrett had to take this picture
garrett - aint no thang, just leaning on some 800ad structures.
An antique advertisement for a trading post!
Those all belong to Garrett.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A few non-trip related bonus pictures
seafoam