With over 1200 miles to cover to get to our next destination – Sand Hollow State Park in Hurricane, Utah – we planned for several stops along the way. Our first stop was Del Rio TX in order to check out Seminole Canyon State Park. This is a cool park with hikes along the canyon and the Rio Grande river, but the biggest draw is the petroglyphs. While in San Antonio, we went to the Witte Museum. They had an interactive exhibit of all the major cave paintings in Texas — some dating back a couple thousand years. I find this ancient form of communication and expression of culture and beliefs very intriguing. It was amazing to see what we experienced in a museum environment in real life.

 

Next stop, Fort Davis TX. I wanted to tour the historical fort. Emi wanted to go to a botanical garden. We had enough time to do both but Emi’s pick turned out to be a gem. The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute had alot to offer — hiking trails with great views of the Davis Mountains, but the real gem was the Maxie Templeton Cactus Museum. A greenhouse filled with over 200 of the 300 known cactus species that grow naturally in the Chihuahuan Desert. Since it was a controlled environment, alot of them were in bloom. Loved it.

 

Our next leg of this trip was supposed to be Ruidoso NM to see an old friend. Unfortunately, the winds were expected to get really intense — 55+ mph, so we decided to re-route and head West instead of North. It turned out to be the right call. We got up at 5 AM to stay ahead of the winds that were increasing by the hour. We made it to Truth or Consequences NM by 11:30 AM, right when the wind was starting to hit 35+ mph. Glad we were able to get the trailer off the road. In T or C NM, we went to the historic hot springs district. There are 10 spas over a few city blocks that have access to the shared hot spring water. It’s different. We are used to either natural hot springs or hot springs pools, but these are bath houses with individual rooms with a soaking tub filled with hot water from the spring.

 

We hit Albuquerque New Mexico next. We were attempting to go to Chaco Culture National Historic Park, but the weather was going to be very cold with a few inches of snow mixed in for good measure. We will try to hit it up on our way to Sante Fe in 6 weeks. But the Petroglyph National Monument in ABQ was a nice alternative.

 

Emi’s iPhone decided to explode a couple of days ago. Fortunately, ABQ had an Apple Store so we were able to pick one up. Unfortunately, an unexpected hit to the ‘ol pocketbook 🙂

 

Another weather related route decision had to be made. We really wanted to go to Navajo Nation and Monument Valley. But like Chaco Culture, this whole area was getting hit with a winter storm. Luckily, we were not trying to go to 7000 ft or higher elevations which got hit with up to 8″ of snow. We knew it would be cold but we decided to try to get to Monument Valley area anyways. The weather held out and we only had to drive through some snow flurries but nothing really sticking to the road or causing visibility issues.

 

Monument Valley was incredible. We have seen alot of great places so far on this journey but this place really blew me away. Incredible rock formations. So unique it is almost other-wordly. To see all the red rocks with a dusting of snow for contrast also made the visit special. I will never forget this place.

 

After a few days of being cold, we wanted some warmer weather. Page Arizona fit the bill. The endless canyons of Glen Canyon and Lake Powell and the flowing sandstone rock formations everywhere you look is the best I can describe this town. We boondocked on National Rec Area land. Great little campground with gorgeous views of Glen Canyon.

 

It took us almost two weeks but we finally made it to our next destination — Hurricane Utah — gateway to Zion National Park…