Monday, March 31, 2014

Yee-Haw!

Hi Y'all!

We left Texas, and the land of the world's largest roadrunner.



We were driving what should have been one of our shorter drives to our next campground, when BANG! the window next to me exploded into about a thousand pieces.  There have been more successful drives.  But, the glass repairman should be here on Wednesday, and then truck should be back to normal.



Meanwhile, we've done some exploring.  We're staying outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico so that we can see the caverns.  When we first arrived, though, there was a car show in a nearby little town, which of course Char wanted to see.  The kids required that he take this picture of the "Back to the Future" car.



After the car show, we found a big mural on a wall depicting the history of New Mexico, so we got in our history lesson for the day.



We then took the time to explore small town New Mexico life.  There were three big cowboy statues in town, which told a story of New Mexico's past of cowboys and robbers.



Did you see the western store in the background of this picture?  At the car show, we again noticed that there really are cultures in our country that our quite different from ours in northern Ohio.  Most of the men had on cowboy hats, and I wondered where you'd go to buy all your cowboy hats, cowboy boots, and mustaches around here.  Well, I guess you don't buy the mustaches.  But, we walked into the store and enjoyed seeing the tons of cowboy boots for sale and experimenting with New Mexican - style apparel.  Yee-haw!!!



After church the next day, we went to Carlsbad Caverns.  We walked down through the natural entrance to the cave, and it was amazing how far down you really go into the caverns.  The darkness inside the caves made it pretty hard for good iphone photography, but we loved seeing all there was to see!  It was amazing, and it was fun to see the kids' surprise on how big caves can be!


This is the tunnel leading into the caves.  It goes down for 1.25 miles.
At least one picture worked in the darkness!  The formations were so cool, I wish I could show more!


It was very impressive!

This week, we continue exploring New Mexico.  Simultaneously, we're trying to figure out the fall.  We had thought maybe we'd be back in Ohio for next school year, or otherwise we'd stay gone for another school year.  So, we've been looking at houses online, and made an offer on one, though it was rejected.  We're praying and trying to figure out what to do.  If we can't find a house, we'd explore New England, Hawaii and England next school year.  We'll see.  There are no bad options, but I am SO BAD at waiting and not knowing what will happen!  I really like to have a plan!

Fortunately, there are lots of other fun things to think about when you're exploring the southwest!  We hope that y'all have a good week, too!  Love from the Utter Family






2 comments:

Unknown said...

Missing you and think of you guys often. So excited to see the updates!

Jennifer said...

I love caverns! We went to Luray Caverns in Virginia last year and it was so cool. I'd love to experience Carlsbad Caverns too. Looks like you guys are having the journey of a lifetime - thank you for sharing it! :)