lokakuuta 2020

Seattle to Orlando

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keskiviikko 21. lokakuuta 2020 klo 23.19
🌙 46 °F
Korkeus: 7 539 ft
Yhdysvallat Alamosa 37.48203, -105.9082837°28’55” N 105°54’30” W
On the road to Alamosa, CO
21. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ 🌙 46 °F
PS: added a couple pics from our route to Alamosa, CO, our new stopping point for the night. Did I mention that I love scenic byways?? I think they are my new hobby.

As we spent more time in Mesa Verde than expected and I wanted to do another cool scenic drive that would take us through more cool mountain curvy roads, we decided to crash (figuratively) for the night here rather than do the drive in the evening.

Original post:
I'm skipping a night on the blog, as it's late and I'm exhausted after a very long but super cool day.

I think this is my favorite pic of the day...we were on the road before dawn to catch the sunrise at Mesa Verde National Park. I snapped it quickly as we were working our way up the mountain to a higher view point and didn't look at it until now. I love the dual sunrise as it reflects off of Carter!

I'll log our many adventures tomorrow! It will (maybe) be a shorter road day...unless we see something awesome to explore, then who knows?!Lue lisää
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torstai 22. lokakuuta 2020 klo 10.03
☀️ 61 °F
Korkeus: 6 444 ft
Yhdysvallat Cimarron Historical Marker 36.51081, -104.9187336°30’39” N 104°55’7” W
Who needs an itinerary?
22. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F
We decided to sleep in a bit today before a long road day. After our "dawn in the national park" days, we deserved it!

I'd found a cool drive that took us the long but much more scenic route to Raton, NM via San Luis (the oldest city in NM) and Cimarron Canyon area. We pointed Carter towards the scenic byway (was there ever any doubt?!) and were on our way. We started off on our old friend, the Los Caminos Antiguos Scenic and Historic Byway and then met up with the Santa Fe Trail. AND WE GOT TO SEE A GHOST TOWN! Well, it was a little ghost town and we could only see it from a distance, but Colfax is a for-real ghost town. Another item checked off the bucket list!

After the excitement of the ghost town, it seemed appropriate somehow to talk aliens and we noticed that we could take a sharp right (aka south) and still hit Roswell without any real back-tracking. And just like that, we caught the next right and headed off on another NM back road towards Roswell. Go, Carter, go!Lue lisää
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torstai 22. lokakuuta 2020 klo 23.11
🌙 63 °F
Korkeus: 3 586 ft
Yhdysvallat Roswell 33.40637, -104.5221533°24’23” N 104°31’20” W
I got to go to Roswell!!
22. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ 🌙 63 °F
In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit of a nerd and am very lucky that Cheryl is just as nerdy. It really didn't take much convincing for either of us to chuck the agenda and head off to alientown. 👽

We'll spend the morning exploring the alien landscape, then off to White Sands NP. We decided to spend another night in the area to fit in another couple of national parks. So. Much. Fun.

Whew. All caught up on trip blogging. See you tomorrow, peeps!Lue lisää
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MatkaajaMeet any aliens?
26.10.2020Vastaa
MatkaajaHah! Lots!
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perjantai 23. lokakuuta 2020 klo 8.20
☀️ 41 °F
Korkeus: 3 566 ft
Yhdysvallat Museum of the Horse 33.39427, -104.5230233°23’39” N 104°31’23” W
Aliens, aliens, aliens
23. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 41 °F
We loved Roswell! Such a cool town that seems to have fun with the 👽 theme. We spent the morning seeing some of the sights and hitting two of the top 3 places on our list. I'll get to those in the 2nd Roswell footprint, cuz it deserves two! Aliens, people!!Lue lisää
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perjantai 23. lokakuuta 2020 klo 9.00
🌙 54 °F
Korkeus: 3 566 ft
Yhdysvallat Museum of the Horse 33.39427, -104.5230233°23’39” N 104°31’23” W
Getting educated Roswell-style
23. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ 🌙 54 °F
You guys! I have to say I'm walking out of the UFO Museum with my mind a little more opened than when I walked into it. Super interesting in and of itself but the research put into building the timeline and evidence was impressive! Who knows? It's 2020...perhaps we'll get another visit...

