Tag: campground

From Desert to UFOs: Our New Mexico Travel Highlights

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 1 Comment

We finally made it out of Arizona! Our first stop was at Adobe Deli, a Harvest Host in Deming, New Mexico. This eclectic restaurant felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. It had a small museum, lots of taxidermy, a wonderful staff, and some of the best French onion soup I have ever had. We sat next to the Deli Gator, and we were under a female lion leaping through the air. Aaron and I both enjoyed a great steak and slept well, ready to get back on the road in the morning.

Lincoln National Forest is in an interesting part of New Mexico. The area we stayed in was near the Capitan Mountain Range, the town of Capitan.. Capitan, New Mexico, is the home of Smokey the Bear. A baby black bear was rescued from a forest fire in the Capitan Gap in 1950, and he became Smokey the Bear.

We had planned a week’s stay in the forest, but the weather forecast changed our plans. It was supposed to snow and have mixed winter weather the coming weekend, and we knew we did not want to drive the dirt/gravel road in sleet/rain/snow mix. We did enjoy our stay. It was really interesting to watch the weather change over the four days we were there. Day one was sunny with mild temps, day two had strong winds and a dust storm, day three brought light snow, and the day we left was sunny again.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Murphy had a great time running free, finding a few bones, and just enjoying being in the mountains. He found 2 cow jaw bones. We were not surprised, as ranches surround the national forest land. The scenery was beautiful, and I was thrilled to see some trees!

We got a reservation at Bottomless Lakes State Park just outside of Roswell, New Mexico, for our next stop. I was very excited! I was looking forward to being near a body of water again and excited for the opportunity to explore Roswell.

We parked the Airstream and settled in for a week and a half at the Clear Lake Campground in the state park.

It was wonderful to see the wild flowers, let Murphy swim and just to relax next to a lake.

We could not avoid the rain and snow altogether, but at least we were not driving in them. It rained for half the day, and in the second half, it snowed. The ground was too warm and wet for the snow to stick, but I did enjoy watching it fall. Here is a two-second video of the snowfall.

For those of you who are not familiar with Roswell, New Mexico, it is known for a supposed UFO crash landing in a rancher’s field in 1947. It is probably one of the most famous and researched supposed alien encounters. This incident has sparked conspiracy theories, myths, investigations, and a town that has embraced its alien encounter fame.

We spent a Saturday afternoon exploring the International UFO Museum & Research Center located in downtown Roswell. As a bonus, dogs are welcome at the museum, so Murphy got a day out with us.

As we were walking down the sidewalk, I was behind Aaron and Murphy, and just happened to catch a picture of Murphy barking at a window. Aaron started laughing, and I had to see what made the dog bark. Apparently, Murphy is not a fan of the gray aliens. 😂

The museum was pretty cool and had some nice displays with research, and some really cool pieces.

After we enjoyed the museum, we drove around town. It was really fun to see the different ways Roswell has embraced its link to alien encounters and made it part of its identity. Even a big chain like Dunkin’ Donuts has bought into the alien culture there.

Overall, we really enjoyed having more time to explore New Mexico. This state is so diverse, and rich with history from the wild west days, military history, natural geological wonders, and diverse ecological systems. I really think we could spend months just exploring New Mexico. But, we still needed to get to Texas, so it was time for us to move east into Texas.

A Long Time Spent in Arizona

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 5 Comments

The holidays were over, and things quieted down for Aaron, Murphy, and me. Aaron still had a lot to do to get the new field office in Phoenix up and running, so we knew we had a lot more time to spend in the desert. He and I also discussed how much time we planned to spend in Arizona. We came to the conclusion that we will probably spend some time in the area each winter. We also researched the region’s population growth, increasing property values, and future business growth. We decided to start looking for an undeveloped piece of land that we could use to park the Airstream while we are there, and eventually sell as an investment.

We set up house at West Pinal County Campground again and began a property search. We spent several Saturdays and Sundays driving around Pinal and Maricopa counties to find the right property at the right price. Quite a few were inaccessible with our F-250 4×4 truck, so we knew we would not be able to get our camper onto the property.

