Elephant Butte Lake State Park February 2013

Well here it is March. February is gone and one more month before we head home. We have been out exploring places we missed last year and revisiting some of our favorites. We have been traveling roads less traveled and the Jeep really needs to be washed now.  We took a trip to Pie Town (that is the name of it...I even took a picture of the sign) because one of the campers told us that a restaurant there had very good pies and I do love pie. Turns out it was closed, but it was a very nice drive up into the mountains so it was still a good day. It would of been a GREAT day if I had some pie.

Our daughter Krista came down for a short visit. About a week before she came down it decided to snow. It wasn't a lot and didn't last long but it was a omen of things to come.

Krista's flight arrived at the Sunport in Albuquerque at 10:15 p.m. We left the airport around 10:30 p.m. We ran into the blizzard around 11:00 p.m. That's right a good old Michigan blizzard, blowing snow, white out conditions, and slippery roads. Just what you want in a state where whenever it snows, even a little, the people go in ditches and have all kinds of accidents and rollovers. We arrived home safely even though it took a hour longer then it should have.

Up bright and early we took Krista on a guided tour of the park and then down to the town of Hatch where we went to Sparky's for green chile cheese burgers and green chile cheese fries. After a great lunch we took the back way home and saw something other then the freeway. We continued our tour of the park - after all it is the largest state park in New Mexico. After a short rest at home we went for a soak at the hot springs and to Maria's Restaurant (one of our favorites) for some really good Mexican food.  After dinner back home and time to catch up on the news before bed...another busy day tomorrow.

Friday we went to Chloride, which is a old silver mining town, and where we have been several times. It seems that every time we visit we see something new or hear some new information. Krista did find a nice cabin and it was low maintenance due to the fact that there is no electricity or plumbing. Also no yard to mow or water; just sand to rake. I think she passed on it due to the fact that it is a 50 mile drive to Walmart and no malls for 150 miles.  We had dinner at the Arrey Cafe where they have a steak special every Friday (no green chiles this meal).

On Saturday we had a early start and headed to Albuquerque where we stopped in Los Lunis at a breakfast and lunch place called Weck's. They have a great breakfast menu and most of the food has green chiles in it somehow. Once we arrived in Albuquerque we  took the tram up to Sandia Peak. It was 20 degrees and very windy at the peak... had to get her ready for Michigan again. We then went to Old Town were we did a little shopping and a lot of looking. We went to Church St. Cafe for dinner and had some great Mexican food (more green chiles) and had a very nice meal before we went to the casino for a little while.

Sunday morning we took Krista to the airport and sent her back to the cold and snow. It was great to have had her visit with us and see some of the sights that we have fallen in love with here in New Mexico. On the way back home we made a stop at Costco and picked up a few things and then headed back to get ready to go to work Monday morning. That was our February, not as exciting as some but we still enjoyed it. Not long now and back home to the family. We don't have summer plans yet but once I find out how long I need to be home we hope to pick up something for part of the summer. Hope everyone's weather  starts getting better, see you all next month.

Elephant Butte Lake State Park January 2013

Here it is February and we did nothing in January. Well almost nothing. This will be my shortest blog so far. The weather has been cold and windy, we have been working most of the time in the visitor center and we have been staying close to home. We did spend a couple of days in Albuquerque to celebrate our 44th anniversary. We went to the Route 66 Casino and saw Ron White, we enjoyed the show and had a very nice time. Holly went to Mexico with Bonnie who is one of the other volunteers here at the park. She took the camera but didn't take any pictures. That is about it. I have included some of my favorite pictures and pictures of family and friends we have meet since we started this adventure. Enjoy and hopefully I will have more for the next one.

Left- Ludington Lighthouse crew.  Top- 40 Mile Point Lighthouse.

Left - Young State Park Boyne  City, Michigan    Below- Elephant Butte Lake State Park.

Right- Cape Flattery on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington.  Below- Realto Beach, Olympic Peninsula.

Left- Holly and her sister Debbie. Below- Holly's brother, sister, niece and her fiancee, and all of the dogs.

Right- Holly and her friend Sue. Below- The Elephant Butte bunch. Bottom- My sister Deb and her husband what's his name (David).

Elephant Butte State Park December 2012

Well here it is 2013 and we are still in New Mexico. As you can see by the first two pictures, we had a better December this year than we did last year.  We've not been as active as last year and have decided that our decision to not repeat parks where we have been before is the right one. We have been to a couple of museums that we didn't get to before but we saw so much when we were here last year that we don't have a lot to see this time around. We're still enjoying our time here, but we would rather be out exploring new territories.

We did have the beach walk again this year so that means we helped fold 4000 luminaries, then fill them with sand and a candle, then put them out, then light them and then pick them all up. I didn't include any pictures this time but if you want to see how pretty they look, go back to the Dec. 2011 part 2 blog.

We took a day and went to the city of Alamogordo to the Space and History Museum. It was interesting to see all of the displays that showed the evolution of space exploration. They had some real nice displays and objects from the "Race for Space". It's hard to believe that men went up in those first space capsules and made it back to earth. Some of those first capsules were so small and cramped that they must of used a shoe horn to get them in and a can opener to get them out.

How many of you remember Sputnik? Not much to look at but it was a start. They had a shuttle simulator so that you could try to see if you could land it "safely". Holly tried it a couple of times and was real close. I tried and let me just say that from the sound of tearing metal and busting glass, I don't think there were any survivors.