Next we hit the Roswell UFO Spacewalk. If any of you ever make it to Roswell, you HAVE to go there. It's SO COOL! The owner/ artist did an amazing job and was super nice. This was definitely the highlight of Roswell and one of the highlights of a trip filled with them! SO MUCH FUN!Lue lisää
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perjantai 23. lokakuuta 2020 klo 12.31
☀️ 75 °F
Korkeus: 4 012 ft
Yhdysvallat White Sands Gate 32.77961, -106.1724632°46’47” N 106°10’21” W
Billy The Kid meets Snow Plains
23. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
We left Roswell somewhat reluctantly and told Carter to head towards White Sands National Park. I didn't plan this, guys, but we got to take part of the Billy The Kid Trail scenic byway to get there. You know how I love my scenic byways! It was an interesting look at Western lore along the way...plus we got to see the world's largest pistachio. What's not to like?!

About 2 hours later, we could see something white in front of the mountains in the distance. As we got closer, it was amazing to see the blindingly white sands dunes rise up in front of us at White Sands NP.

Michiganders: the dunes are pretty spectacular and I have to say leave Sleeping Bear Dunes in the proverbial dust. It was fun to see kids ride sleds down the sand that looks so much like snow. As the super-fine gypsum sand blows across the sand path, it so closely resembles a snow storm that it's hard to tell the difference. We enjoyed learning a bit more about dune life on the interpretive boardwalk. Sadly, we didn't get to see any dune creatures on this expedition.

Off to Carlsbad next!Lue lisää
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perjantai 23. lokakuuta 2020 klo 22.15
🌙 46 °F
Korkeus: 3 133 ft
Yhdysvallat Lower Transill Reservoir 32.41018, -104.2296532°24’37” N 104°13’47” W
Pampering ourselves in Carlsbad
23. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ 🌙 46 °F
We stayed on schedule today, shockingly, and made it into Carlsbad at a decent hour. I was able to score us an upgrade to a 2 bedroom/2 bath suite and we celebrated with an evening of sloth-like behavior and yummy take-out BBQ.

Tomorrow, we're off early to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. So excited for this park! After that, we sadly must say goodbye to New Mexico and go check out Texas. We have the Alamo in our sights but our itineraries tend to be somewhat fluid. Any bets on where we'll end up tomorrow?

Here are a couple of pics from the...yep... scenic byway route to Carlsbad. Who needs Interstates to cross the country?!Lue lisää
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lauantai 24. lokakuuta 2020 klo 8.08
☀️ 39 °F
Korkeus: 4 396 ft
Yhdysvallat Carlsbad Caverns National Park 32.17665, -104.4441932°10’36” N 104°26’39” W
Carlsbad Caverns NP...OMG!
24. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 39 °F
If you haven't been here, folks, you HAVE to do so at some point. It's simply astonishingly strange and wonderful. Unfortunately, we weren't able to time it to see the bats emerge from the caves at dusk but we spent about 3.5 hours exploring pretty much every inch of the publicly accessible caverns. I highly recommend doing the walk through the natural entrance and taking the time to explore the Big Room and Top of the Cross area. It's so worth the trek and the time!

So many pictures to choose from (even after winnowing out the non-awesome ones)! I think this will be a 3 footprint stop, so fair warning!

Love, love, love Carlsbad Caverns!!Lue lisää
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lauantai 24. lokakuuta 2020 klo 10.43
⛅ 52 °F
Korkeus: 4 380 ft
Yhdysvallat Carlsbad Caverns 32.17709, -104.4409832°10’38” N 104°26’28” W
Carlsbad Caverns, part 2
24. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 52 °F
More awesomeness!
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lauantai 24. lokakuuta 2020 klo 11.14
⛅ 54 °F
Korkeus: 4 380 ft
Yhdysvallat Carlsbad Caverns 32.17709, -104.4409832°10’38” N 104°26’28” W
Carlsbad Caverns, part 3
24. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 54 °F
Ok - I think this might be the final chapter. Maybe.
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MatkaajaAmazing photos. What a cool trip so far.
26.10.2020Vastaa
MatkaajaThanks Steve! It's been pretty epic.
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lauantai 24. lokakuuta 2020 klo 14.36
⛅ 70 °F
Korkeus: 5 699 ft
Yhdysvallat Pine Spring 31.89306, -104.8224931°53’35” N 104°49’21” W
Peeking into Guadalupe Mountains NP
24. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F
After a sad goodbye to Carlsbad, and New Mexico, we beat feet to poke Carter's nose into Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This is a hiking/backpacking park with the honor of protecting the world's most extensive Permian fossil reef. In fact, the mountain behind Sorren's park photo opp is El Capitan, an exposed portion of just such a reef. Basically, you're looking at a mountain of fossils!