We found 9 acres in the Sonoran Desert that fit our needs and wants. We started the ball rolling, hoping the seller would accept out offer.

In the meantime, I had another trip to Iowa planned for the end of January to assist my mom with recovery from knee replacement surgery. I was in Iowa for about a month, spending some quality time with my mom, taking my dad to a doctor’s appointment, and spending more quality time with my younger brother, nephew, and sister-in-law. I did not take many photos while I was there. We were busy with physical therapy and recovery. Once Mom was far enough in her recovery to have visitors, both her brothers came to stay with us for a few days. It was wonderful for her, and for me to get some extra time with my uncles. When those three siblings get together, there is always lots of laughter, great stories, and love. Unfortunately, they are not able to get together very often due to living so far apart. I am so grateful I was able to be a part of this.

The Burns Siblings-Cheryl, Darrell, and Steve

Once Mom was on the mend, it was time for me to fly back to Aaron and Murphy. After a cold month in Iowa, it was wonderful to feel the warm sunshine of Arizona. Things had been moving along with the property, and it was time to close the deal.

Once I got back to Arizona, Aaron, Murphy, and I spent a few more days at Pinal, and then it was time to move our rolling home onto our piece of the desert.

Our oldest son, Gage, who lives in Phoenix, went out to the property with Aaron and helped clear a driveway for us to use. Then, it was time to park the trailer and settle in.

As we explored the land, we noticed some fox and rabbit burrows. Of course, Aaron decided to set up a trail camera to see what critters we were sharing the desert with. We got pictures of a fox, a rabbit, and a coyote.

There were also quite a few kangaroo mice around, but we never could catch a good picture of one.

Of course, there were things left behind by others from who knows when. We cleaned some of it up, and will have more to collect and clean when we go back.

A rusty bucket

A party keg

An old Dr. Pepper bottle

We found several rusty old cans, including one that had not been opened. We decided not to open it, keeping its contents a mystery.

I have two favorite things about this property. One is that there is a saguaro cactus there. Native Americans view these as sacred beings, guardian spirits, and ancestors. They are beautiful, and I am honored to have two there.

The other thing I love about the property is all the rocks! Everywhere I walked, there was quartz. There are large and small stones scattered everywhere! We found more than enough to create a fire pit and to use as a border for Aaron’s cactus garden. We also found quite a few pieces of petrified wood scattered around. I started quite the rock collection.

These are a few of my favorite finds.

This is one example of the petrified wood we found. I did spend a lot of time collecting and cleaning rocks. It was fun, and gave me something to do since we were in one place for quite a while.

These are just a few pictures of rocks scattered everywhere. It was tough for me not to pick up everyone I saw. When we did leave, I left a considerable pile of rocks that I will revisit when we return. I hope to have some polishing tools by then, so I can pretty them up even more.

We had one day of rain. Aaron and I were excited! It had been a long, long time since we had seen, heard, or smelled rain! Also, since it rained, we could use our fire pit at least once. The property is covered in creosote bushes, and when it rains, they give off a not-so-pure scent. They have an almost chemical smell when wet. That was a new experience, the not-so-fresh smell of rain. The raindrops made a beautiful sight on our bedroom window during sunset.

I did a lot of sky watching and daydreaming while enjoying the views. Poor Aaron was working while Murphy and I played.

While we were there, Gage had to go out of town for work, so we got to have Lola stay with us for a week. She and Murphy were very excited. Lola had fun wandering around the desert with us.

We spent the last of February and the entire month of March on our small piece of the Sonoran Desert. I honestly think I did not post anything to this blog while we were there because, as much as I enjoyed being there and enjoyed the beauty and the rocks, I felt stagnant. We had been in the Phoenix area for a total of 4 months (3 for me since I spent a month in Iowa), and it was time to wander again. Plus, it was starting to warm up in the desert, and I do not mesh well with desert temps in the spring and summer.

Aaron needed to start heading towards Texas for the next new field office to get set up, so it was time to say goodbye to our Arizona landing pad until sometime this winter. It was moving day again! Watch out, New Mexico, we are headed your way next!

