Run With The Fishes

This vacation is one of my favorites. We didn’t pressure ourselves to be anywhere or rush through anything. We were able to take our time and just really enjoy where we were, what we were doing, and spending some great time together as a family.

After the refuge it was time to hit the road. We were bound for New Mexico. I warned the kids that we would have to drive out of Amarillo to get there. It is a place they had heard of, but never been through. I gave them my run down.

First you get hit by the smell. Cow crap and urine. Then you see them, and it looks like cows, standing on top of cows, who are standing on mountains of poop.

I know, pretty accurate, right? Greg thought it was hilarious to keep rolling down the window as we drove through Hereford and Bovina, “Ah, the smell of fresh cows.” The rest of us tried not to gag.

The drive itself was plain. I mean sure it’s pretty, but scenic flat fields of rocks and windmills only last about 5 minutes before it turns into pretty boring. It’s a good thing we had some entertainment. Allison happened to get a book on CD with her meal when we stopped for dinner. At the end of the story there is a really terrible, corny song. We all groaned and rolled our eyes as we listened to it the first time. Then thought it would be fun for the kids to memorize because it was so awful. I may try to record them singing it, because it is terrifically bad.

After staying the night at Stephen and Donna Mae’s, we headed North to the Enchanted Circle in New Mexico. As we were driving along the scary curved roads, we rolled down our windows (because it was 60 degrees) and slowed down to take in the scenery. Alli kept taking deep breaths. “Ah, Nature smells wonderful!”. After a few more curves we drove into the valley where Eagle Nest is located. It was pretty, quaint, picturesque all of those words that you can use when a closed in view opens up to a valley with a lake dotted with a few cabins.

We woke up for an early breakfast and then some sight-seeing and hiking. Each of the kids wanted to scout the way.

We climbed rocks.

Made bridges of fallen trees.

And hopped across streams.

We looked for signs of wildlife, but didn’t see any animals, only flowers.

Allison kept begging to put her feet into the water, tennis shoes and all.

I had just finished telling her we had to wait until we were done hiking when we looked up to see Nathan slip into the stream. “See Mom, Nathan gets to!”. I love how Greg and Stephen are just chuckling at Nathan in this one.

After we finished our hike, it was time to hold up my end of the deal.

Then it was back to the cabin.

Naps for Stetson and his parents. The rest of us spent a lazy, rainy afternoon playing Carcassonne (and holding the baby after he woke up).

Since my blogging has been lacking over the summer, I thought I would do a few posts with monthly wrap ups for July and August and get back up to speed. My problem is, I feel like I need to write about everything that has already happened before writing about current stuff. Which just starts a whole vicious circle. If I get all caught up, maybe I can stay that way. Although, if my cleaning my house is any example, it will just fall right back behind in 4 days or so.

July was mostly all about our vacation. Sure we went to Dallas for the fourth of July and spent some time with all of our friends watching some great fireworks, Nathan and Zoey went to a few of the local camps offered, and Allison went to her swimming lessons and the library. You know, usual summer activities. That stuff is all fine and dandy. It also keeps us all pretty busy but doesn’t quite measure up to a full week off from work visiting fun places and meeting a new nephew.

We started our vacation by driving to Lawton, OK. Greg (and his family) are all from the Lawton area. It wasn’t quite our destination, but was so close on our drive that we took a detour. Greg drove us around the neighborhoods where he lived. We stopped and played at a few parks, visited the Museum of the Great Plains and saw some prairie dogs.

After this we decided to have the world famous Meers Burgers for lunch. They were alright, but the fried green tomatoes were better. On our way to Meers we stopped at Medicine Park. Allison was so mad that we didn’t have our swimsuits on because it looked like great fun jumping from the rocks.

Those places were just stops along the way to the Wildlife Refuge.

We went on some hiking trails. Greg says that as a kid they used to play in this man-made forest. I’m sure it must have been a pretty cool site to see all of those pine trees. I mean, what a change from the normal landscape around that area.

I saw this freaky lizard and was determined to get a picture of it. I had to use my super quiet Indian-sneak walk to get close enough.

We watched the buffalo roam, and took a scary drive to the top of Mt. Scott. Not scary for anyone else, just me. I hate drives like that and this vacation was FULL of them. Even though the curves are irrationally terrifying to me, the view at the top is always worth it.