Off to Fort Stockton, our end point for tonight. We haven't finalized the final leg of the trek to Florida yet, so all bets are on for where we'll end up tomorrow.Lue lisää
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lauantai 24. lokakuuta 2020 klo 19.49
🌙 72 °F
Korkeus: 3 028 ft
Yhdysvallat Fort Stockton, Fort Stockton-Pecos County Airport 30.90059, -102.9052530°54’2” N 102°54’19” W
Signing off from Fort Stockton
24. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ 🌙 72 °F
Well, today we said goodbye to New Mexico, which turned out to be our favorite state so far. Super interesting, beautiful, outdoorsy with a quirky sense of humor. If states had dating profiles, I think New Mexico would be busy!

After the lightning fast stop at GMNP, we took the back roads toward Fort Stockton, going through Pecos. Because why not? We were on an "RM" road for a good chunk of the way...which I learned means "Ranch to Market" road. It was an interesting little town!

We're settled in for the night in Fort Stockton and thinking of heading further South via San Antonio/The Alamo route tomorrow. Unless something shiny catches our eyes...then who knows?!

Goodnight peeps. Hope everyone had a lovely Saturday (at least my phone says it's Saturday. I've lost track!).Lue lisää
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sunnuntai 25. lokakuuta 2020 klo 19.55
🌙 79 °F
Korkeus: 617 ft
Yhdysvallat Commanders House Park 29.42008, -98.498629°25’12” N 98°29’55” W
On the Road to San Antonio
25. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ 🌙 79 °F
Today was a road day. We decided to head to San Antonio via the back roads (it's become a quest to avoid Interstates as much as possible) and got to drive through the Swiss Alps of Texas, along with a number of small Texas towns. We waved at Mexico from Del Rio (we did end up turning around... sigh) and got to see donkeys! Here are a few of the sights of the day.

We haven't plotted out tomorrow's adventure, so your guess on the location of my next footprint is likely as good as mine! We're now holed up in our hotel watching the Seahawks game: Go Hawks!Lue lisää
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maanantai 26. lokakuuta 2020 klo 8.29
☁️ 73 °F
Korkeus: 732 ft
Yhdysvallat Travis Park United Methodist Church 29.42637, -98.491229°25’35” N 98°29’28” W
San Antonio glimpses
26. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
We didn't make it to San Antonio in time to explore much but we really liked what we saw around downtown and the riverfront area. Very interesting old city with lots of history, art and style.

Our main interest here was to check out the Alamo and get a glimpse of the city. Nice stop!Lue lisää
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maanantai 26. lokakuuta 2020 klo 8.51
☁️ 73 °F
Korkeus: 689 ft
Yhdysvallat Alamo Plaza 29.42597, -98.4861429°25’33” N 98°29’10” W
Remember the Alamo!
26. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
Who hasn't heard of Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Barret Travis and the story of the last stand at the old church? It was super interesting to walk around this historic site and read about the stories of the people who fought and died there in the name of independence. This site is hallowed ground to Texans and its significance echoes down through time and in our cultural references. As I walked through the old church and the grounds, I couldn't help but think about the battles we are facing as a nation today and what future generations will think about this time in our history.

I'm very glad we decided to head this way in the journey. We're starting to head back to real life as we hit the final legs of the trip. We're on a long road day to hit Lafayette, LA tonight as we want to get through the Gulf region ahead of Hurricane Zeta.

Take care, y'all!Lue lisää
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maanantai 26. lokakuuta 2020 klo 13.25
🌧 79 °F
Korkeus: 190 ft
Yhdysvallat Alleyton 29.71207, -96.4937629°42’43” N 96°29’38” W
Buc-ee's: OMG
26. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ 🌧 79 °F
So. Who all has heard of Buc-ee's? Raise your hands high now. O.M.G. This place is insane but very fun. It's a crazy convenience store that just lives in Texas and Alabama... evidently the rest of us aren't ready for their version of crack: Beaver Nuggets (I know, I know...I had the same jokes run through my head). I couldn't figure out why Cheryl was so excited to see a Buc-ee's until we walked in and saw the wall of their fresh jersey, all of the branded merchandise and the snack selection. Ye gods. $80 poorer, we staggered out of the store with Buc-ee's insulated mugs, a shirt for Cheryl, more junk food than we can *safely* eat on the trip and word of an even bigger one 60 miles away on our path.