Family Adventures in Phoenix: Memories Made in Arizona

~ Wandering Cindi ~ 2 Comments

Murphy is always ready to hit the road, find a new adventure, and see new things. Sometimes, though, we also revisit places we have been to before. We had a reservation at Tortilla Flats, but we needed a place to stay for a few days before that, so we went back to West Pinal County Park for a few days. This is a conveniently located park to Phoenix and Maricopa, Arizona.

Murphy likes to help whenever Aaron and I are doing work on our computers. He thought he had some good ideas to help with photo editing.

After West Pinal County Park, we made our way to Apache Junction. We had been to Apache Junction once before, in July. At that time, we were able to stay at Lost Dutchman State Park. No campsites were available this time, so we found an available spot at Tortilla Flats, which is located northeast of town off of the Apache Trail.

The Apache Trail was a stagecoach trail that ran through the Superstition Mountain Range. Before it was a stagecoach trail, it was a trail used by the Apache, and before that, it was used by the Anasazi and Hohokam tribes for trade and migration. The road is a windy mountain road that is paved for the first portion, and then turns to a dirt road after Tortilla Flat. There are beautiful views of the rugged desert mountains in every direction.

While we were there, I had to make a quick trip to Iowa to take my dad to a doctor appointment. While there, I had a fantastic visit with my mom, my brother and his family, and as a bonus, my Uncle Darrell came down for a quick visit. I was able to attend a Burns Brunch, where all the many, many cousins (mostly my mom’s generation) gather every month to touch base and keep the family connection. It was really cool to be able to meet family that I had only seen as a small child. Of course, did I take any pictures? Nope…not one…total fail on my part.

The only picture I took was of my brother, Chris. Over the years, he has done so much to help our dad with his health issues and needs. My older brother, Sean, and I wanted to show Chris how much we appreciated him being there when we could not. There is a car museum in Ohio that Chris had stumbled on while driving back from New York that offers people the ability to adopt a car displayed there. Chris thought this was a fantastic way to support the museum, and there was a car there that he had fallen in love with. So, Sean and I decided to gift him the adoption of this car as a small way to show our appreciation. Chris was surprised and over the moon. I was lucky enough to be there when his adoption package arrived.

A man sitting at a table holding a photo of a classic car and an adoption certificate, with a Christmas tree in the background.

Since we could not make it back to Florida for Christmas, we decided that the whole family, including my mom, would spend Christmas in Phoenix. Mom and I flew from Iowa to Phoenix together to start the Christmas holidays. We rented an Airbnb large enough for the whole family to stay together. Well, almost large enough. There were only 4 bedrooms, and since we have three adult children and my mom there, they each got their own room, and Aaron, Murphy, and I stayed in the Airstream, parked in the driveway. It worked out perfectly.

The house came with a heated pool, batting cage, putting green, and a fire pit. We had a blowup Christmas cactus, and a week filled with love, laughter, and the simple joy of being together. Murphy and Lola enjoyed being together again as well.

Mom gave all of us a fantastic gift. She gave us an experience. She booked all of us a desert ATV tour for the day after Christmas. It was so much fun! We had three ATVs, and we each got to drive on some really fun trails.

Aaron and Jenna took one UTV

Mom and Gage took the second one.

Mason and I jumped in the third one.

Mom and I also took a drive up the Apache Trail so she could experience the mountain road. The sights were great, and she and I had a great time exploring.

Sadly, the week had to come to an end, and everyone had to disperse to their homes and jobs. It was a wonderful week full of love and laughs. Our wandering life limits our time with our kids, so every moment we have together is precious and held closely to our hearts.

Aaron and I still needed to be in Phoenix, so we went back to where we started the month, West Pinal County Park to finish the month of December.

A shiny Airstream trailer parked in West Pinal County Park, with mountains in the background and clear blue sky.

Next week will cover our adventures for the month of January.

Catching up with our Travels. Sorry for my Prolonged Absence

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

I would like to begin this post with a sincere apology. I have been absent from this blog space for way too long. I honestly am not sure why. I think I may have been a bit burnt out, and once I missed one week, it became easier to miss the second week. Now, it has been quite a few months, and I am attempting to get back into the swing of things. I am working on getting back into a routine with photography and my blog writing. I may post every two weeks instead of once a week, but we will see. There is a lot to catch up on. I suppose I’ll start with November.

