America the Beautiful...2

Next stop on our cross country adventure:

Fort Lancaster, Texas

Fort Lancaster is "half way to everywhere" (in the middle of nowhere!!) The Fort was established in 1855 to protect the El Paso-San Antonio road. It was abandoned in 1861 by the Frederal troops when Texas seceeded from the union. The museum about the Fort was well done. The kids learned about early travel, weapons, life on the Fort, punishments given to misbehaving soldiers, etc, etc(I told the kids I was getting great ideas..wearing a barrel? that will adjust a bad attitude in a jiffy!)

Here are the kids on a stage coach. We learned that it would cost about $200 for a person and their luggage to get passage from California to the East. They would travel by protected stagecoach all the way to New Orleans, then from there they were given different options. A series of Stage Coaches, or the more preffered way, by boat. Either way, the same company would provide safe passage for you and your luggage throughout the entire trip. (Even promising to protect you through Indian territory)

Next Stop:

Balmorhea State Park, Texas

Dale has told me about the trips he took with his family as a kid. He had mentioned a place in the middle of nowhere that was a swimming pool with natural spring water. So we put Balmorhea State Park on our list of places to go for our Western trip.

It is in West Texas, in a remote spot about 10 minutes off of the Highway. You can see that the lanscape around the park is very dry and with little vegetation.

The natural spring is literally an oasis in the desert. The water is crystal blue and clear. There are fish and even some very large turtles swimming around with you.

The pool at its deepest is 26 feet. The kids were going off the high dive, over and over again. It was an unseasonbly chilly day, so I managed to jump off the dive 2 times before I huddled under my towel.

The spring empties from the pool into a very fast moving canal. Dale and and his sister Karen remember swimming in the canal when they were kids. Here are our kids debating whether they can swim in it, the verdict was no.

On our trip we saw lots of neat sunset colors, I loved this purple color. I could not quite capture the beauty of the sunset colors, so you will have to take my word. For added effect, try to imagine the coyotes howling as well!

Next Stop:

Ropper Lake State Park, Arizona

At this point in the trip I kept forgetting to take pictures, so I appologize for the lack of pictures. Ropper Lake was a place that Dale remembered going as a kid, so we added this to our stops as well. It was 100+ degrees, and the lake water was warm, but suprisingly refreshing to swim in. I loved it. The kids swam and swam and swam. After dinner the boys wanted to go to the hot springs, so we did.

Despite being in Arizona, the park had trees and very soft, green grass. If I had to pick a low light of our trip, I would say the night in Ropper Lake would be it. The cold front followed us from Texas (Yes, it moved west!) and was producing high winds, and thunder storms in the distance. The tents were not standing up against the wind, so in the middle of the night we took the tents down and got situated in the van. Despite the wind, it was very very hot in the van. All night long we tossed and turned in the opressive heat. I opened the windows to try and get air circulating until we realized that an army of mosquitos were organized and ready as soon as we opened the windows. We quickly had to shut the windows and just deal with the heat. I stayed awake, turning the car on for ac, and off again. When we could see light, Dale, David and I walked over to watch the sunrise over the lake. It was amazing to me how quickly I forgot the misery of the night as the beauty of the sun appeared. We got an early start and were excited to head to Dale's sister Karen's house.

Next Stop:

Strong's house, Phoenix, AZ

Despite Karen living in Phoenix for over 15 years, I am ashamed to say that I have never been there! I love the heat and hotness, so I was happy to be in Arizona. I am so sad to say that I still was not good at remembering to take photos at this point in the trip, so I have NONE of the kids that day. What I posted below are ones I took from Karen's post about us being there.!

Shayne had already started school, so Karen took him out for a half -day to spend with us. We got there around noon. Karen and Rick got pizza for lunch and The kids played and played. Maya was so excited to see us on her turf for once. After the terrible night we had the night before, and running on no sleep, being able to stay in Karen's house was such a luxury! (Thanks Karen!) After the kids played for a while, and grown ups talked, we went to see Monsters vs Aliens. After that we went swimming. I must admit, 113 degrees is not bad at all after 4 pm. It was really nice. The other thing we noticed, is that without humidity, 113 in the shade is also quite comfortable. Rick grilled some burgers for us and after dinner the kids all played on the playground together. Despite being together all day, I don't think the kids got wnough of each other. Dale and I were exhausted and really looking forward to sleeping in an air conditioned room without mosquitos! The younger kids had a sleepover with Shayne and Maya.

Shawn, David, Shayne and Maya eating ice cream. (Karen's picture)

Maya sleeping with Melissa in the night (Also Karen's pic!) We had a great time and despite all the cool things the kids saw over the three weeks, when you ask them what they remember most, they always answer that seeing family members was the best part. I agree.

Next Stop:

Montezuma's Castle National Monument, AZ

North of Phoenix near Camp Verde sits an ancient structure known as Montezuma's castle. The castle gets it's name from the archelogist who discovered it. He thought it looked like a structure influenced by the Aztec Emporer, Montezuma.

Around 700-1400 AD the sinagua people inhabited this region. They built "apartment" dwellings in the sides of cliffs. Montezumas castle is one of the oldest and best preserved cliff dwellings in the country. One interesting fact, the Cliff dwelling is situated in such a way that it cannot be seen from any of the high points in the surrounding area. , keeping it safe and sound for centuries of inhabitants.

Next Stop:

Sedona, AZ

Again, I wasn't so great at taking photos at this point. But Sedona was amazing! My camera doesn't capture the brilliance of color. The reds, the greens and the black lava contrast each other so strikingly. It was so beautiful! We spent some time strolling around in and out of shops and just enjoying the beauty that is Sedona.




We had a picnic just about everyday of the trip. What was so fun was stopping at a different location each day. We would chose it from the map, or sometimes we would just stumble across a great spot. I didn't usually have my camera at the ready, but this spot outside of Sedona was to much and I had to take a snap shot.

A little hike next to a canyon outside of Sedona.

Next Stop:

South Rim of the Grand Canyon, AZ

I have lots and lots of shots from our time at the Grand Canyon, but I will just pull some of the highlights...

Dale and I When we arrived

After seeing the Canyon for hours, we were treated to the sunset.

As the sun was going down, I saw the moon up in the sky, I snapped this just for fun

You see the Canyon in a whole new light, literally, when the sun rises.

We took turns hiking a little bit into the Canyon, Thats Dale, Shawn and Alex on the tip of Melissa's finger