We went down by El Paso Texas to the War Eagles Museum. This was mainly an air museum tracing man's quest to fly. They have several different planes from all over. It was hard to believe how many planes they had packed in that building. Along with the planes there were also several old cars, motor cycles and military vehicles.

That's about it for now. We have some outings planned for January and we will see what else we can  do to keep ourselves entertained. For now Holly and I wish everyone a wonderful and Happy New Year. We are looking forward to the rest of our time here in New Mexico and then back home to visit take care of some things and then do what we have found out that we love doing "On The Road".  See ya all next month.

Elephant Butte State Park November 2012

 Hello from New Mexico. We arrived here the end of October ready to go to work, and work we have. We decided to come back to Elephant Butte State Park because they spoiled us. We love the area, the other volunteers, and the park staff. When we arrived everyone welcomed us back home....and it does feel like home. We were put on the schedule right away because the learning curve was not very high (for Holly, me that's a different story). It turns out that they have been a little short of help for awhile and one host couple had to leave for medical reasons, so we have been working extra at the visitor center. 

 We are back in Quail Run which is one of three camp areas in the park and we have our same spot back. We have the quail and the cottontail bunnies and jackrabbits back during the days and we get serenaded by the coyotes at night. We had heard that the water level of the lake was down but we were really surprised at how low the lake was.

As you can see from these pictures, the lake is really down this year....about 14 feet from last year.  You can see by the dates on the pictures that they are almost a year apart.  They have closed three of the boat launch ramps and one of the marinas on the lake. The boating officers are out moving buoys that mark shallow areas almost every day. I have heard that the lake is at only 6 percent of it's capacity. But looking on the bright side, we have a lot of beach. The marinas are floating which is a good thing. They are able to move them to keep them in the deeper areas so they can stay open.

We took a couple of days over Thanksgiving and  went to Ruidoso which is in the middle of the state east of us. Brutus thought it was a great idea because he had his own bed. Ruidoso is a tourist town and in the winter there are several ski areas there. We did go to the Inn of The Mountain Gods for Thanksgiving dinner and had some good food but like I said on facebook, not as good as home made but better then a "Hungry Man Turkey Dinner" in the microwave. After dinner we went to the casino for a little entertainment.

We said the reason we did not want to return to places we have already volunteered at is because we have already seen every thing and we have found that to be true. We have a few things we want to do but we have been almost everywhere in this area . We did go to Silver City to do a little Christmas shopping and stopped to look at a open pit copper mine that we have driven by several times.

It is a very large mine and has been in existence since the 1800's. The area that they are mining cannot be seen from the observation area but you do get to see the full size Tonka trucks.

Well as I said, we have not been running around much, just spending time around the park, going to Sparky's for green chile cheese burgers and relaxing. We do have the Luminary Walk coming up on December 8 so we have been folding 4000 bags for that, but more on that next month.

We did take a little walk on the beach this last day of November. The high for the day was 75 and was 63 when we took the boys down to the beach. The nights are cool but the days are sunny and warm. Nice to be "home". See you all next month.

October 2012

 We saw we conquered and we found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow so we left. That's right, we were on the road again. We spent a great summer on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. We traveled, saw the oceans and the mountains. The rain forest and the rivers. We were able to visit with family and friends. We put over 6000 miles on the Jeep and had a great time. We meet Captain Robbie Knievel. He stayed at the park while he was doing a promotion at a local casino. He is a very nice person even though we couldn't get him to jump over the pond.

Bad Lands National Park at sunrise.

 We loaded up the rolling condo and headed home...or so we thought. After twenty minutes on the road and the first big hill, the engine started missing. I was not happy. The next big hill produced the same problems. The first large town was one hour away so I took it easy until we made it to Silverdale where I could buy some spark plugs and plug wires. We drove over to the shopping mall and Holly went shopping while I changed the plugs and wires. Three hours later we were back on the road. We drove over the Cascade Mountains and we made it to the east side of Washington that day (Spokane Valley).

 The next morning found us up and on our way by the time the sun broke over the top of Wal-Mart. Another long day and more mountains. The mountains were hazy with smoke because of all of the forest fires out west. Another long day but the coach was running fine and that made me happy. We stopped for the night and another early start in the morning. We did find that there is not a Wal-Mart campground in every town. We had to spend $8 to spend one night at Badlands National Park. We rose early and so as not to disturb the other campers, we drove to an overlook, started the generator and watched the sunrise with our coffee.

 It was five long days on the road but we made it home. Grandma was able to finally hold our new grandson (Grandpa too). So darn cute. We spent three weeks at home. We took all of the kids to dinner. Had a chance to see Grayson and Heidi bowl. Holly was able to see her friends and I was able to fix a couple of things around the house and get down to the train club. Changed the oil on the motor home made a few simple repairs and took it easy and enjoyed being home. It took about three days but we finally were able to get Holly to give Jason back to Beckie and (ya that's right) we were back on the road again. We had a job offer to be host at the Dickerson Driveway Campground and it was tempting but we were already committed so we had to turn them down.  We headed out and things went fine until we got to Oklahoma and we found out where the wind comes from. We had a few problems on the way but solved all but the cracked windshield on the motorhome. We'll take care of that when we get back home.

Now for the ones who didn't know where we are spending our winter, look right. That's right... one more time. We had job offers in Texas and California but it just felt right to go back to New Mexico. We are here, getting settled in and starting to work. Can't wait to find out what we missed the first time around. See you all next month when there should be more to write about.