Due to the needs of Aaron’s job, we spent most of the month of November outside of Kansas City. We found a really nice Hip Camp called Lake Georgia Sue to park the rolling house. We were surrounded by horse pastures on one side and a crop field on the other. There was plenty of space for Murphy to run, horses to admire, and beautiful sunsets.

The best part of our time in Kansas City was the time spent with our son, Mason. He was also there for work, and we had some great evenings together. Mason has a really cool hobby of astrophotography. He brought all of his equipment, and spent some time showing us how he finds his subjects in space to photograph. He really took some amazing pictures while we were all out there.

Some of Mason’s equipment.

This is the Heart Nebula that he took while we were there.

The following pictures are a few more from his collection. I don’t think he took these when we were together, but I just have to share them anyway. They are too beautiful not to share. (He gave me permission.)

The Jellyfish Nebula

The Orion Nebula

The Seven Sisters Nebula

We enjoyed several evenings around the campfire, sharing good meals together, and simply spending quality time with Mason.

Another good thing about being in Kansas in November was that we could drive about 5 hours and be in Iowa to spend Thanksgiving with my mom, brother, sister-in-law, and my nephew. Mason came out to the campsite, picked up Aaron, Murphy, and myself, and we headed to Iowa for a few days without the camper.

As usual, when with family, I forget to take many pictures. I was able to grab this one of Murphy playing with my brother’s dog, School Bus. Murphy and Bus had a great time together. My mom and Murphy also got along quite well.

We had fantastic food for Thanksgiving. My nephew, Will, and my brother, Chris, smoked a turkey and a brisket. They did an amazing job. Mom and my sis-in-law, Brenda, made all the delicious sides, and we had wonderful deserts. It was great to have this bonus family time with everyone.

After we got back from our Thanksgiving in Iowa, Aaron and Mason went back to work, and Murphy and I hung out at the camper. I looked out of the window and saw a horse on the wrong side of the fence. He had a halter on, and reins dangling from it, and he was just grazing away.

We got in touch with the property owner to let him know one of the horses was loose. He said it wasn’t a problem, and someone would be around to bring him back where he belonged.

He was a very handsome horse, and very sweet. I went and talked to him, and pet him for a while. He wandered into the field behind us, which is not fenced in. So, I went and grabbed his reins and brought him back closer to the pasture and camper. With multiple pastures and lots of horses, I didn’t want to put him in the wrong pasture, so I just hung out with him and made sure he didn’t wander too far. When one of the horse handlers arrived to take him to his pasture, she told me that his name was Murphy, too. She also told me that Murphy threw off his rider and took off. I guess he was not as sweet as I had thought. I enjoyed my time with the two Murphys anyway.

The weather in Kansas was starting to get cold, with snow in the upcoming forecast, and it was time for Aaron and me to hit the road again. We started driving southwest towards Arizona.

Our last stop on our way out of Kansas was in Meade City. It was free camping in the city park, with a cool small town holiday light display. It was a great park that also offered a free dump station and free potable water.

Our next stop was back to Santa Rosa Lake State Park in New Mexico for a quick overnight. We have been here at least twice before, and knew it would be a nice spot to spend the night.

After a quick night at Santa Rosa Lake, we headed southwest to Alamogordo, New Mexico. We stayed at Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. Alamogordo is home to the world’s largest pistachio. It was a beautiful town in the New Mexico desert.

We enjoyed our stay in New Mexico, but had to keep moving on towards Arizona. We had White Sands National Park to visit, a reservation in Apache Junction, Arizona to get to, and it was now December. Next week, I will share the pictures of our time in White Sands National Park and our stay in Apache Junction at the Tortilla Flats campground. I will leave you with a sneak peek of our drive through White Sands.

Adventures from Utah, Colorado, and Kansas

~ Wandering Cindi ~ Leave a comment

This post will cover all of our October travels. I am All of my Alaska posts put me a few weeks behind on our travels.