Send help if you don't hear from us...we're going into the biggest convenience store in the world, y'all!Lue lisää
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maanantai 26. lokakuuta 2020 klo 16.51
⛅ 77 °F
Korkeus: 33 ft
Yhdysvallat Welsh Oil and Gas Field 30.24651, -92.8670230°14’47” N 92°52’1” W
Sending healing energy to Lake Charles
26. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F
We just hit Lake Charles, just over the LA border from TX and the devastation from Hurricane Delta is still very fresh. As we drove through the city, my first thought was, "why are so many rooves blue here?". Then it hit me that those are tarps and that these communities are still dealing with the aftermath of the last hurricane, even as they face another (Zeta) in a couple of days.

We're pressing through to clear the Gulf region by tomorrow night, as Zeta is currently on a course to hit this area early Wed am.

My heart goes out to all affected and I wish the best for everyone in the coming days.Lue lisää
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maanantai 26. lokakuuta 2020 klo 19.51
⛅ 72 °F
Korkeus: 59 ft
Yhdysvallat Benoit Mobile Park 30.25431, -92.0157430°15’16” N 92°0’57” W
Goodnight from Lafayette, LA
26. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F
We drove the detested interstate today to make up time and get into Lafayette at a decent hour. But it led to a fun adventure and new experience at Buc-ee's, so I suppose it balances out. And as a bonus, I had connectivity on the road today and could keep up with footprints so that I can just relax tonight!

We'll be on I-10 all day tomorrow as well, as we're pushing through to clear the Gulf area before Hurricane Zeta. We should make it into Orlando mid-day on Wed.

Be well, everyone!Lue lisää
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tiistai 27. lokakuuta 2020 klo 12.14
⛅ 79 °F
Korkeus: 30 ft
Yhdysvallat Franklin Creek 30.4599, -88.4412230°27’36” N 88°26’28” W
Operation Outrun Zeta
27. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F
Today's mission: get the heck out of the Gulf region before Hurricane Zeta hits the area. We have been bombarded with NWS Severe Weather alerts on our phones all morning. We just hit Mississippi...still a ways to go today as we're headed to Tallahassee before stopping for the night.

Hang in there Gulf region folks. ❤️Lue lisää
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tiistai 27. lokakuuta 2020 klo 14.13
⛅ 81 °F
Korkeus: 72 ft
Yhdysvallat Ward Basin 30.59622, -86.9971530°35’46” N 86°59’50” W
Carter - meet FL!
27. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F
Well, we made it to my home state! Still about 7 hours to the new home, but we're so close! Still making our way out of the hurricane/tropical storm warning zone, but should clear the area in the next couple of hours.

I have to say, crossing the Escambia Bay Bridge looked a lot like crossing I-90 over Lake Washington. Carter - welcome to your new adventure zone!Lue lisää
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MatkaajaSaw that storm a-brewin' and have been thinking about you! Glad you're making it through... What an amazing adventure - it's been fun to follow along! Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! :-)
27.10.2020Vastaa
MatkaajaThanks so much, Lidija! It's been pretty epic - so glad we did this! I'm glad you enjoyed it... it's fun for me to share the adventures. 🙂
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keskiviikko 28. lokakuuta 2020 klo 12.14
⛅ 81 °F
Korkeus: 171 ft
Yhdysvallat Gainesville 29.65196, -82.3378729°39’7” N 82°20’16” W
Glimpse at Gainesville - Go Gators!
28. lokakuuta 2020, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F
I dragged Cheryl the long way through north central Florida to stop by a couple of places. One was Gainesville - home of the University of Florida and my alma mater. We got to spend a bit of time with an old friend and we wandered by a few of my old haunts.

The first pic is in front of UF and seemed to sum up the things I worry about when moving back here. That's FL for you...definitely a melting pot for everything!

We also made a quick stop at the Paynes Prairie observation walk...I had to see if it was still flooded. The water is down a bit from the last time I was here, but it's definitely still more of a lake than the prairie it was when I was in college. So interesting!

Almost home!Lue lisää
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MatkaajaGville!! Most days I wish I never left.
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28. lokakuuta 2020