I stayed in Carlsbad to visit both Guadalupe Mountain National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Unfortunately, the Dog Fire, that started May 11th from lightning, closed much of Guadalupe Mountains NP. And I didn’t get reservations in advance for a tour of Carlsbad Caverns. They were booked for over a week. Luckily, however, I kept checking recreation.gov and got a tour Tuesday, June, 1st. I had booked 5 nights here thinking that would give me a lot of time…
The eighth wonder of the world. Truly amazing. I arrived in Carlsbad and stopped in the caverns on the way to town. I had hoped to get tickets then as well as general park info. I was told tours were fully booked until June 7th, 4 days after I was leaving. Disappointed but I thought I would continue to check recreation.gov per recommendation from the ranger. Boo and I did the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Trail and walked down to the amphitheater before…
Because of a large fire much of the park was closed. I visited the Piney Spring Visitor Center and did several short trails with Boo, when visiting on Memorial Day. The visitor center has a great exhibit on desert animals and plants. Well worth 1/2 hour or so of your time to stop and read the information. The Pinery Nature Trail, right behind the visitor center, leads to buildings from the Butterfield Stage, a 2800 mile route from Saint Louis…
Big Bend National Park: Mountains and deserts and rivers, oh my! Chisos Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, and the Rio Grande make up the diverse and beautiful landscape of Big Bend. I’ve never been here, so when planning the next stage of my travels, I looked at the map and thought, I need to visit Big Bend! This is not a park that is easy to get to and it’s not highly visited. The ten most visited national parks range from the…
I had a number of people in Austin telling me to visit the “Hill Country” and specifically Fredericksburg. I wasn’t that interested until searching on things-to-do and found the National Museum of the Pacific War. Surprised a major museum would be in such a small town and why is the Pacific War history museum in Texas? Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, CinCPAC or Commander in Chief of the Pacific Theater during WWII, was from Fredericksburg. The initial iteration of the museum was only…
Anyone coming to San Antonio is going to visit the Riverwalk. It’s the highlight of the city. This is a beautiful path along the San Antonio River, with stores, restaurants, hotels, plenty to see and do. I walked many miles along the river on multiple days at different parts of the trail. Some areas, near downtown, are busy and crowded with restaurants and stores. But head north to the Pearl district or south to the King William and there are…
After Austin I decided to visit the gulf coast for a few days. I had wanted to spend time in Sanibel and Captiva when I was in Florida. However, in January and February every place was very, very expensive which is why I spent those months in the panhandle, where I could afford it instead of where I wanted to be. Since I didn’t get to visit those Florida Gulf islands, I thought I’ll come visit some other Gulf of…
The title for this post is from a t-shirt I was told being sold in town. I never did see one or I probably would have purchased it. I can understand why the locals would feel this way, however, seeing the number of cranes in the skyline, construction sites, detours, road and sidewalk closures, and the startling increase in housing costs. Austin makes the top ten for fastest growing cities in the US in 2020-2021. I selected an efficiency apartment on…
After leaving Vicksburg I thought it would be fun to travel part of the Natchez Trace Parkway and then spend a few days in Natchez. From Vicksburg, I drove east towards Jackson to get on the the parkway. The parkway extends about 440 miles from Nashville to Natchez, but I only drove about 90 miles of the trace. I want to visit a friend in Nashville next year, maybe I will try to pick it back up in Jackson and head…
Like Gettysburg, I visited to see the military park. Unlike Gettysburg, there is no museum and the visitor center is also closed. It may have some great exhibits, information, and artifacts that are comparable to Gettysburg. I stayed close to the downtown area, just off the Yazoo River. I had an easy walk to Washington or Levee Streets and was close to all the restaurants and sites. I stopped at the visitor center my first morning to pick up a…