LZJ Ranch’s Hiawatha Hideout outside of Price, Utah, was our first time at a Hipcamp. Hipcamp is a camping version of Airbnb. Private property owners offer a variety of campsites for people to stay at. This one did not disappoint. Our site sat near old stone buildings from the 1800s and 1920s. There were rock walls from the original homesteaders and building remains from a brothel that was in business in the 1920s.

While Aaron worked, Murphy and I explored the campground. We had the entire area to ourselves for our stay, so Murphy had some freedom from the leash to explore. I also had freedom from holding the leash and was able to catch a few landscape views.

Just before we booked this campsite, I had started reading Pioneer Girl: an Annotated Biography by Laura Ingalls Wilder, annotated and edited by Pamela Smith Hill. This autobiography was not published in Wilder’s lifetime. It gave a more realistic view of her childhood than the series of novels she wrote for children (the Little house on the Prairie series). The reason I mention this is that the campground had old wagons, and that camp in the wild feel, that brought the book more to life as I was taking pictures of the types of conveyances she used in her lifetime.

Here are a few photos of the old buildings…one even had an outdoor shower for those adventurous enough to use it.

We even had three of the ranch’s cows pay us a morning visit.

There were even old tin cans from the 1920’s still in the dirt.

The campground had really cool decorations, and even a roping practice cow.

We had a great stay here in Eastern Utah, but we needed to keep heading east toward Kansas City. We still had to cross the Colorado Rockies before the first snowstorm, which was forecast to happen soon. So we packed it up and hit the road.

This was my first time in Colorado, and I was not disappointed. We spent one night at Rifle Gap State Park, and we both really want to revisit that area again.

It was October, and a big snowfall was headed our way. So we kept heading east to stay ahead of the storm. Neither Aaron or myself wanted to be towing the Airstream in the Rocky Mountains during a snow event. There was already a little bit of snow on the mountains; we did not want to deal with snow on the roads.

Aaron needed to visit another job site outside of Denver. We stopped at our second Hipcamp, this one on a family farm. For whatever reason, I did not take any pictures of our four-day stay there. It was a really nice spot, and the property owners were very friendly. It was an adjustment on the eyes. We were in the plains of Colorado, with no mountains in sight. After Aaron finished his site visits in Colorado, we headed east again. This time, we drove into Kansas. We were closer to our goal of Kansas City, but we still had a couple of days of driving to get there.

As we went down the road, we saw a sign for Salina, Kansas. Aaron’s mom and stepdad had lived in Salina for a while, and his stepdad, Jimmie, was buried there. Jimmie had grown up on the family farm there in Salina. After he passed away, Aaron’s mom, Barbara, moved back to Louisiana. Barbara passed away about seven years ago and chose to be cremated. We have been traveling with a small urn of her ashes with us. We decided to make a detour, pay our respects to Jimmie, and leave the urn with some of Barbara’s ashes there with him. Aaron and I left the cemetery with such happy hearts that they were reunited again after all these years.

Our next stop was in Wakeenee, Kansas, at a Harvest Host. This host was the Prairie Rose Inn, which also had a bar and restaurant. Just across the street was a dog park and a World War II Iwo Jima memorial with an old military jet on display. We parked our home, took Murphy to the dog park, and checked out the memorial and the jet before Aaron and I went inside to grab some dinner.

The shadows on the wall of the sculpture seemed to bring the soldiers to life for me. I am not sure if that was the intention, but it was very powerful to look at.

When we took a seat at the bar to order some food, we saw Space Camper Cosmic IPA. Aaron had to give it a try. He enjoyed the IPA with his dinner while I had a vodka and tonic with mine. The food was great, and so was the service.

After a good night’s sleep, we got back on the interstate and headed to our extended stay outside of Kansas City, Kansas. We were really excited to get there. Our son, Mason, was going to be in Kansas City working with Aaron, which meant we were about to have some family time! We planned to be there throughout November, so we found a Hipcamp that allowed extended stays in Ottowa, Kansas, just outside of Kansas City.

My next blog will cover our November adventures in Kansas with Mason, some horses, and a quick trip to Iowa for Thanksgiving.