The Road Home Began Today

Our journey home started bright and early today...we left our campsite at 6:30 a.m....hoping that we did not awaken our neighbors as we started the van and the music was blaring (gotta love hearing praises to God while you are trying to sleep). Anyway, we wanted an early start because we knew the day ahead would be a long one (and we were not wrong!).

A few highlights:

-We survived the switchback curves, steep descents, and lack of guard rails on the "Million Dollar Highway" again. The other day when we traveled it to go to Durango for the train ride, my dad commented that he wished they would have spent another million dollars to put up guard rails! So true!

-Lunch was six hours later at Cecilia's Cafe'; yes, we found a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives spot in Albuquerque. It was great to have real Mexican food in New Mexico! I think Ben was surprised how much he liked enchiladas.

-Our journey continued another 5 hours until we made it to Carlsbad. Except for the major cities, the land of New Mexico is desolate. There were a lot of scrub plants and an occasional oak tree in the middle of the flat, barren terrain. We went through towns that were completely abandoned. It is a different place in this part of the country.

-Dinner was at a local restaurant, Danny's Place (I knew you would like that name Dad). It primarily served BBQ, but had other yummy food as well. Once we got back to the hotel, the boys and David enjoyed time in the hot tub and/or swimming in the pool. I played a couple of rounds of UNO with them, and they were off to bed...and now so am I!