New Mexico - My Hear's Enchantment

Guess what people! The bf and I are heading back to New Mexico!! Woo!!

J and I were talking a bit last week about what we wanted to do this summer.  As some of your know, it is the 100th birthday of the National Parks and I got to thinking we needed to celebrate it somewhere cool.  So one morning I asked J, where are we going...to which he replied well we could go to Lincoln National Forest.  I asked "Well what state is that in?" to which he said "New Mexico."  Shut the front door people.  

I have missed New Mexico with an ache I never knew I could.  I wonder sometimes if maybe I'm attached to it because of J growing up there, would I have been as attached to this state if he had not? Well, I do not know since it is very gorgeous out there.

I guess you could just say these days I am more blessed than ever.  I prayed and Thanked God for the guy he would send me one day and J has always exceeded my expectations.  I'm so excited that we are blessed and able to take vacations.  This will be the second time in a year we've been to New Mexico.

See you in May New Mexico.

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!

So I'm writing this a bit early since I'm not going to be online any tomorrow.  What a crazy fast year 2015 was, hard to believe we are entering a new year.  I must say that the end of 2015 was beyond amazing.  In July I met my bf J and he is the absolute best thing to ever happen to me and I am more and more thankful for him everyday.  You know you here people say "I cannot imagine life without you" and you sometimes think yeah ok, but seriously J is such a big part of my life now I really wouldn't know what to do without him.

 

October was J and I's first official vacation to New Mexico, you can read about the two blog posts on the blog also.  This was where I fell in love with him.  It was also an amazing vacation and we have talked about going back.  I hardly doubt he would complain about going home for a visit.

Now we look towards 2016, and let me tell you my friends, it is going to be out of this world. We are looking to take our next vacation and we are heading to San Diego.  This might actually be a dual trip because we might be making that a honeymoon trip (fingers crossed).  There are so many things I want to accomplish and see and do (typical resolutions, etc).

I thought I would share a few of mine with you and maybe you will get inspired to create some of your own.

Lose Weight

Travel

Visit a New National Part

Be Generous

10,000 steps a day

Be a Blessing to Others

So guys and gals, what are your resolutions?

Welcome 2016. Be good to all of us.

Carlsbad Caverns, Carlsbad, New Mexico

Ok, so time for Round 2 of 2 on my New Mexico Posts (since we were only there a few days).  The day after we ventured through the Living Desert State Park and after a fabulous night out and stay in Carlsbad we drove to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  What a hyperventilating good time!

The drive just getting up to the top to go down to the bottom is amazing.  You're driving through these gorgeous canyons and you sit and think "Wow, this is amazing."  Let me tell you though, the wind up there, man, hold onto your hats! I had actually thought of bringing an umbrella and trying the whole Mary Poppins routine, but I really did not want to add a trip to the ER to my memories of New Mexico.

Once you get inside the visitor's center and pay the admission, you will walk through the building and read the displays and all the educational facts.  Oh, and my suggestion to you, rent the audio equipment.  It's $5.00 per person and worth the rental.  Along the whole route to get to the caverns an through the caverns, there are numbers posted that you enter into the device and then listen as it talks about the area you are at.  Some of them earned a giggle, or should I say laugh?

Then finally....

I promise once you get down into the whole, it won't smell so bad.  I mean what can you expect when 300,000 bats fly out of there every night for months.  Be sure you have a good jacket on when you get ready to descend down into the cavern since it runs consistently in the 50-something degree range.  You can also have water, but nothing flavored.

This was my favorite of the rock formations.  Appropriately named "Whale Mouth," it really does look like the inside of one.  At times it was hard to take pictures because it gets pretty dark down there and flash can, well let's just say it, be a bother.  At least to me.

Water plays a key part in the formation of all the stalactites inside the caverns.  Educational Fact: it takes about 2 months for one drop, yes just one drop, of rain water to make it all the way down to the caverns.  But what can you expect when you are 750 feet below the ground.  

There was so much variation in the different formations and it was absolutely amazing to just be inside of there and look at this wonder.  I can also get how claustrophobic people would have a difficult time inside of here.  It's not necessarily that you are in close quarters (there was maybe one small space you walked through).  I think it is more of a "I'm 750 feet below the dirt and rocks" kind of issues.

It takes about an hour and a half (depending on how fast you walk) to get all the way to the bottom if you choose to enter through the natural entrance (def suggest doing this).  You can, though, take the elevator down and just tour what they call the "Big Room."  The big room will take you another hour and a half to walk through.

Once you are finished you can make your way towards the elevators, if you don't want to stop and eat at the cafe down at the bottom.  The elevator will take you up the 750 feet in about a minute. Yes people, 1 minute.  The whole time we were inside, J kept saying "Babe, look out the window." Fat chance! I do not like elevators, let alone one  that is moving that fast.

Last but not least, be sure to get your Carlsbad Caverns National Park stamp in the bookstore before you leave.  That way you can show off the fancy stamp when you get home.

I wish that my Grandma was still alive so we could talk about Carlsbad.  She went there herself when she was a kid with my Great Grandparents and Great Aunt.  It would have been interesting to see how much it had changed from her visit to mine.

New Mexico, you were amazing and fabulous.  Cannot wait to come enjoy your great state again.

The Living Desert State Park, Carlsbad, New Mexico

So J and I have become quite the traveling couple.  We've only been dating 3 months and already we are like the coolest couple ever (sorry everyone!)  Right when we first started dating...I'd say first month-ish...he was like "Hey, want to go to New Mexico in October?" I said...well what did you think I said "No?"... my next words were "When do we leave?"  I had never been there and I have developed a serious case of the "travels" in the last couple of years, so why not?

One of my favorite place that we stopped was The Living Desert State Park in Carlsbad, New Mexico.  People, this place was amazing (the no humidity did not hurt a thing one bit).

The whole parking lot was almost a tourist stop in itself.  I sure hope the landscaper gave himself a big ol' pat on the back because that was one BIG job.  It was like being 5 at Christmas time and chomping at the bit to get into those presents.

The whole 2-ish mile walk was easy and the weather was fantastic.  So we spent the next couple of hours walking around the park looking at all the plants, trees and the occasional animal.

Their displays were on point also.  You couldn't help but to stop and smell the roses...er..I mean stop and read the boards.  Oh and a good tip is if you have a sneezing fit, don't move! There is a change you sneeze the wrong way and get a painful introduction to the many cactus plants throughout the walk.

There are several different areas with changes in vegetation, all marked with signs about the environment you are viewing.  This one was my favorite.

So not like I was carrying a pen and paper while I was exploring, I was on vacation people! But this was one of my favorite plants in the whole park.  There is a beauty here, but it is not like the Redwoods in California or any other place one thinks of when someone talks about the land.  It was unique.

The walks included several stops because I cannot help myself when coming across a gorgeous part of a sidewalk.  Now you have to remember that you are over 3,000 ft above sea level here, so when you get on a high-point, you can see forever...so cool.

This place will definitely go on the list of awesome and amazing adventures.

New Mexico really is the Land of Enchantment.

Catching Up

So I've been majorly slacking on getting blog posts typed.  I've been back from New Mexico for a week and still trying to figure out how I want to divide up my posts.  So I'll start getting them out for you guys to read.