HILLSBORO

We just spent the last week with our friend Brenda and her daughter's family the Zimmerman's.  They opened their home to us and we felt like we had known them forever.  We have known Brenda forever but we had never met any of her children.  Thank you Lydia, Rick, Jessica, Emily and Brenda.  We had a fabulous time and we look forward to our next visit with you all.

Our beautiful friend Brenda.  Mother of Lydia, Mother in-law of Rick and Memaw of Jessica and Emily and many more grandchildren.  She has 11!

Chickens!  That one on the left is mean - that's the rooster they call Penny, maybe that's why he's mean

This is Cinnamon.  She had an operation, hence the cone of shame LOL.  She got it off and felt much better

This is their male goat Rhet.  He got his name from the movie Gone with the Wind.  He is putting off a rather musky smell that female goats like, but humans definitely don't want to be downwind of - phew!
 

This is Jessica, she is Brenda's Granddaughter.  She is as beautiful inside as she is outside.

Brenda's back 40 of her property.  Absolutely beautiful.

Rick our host for the week we were there.  Awesome, awesome guy and Brenda's Son In-law.  Also a badass drummer and vocalist.

Sweet Emily and her big sister Jessica.  She is also beautiful inside and out and a fantastic artist.

Our host and hostess' house - The Zimmermans - Rick, Jessica and Lydia

Another view of porch and Brenda's daughter Lydia locking the door.  Man I didn't get any good pics of Lydia.

Field of Texas Bluebonnets in their yard (sorry about the shadow)

TEXAS

We are finally in Texas and staying in Fredericksburg.  We've been here before and love the quaint small town founded by German immigrants in 1846.  We are here during the peak season with Spring break and Easter being celebrated by many here to enjoy the town.

So we decided to wander out and see some things we haven't.  We went to Johnson City and visited the childhood home of Lyndon B. Johnson (his family moved there when he was 5) and also drove around his ranch and visited what they called the Texas Whitehouse when he was in office.  He was actually born down the road from this house.  As the tour guide said he came full circle because he had a massive stroke in the house and died and is buried on the property.

Here are a few pictures we took - enjoy.

Cheer and Happy Trails

Childhood home of Lyndon B. Johnson

Kitchen in childhood home

Entrance to LBJ Ranch

Schoolhouse he attended

Teacher desk in schoolhouse

Presidential plane used by LBJ - he called it Air Force one half because it was small

Glen being Presidential.  He promises not to make any promises he can't keep

CONTACT

Today's adventure took us to the VLA (Very Large Array) Radio Telescope facility 50 miles West of Socorro New Mexico. 

If any of you saw the 1997 movie Contact that starred Jodie Foster you have an idea what a VLA is.  Here's a link https://public.nrao.edu/telescopes/vla that explains them in more debt if you're interested.

While we took the self-guided tour we were standing under a telescope as it was being repositioned which was awesome.  The reposition the telescopes every 6 hrs. so we were lucky to be there at just the right time.

It was a great day and I'm so glad we got to see the VLA.  Cheers and Happy Trails.

 

OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL

Today we went in search of Glens Mom and Dads property in New Mexico. 

The property is in Valencia County and the biggest City is called the Rio Communities, population 4,213.  The City is just South of Albuquerque about 1 hour off Interstate 25.  Just south of Rio Communities is an area called Tierra Grande which is a vast area of land with homes scattered throughout.  This is a place you go to live if you're looking to get away from it all. 

Within Tierra Grande is another section where Glens Mom and Dads property is.  The plan according to the planners and developers who sold the property, was to developed it into a residential area but its obvious that didn't happen.  For Glen and I just finding the property was exciting and to see where property markers have been laid out made it more realistic.  There was actually a home built within the area which was surprising.  Here are the pictures we took and although this might not be to interesting to anyone but Soshea family members, specifically Mom Soshea I'm sharing it with you anyway.  Mom, this is for you.

Cheers and Happy Trails.

 Entrance to Tierra Grande

 Homes along the way

 The long road

 Entrance to area where Soshea property is

Property stakes

More property poles

 Hitchhiker

 Two for the Road Selfie

OOPS!

We are in Santa Fe New Mexico for the next few days. 

We came here to find the property that Glens Mom and Dad bought many years ago and never saw.  It was to be developed into a housing complex and nothing ever happened with it.  And come to find out - we aren't even in the right City!  The property is in Albuquerque NOT Santa Fe.  Luckily we are only about an hour and a half North of Albuquerque so we will go tomorrow in search of the property.

In the meantime we enjoyed the day by going to the Santa Fe Plaza which was the heart of downtown for over 400 yrs.  It's also where the Palace of Governors is, the Loretto Chapel and various Indian vendors selling their crafts and tons of restaurants.
 
The Loretto Chapel is where the Miraculous Spiral Staircase is.  The builder is unknown and the construction is said to have been done without nails or wooden pegs.

Pictures around the Plaza

Cheers and Happy Trails.
 

MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

Today we headed out to Mesa Verde National Park and stopped in to the Visitors Center before we went in. There we discovered that a lot of things aren't open yet.  We did however see plenty to satisfy our curiosity.

We drove for about 45 minutes until we reach a place called Chapin Mesa where we took a 1 mile round trip hike to see the Spruce Tree House which they say is one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in the park.  I must admit the altitude kicked my butt especially on the way back up, but there were plenty of places to sit, rest and catch my breath.  Glen did pretty good, but he's a mountain man whereas I'm a low lander and function much better at sea level.

So, here are our photos from todays adventure.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed being there to take them.

Cheers and Happy Trails.

 

Spruce Tree House

 

 

Miscellaneous Cliff Dwellings

 





THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Last night Glen and I were talking about going to Gallup New Mexico today, but changed our minds and decided to go to Cortez in Colorado which is where Mesa Verde National Park is.  So we drove East for about 2 hours and then turned off Interstate 40 and started heading North on Highway 491.  Little did we know how interesting and spectacular the views would be.  Having never driven this Highway we really didn't know what to expect.  We discovered that we were driving right through the middle of the Navajo Nation.  Along the way we went through tiny villages or towns with names such as Ya-Ta-Hey, Tohatchi, Naschitti, Sheep Springs, and Shiprock. 

The landscape is arid and desolate.  But scattered along the way we saw giant monolithic columns of rock jutting out of the earth, and vast plateaus where I could imagine Native people sitting bareback on their horses watching us pass through their land.  In some of the towns we saw Navajo Kivas which are traditionally used for ceremonies.  And lots and lots of horses, unharnessed and grazing or running free which is a beautiful sight to behold. 

If any of you are ever traveling in New Mexico and would like to experience a road less traveled and not as chaotic as Interstate 40 can be, I highly recommend Highway 491.

Cheers and Happy Trails.