Lynn Carson Harris

Spring Break - Part 4 coming home

Our last stop in New Mexico was at Capulin Volcano National Monument. We arrived just as they were locking the gate for the evening so we could not drive to the top. We were, however, permitted to walk up. 

Walking the road is ONLY allowed after the gate is closed so that worked out very well. 

There were big, wide views in every direction as we circled the extinct volcano. You can see several other extinct volcanos in the same area. 

Below is a view inside the crater. 

Our last significant stop was at the Tallgrass Prairie Nationsl Preserve. P was thrilled to see Bison from the walking path. In addition to these two that were close, we saw a herd running away over a hill elsewhere on the path. 

There were several prescribed burns going on in the area and the air was filled with smoke. Still, it was a beautiful visit.

Miss P was excited to get many new stamps in her national park passport this trip. 

 

Spring Break - part 3 New Mexico

After three fun filled days with my sister, we left Carlsbad and headed to Albuquerque to see my nephew. On the way we stopped at Salinas National Monument and visited the Gran Quivira Ruins

and the Quarai Ruins.

From Albuquerque, we journeyed to Bandelier National Monument to see the ancient cliff dwellings.

There were a few caves there that you could enter to see what it was like. P enjoyed that. 

The wall shown below had many petroglyphs just above the level of the upper post holes.

Here is a carving of a parrot.

Next, we vistited the ruins of Fort Union, which had quite a spectacular location. It is way in the distance of the photo below.

Spring Break - part 2 - Carlsbad

We enjoyed getting out and seeing the sights around Carlsbad, NM. My brother-in-law took us to his secret pecos diamond hunting spot which thrilled P, our budding geologist. 

On the hottest day of our visit we toured the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The view below was from the parking lot at the caverns. 

On our last day my brother-in-law took us to more great spots with big views. The first stop was Sitting Bull Falls where miss P and her cousins played in the water.

We had our picnic lunch there.

The next stop was Dark Canyon. We were amused that my great niece read the sign as "Dark Canyon, LOOKOUT!" 

We hiked to Cottonwood Cave, a much less visited cave than the caverns. 

My brother-in-law knows all the best places to hike.

We finished the day with a sunset view from "the rim" and late night star viewing from dark canyon.  

This really was a trip of big views. 

 

Spring Break - part 1 - traveling to New Mexico

Last week was P's spring break from school. We extended break by one day so that we could drive to New Mexico and visit my sister and her family. On the way there we stopped at the southern tip of Illinois and visited Heron Pond. 

In addition to the state champion Cherrybark Oak shown below, we saw a thousand year old tupelo tree and the state champion Cypress tree. We were on our way to visit the nation's longest covered bridge but, sadly, that road was closed due to high water. 

The next day we enjoyed the wide open spaces in Oklahoma at the Washita River Battlefield. We welcomed the big, blue, clear skies.

We also visted the Abilates Flint Quarries on our way to see my niece in Canyon, Texas. There was a beautiful camping area in the park. That's B up on top of the hill checking out the view.

Miss P enjoyed looking for fossils, and cacti.

We soaked up the big views.

Sleeping Bear Dunes - a winter visit

We took a quick overnight trip up to Sleeping Bear Dunes this weekend. It was quite chilly and we had the dune trail to ourselves Monday morning.

We also walked on the beach. P REALLY wanted to find a Petosky stone but was not successful in that venture. We did see lots of ice. 

Spring Break 2015 - part four

Our last few stops for seeing the sites on the way home were in the Smoky Mountains. We would love to go back and spend a week camping there. 

 

Spring Break 2015 - part three

On our way home we also made a few stops for nature viewing. The first stop was the Okefenokee Swamp.

Our next stop was Pearson's Falls, a 268 acre property with a beautiful trail and waterfall owned by Tyron Garden Club, in North Carolina. 

Spring Break 2015 - part two

Our spring break destination this year was Florida. We have family in St. Petersburg, and St. Pete Beach so we do get down there to visit occassionally. 

Our favorite thing to do when visiting is to take morning walks at Ft. DeSoto. We always see such interesting wildlife there. Our last morning, in addition to the usual sea birds and shellfish, we saw two starfish, two manatee, a dolphin, and a sting ray. The ray swam along with us for a while as we walked the beach. 

Spring Break 2015 - part one

We really enjoy driving south during our spring break each year. Shedding more outerwear at each stop, we leave the drab brown of Michigan and drive through the coming of pale green leaf buds showing on the trees and into greens so bright and rich they make your eyes hurt. 

 

 

I'm still going through our vacation photos and will be back with more from our stay in Florida and the return trip.

 

Holland, Michigan - the winter edition

The second day of our trip to Lake Michigan started with a visit to the lighthouse in Holland, Michigan.

The ice formations were very different here than they were in St. Joseph. There was a lot of fresh ice here scattered like broken glass.  

I love these icicles dripping from the large ice formations.