Spring in New Mexico!

Just when you thought spring had arrived . . . 

you wake up to snow on the ground and more coming down!  There was a total of about 3 inches on the west mesa where we are camping outside Albuquerque.

Ziva thought it was a little too cool to be outside for any length of time!  A little later we stopped by my parents' house and I think this is a great way to showcase snow in the desert:

The sun has come out and it is quickly melting.  The RV park where we are camped lost a lot of branches because the snow was so wet and heavy.  They have started clearing them out.  One of them came down right behind our rig, where our car would have been parked (if we had been home).

So we'll sit back and enjoy watching the snow melt.  Stay tuned for more!

Huntsville, TX

These are the bluebonnets in Steve & Dianne Scariano's front yard in Huntsville, TX.  We spent three days visiting and catching up with Steve & Dianne.  We also washed our rig (took almost a whole day), then Steve helped Wayne install new LED taillights and they look great!  We had a guided tour of Huntsville and it is a great town and I can see why they enjoy living there.  The sunrise this morning before we left was awesome, and you may remember I love sunrises!

Thank you to Steve and Dianne for a delightful visit and great food!  We will be stopping by their home whenever we pass the Huntsville area!  Since Spring arrived early this year we have the added benefit of seeing all the bluebonnets along the highway.  They are an amazing sight.  We are headed back to Albuquerque and just taking it easy.

Winding Down

We will be leaving the Houston area on Sunday and driving a whopping 80 miles to Huntsville, Texas, to visit with the Scarianos.  Steve was in Scouting with Wayne and we had lost touch with them after Katrina.  Thanks to Lauri's investigative abilities, we found him at Sam Houston State University.  We will spend the night in their driveway and depart the next day to head back to Albuquerque.  

Yesterday Wayne and I drove down to Galveston and drove the length of Galveston Island and took a different bridge back over and came back to League City.  It was somewhat foggy when we started out, but it diminished as we went along.  It was fun to see the area and the beaches!

We are looking forward to heading up to Estes Park, Colorado, for our summer job.  We keep looking at their website and all the activities they have planned for the summer.  I'm getting excited about it!

We have one more side trip planned before we head to Colorado.  We will be going to Las Cruces with our Siglo de Oro RV Club.  My folks will be attending it, too, so it will give us a chance to visit.  Hopefully I'll get to see some family and friends while we're down there!

So we'll keep posting (even after we get to Jellystone of Estes Park) and let you know how we're doing!

Picture of Jackson Square in New Orleans -- don't know the people!

French Quarter, New Orleans

Although we have departed the French Quarter RV Resort, I wanted to post a couple of pictures of the fun time we had while there.  We surprised Irene and Snake by being in the resort when they pulled in, and our other friends John and Fran were just across the river at the Naval Base campground.

We had cafe au lait and beignets at the original Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter, rode a buggy around the French Quarter and learned the flavorful history of the area, then had a Po' Boy at one of the better known restaurants down there.  It was a great day and a fun time had by all!  

We are now in League City, Texas, visiting Lauri, Jeff, Charlie, and Teddy.  It's been nice, the weather has mostly cooperated, and we plan a side trip to Galveston, just because we're so close.

After we leave here, we will stop and visit a friend of Wayne's from his scouting days and his wife in Huntsville, Texas.  Then we are headed back to Albuquerque to get caught up on mail, appointments, and get ready to head to Colorado to start our job on May 1st.

We will keep you posted.

Fairview Riverside State Park, Louisiana

The Swamp Trail Boardwalk has this new sign posted at the entrance . . . yes, it does say there are alligators in the area and to use caution.  Trust me, I use caution whenever I walk on this boardwalk, which is just about every day after my exercise walk.  

We will be leaving this great State Park and heading across the lake (Lake Ponchatrain) to spend four nights before we head out to League City, Texas.  We have had a great time in Covington and enjoyed seeing all our family and friends in the area!  We are slowly winding our way to New Mexico and may get there by the first of April -- who knows.  We are enjoying the warm weather here (even though there's all that humidity to go along with it), and don't really want to head back to New Mexico until it decides to warm up there!

Bogue Chitto State Park

Wayne and I are spending two nights at the new Bogue Chitto State Park near Franklinton, Louisiana.  We are one of four campers in the whole park -- except one left today, so now there's only three of us!  It's a well thought out park and definitely a place that we will come back and visit. 


Today I decided to go on the five-mile hike which is the Gorge Run Trail.  It was well marked and scenic . . . until I got to the part in the second picture.  The trail is supposed to go where the tree is leaning.  There was some major flooding in this area two weeks ago when a major storm went through.  A lot of the campgrounds and roads in the lower part of the park (called Bottomland Camping Area) were washed away or still under water.  I backtracked and skirted around a couple of the areas, but met another submerged portion of the trail, so decided to turn around and backtrack.  My hike was four miles, but it was scenic (and muddy).  


We are headed back to Fairview-Riverside State Park tomorrow and will be there until March 13th.  Then who knows what we'll be doing!  Stay tuned.

Camp Avondale

A view of Tigator Lake at Camp Avondale where we have been fortunate enough to spend the past couple of nights and visit with Wayne's buddies at camp.  It's always fun to drive around camp and see all the changes and improvements that have been made since Wayne left.  It was 32 degrees this morning!  BRRR!