New Mexico! Camping & Aliens!

From Bottomless Lake State Park in New Mexico..

Driving through Pecan Orchards in New Mexico

 Driving through the mountains in the south part of New Mexico.. it's beautiful up in their mountains..

 Driving through the mountains in the south part of New Mexico.. 

Driving through the mountains in the south part of New Mexico.. it's beautiful up in their mountains..

So, as we drive through a very large and flat State of Texas, I thought I'd update the Blog on our New Mexico experience.  (Well, I started this in Texas, then the internet wouldn't work in Northern Texas, or in Southern Oklahoma (where the people we meet were extremely polite and friendly, and the land we drove through was lush and green, and all the towns where vibrant and busy), finally the internet started working again here in Arkansas, we just crossed into Arkansas, so I can finish this New Mexico Blog Post!) Once again, we enjoyed New Mexico, and the remote areas we are able to find.  We did NOT make it up to Gila Hotsprings this year, as we did in 2010, as the mountain highwinds were TOO high for our comfort level.  So, we stayed further south.  The pass to Gila Hotsprings is a narrow one, we didn't need the high winds help!

We decided to head toward Roswell and look for Aliens, while finding good camping on either side.

 The State Parks in New Mexico vary in their fee depending on the type of site you select.  Tent only, built up (meaning shelter, table, two grills), Electric, Drinking Water, Full (includes everything plus your very own dump for your RV).. So, you choose your site, then go back and pay.. unless a Park Host is there, you're suppose to speak with them first.  Most of the Park Host are very friendly (except for one was nasty, not sure if I should say which one he was.. )

Sunset in our first New Mexico campsite. The shelters the provide are very New Mexico looking, pretty cool.

 They provide you with shelter, a table, fire & BBQ grills.. When we were there, no fires where allowed anywhere in Arizona or New Mexico due to the weather conditions. There were too may wildfires in the area, and the winds where WAY too strong for a real fire.  You could only use the Propane BBQs you brought with you.  We of cousrse, thanks to Jerry, have every cooking tool invented, so we're always good.

 The sunsets, in this heat, are always beautiful in New Mexico.

 Sunset from the window of the shelter they provided.

They had trails everywhere throughout the park.  Duke explored them, they weren't very long, the trails, so we walked them instead of running. 

We lucked out both times, so, this first spot wasn't a GoTo spot, just a nice spot to stop at as a layover.  The second spot i recommend for a couple of days to soak in the sun and enjoy their trails. Both happened to be State Parks, which meant excellent facilities for showering, drinking water, dump stations, electricity and water at each camp site too. So, after a few days in the desert with no facilities, we were in the lap of luxury! The second spot, see below, Bottomless Lake State Park, is a place I'd likely return if I'm in the area, whereas Gila Hotsprings is a place i'd travel a week to go to.  The Bottomless Lake SP has beautiful bluffs to export and an excellent running trail that goes for miles, plus a very nice spring feed 90foot deep beach! Something for everyone.

We did stop in Roswell in between.. you don't need long, but, it's fun to see the Aliens, you can see that they are trying to focus on their other industries in Roswell.. They clearly had have wonderful agricultural and artists too offer too.

 Jerry found an Alien on this car!

 We found aliens at our restaurant.

We found many Aliens downtown Roswell..  Then we headed toward Bottomless Lake State Park.

I very much enjoyed Bottomless Lake State Park, we stayed for two nights, versus one as planned.

 Had to climb up this bluff, the lake was the middle, like.. these are like Craters! Kinda cool.

 There were all sorts of cool entrances like this, or bluff to climb to find the lakes.

 Duke & I exploring and tracking down the 7 Lakes in the park!

 This is one of the 7 Lakes at the Park we stayed. This one is called Mirror Lake! :)

 This is the Lake we camped on, called Bottomless Lake, it's around 90feet deep.

Our campsite in Bottemless Lake State Park New Mexico, the beach was on the other side of those trees

 Duke has no free of walking on the ledges of the Bluffs.. I should give him the camera!

 During our hike we go to the public part of the park, where they have this cool New Mexican looking shelter.

 During our hike we go to the public part of the park, where they have this cool New Mexican looking shelter

 During our hike we go to the public part of the park, where they have this cool New Mexican looking shelter

 I'm trying to be creative here, you can see the sunset, and our campsite through these trees..:)

 As Duke & I are coming back from our run in the morning, and the sun's heating up that sky!

When we left Bottomless State Park, we stopped at the top of the Bluff and took a picture our of lake & camping area.  Camping area was to the left, public area in the middle there, and then miles and miles of trails over the the right, where you can go and find the other 6 lakes.
Well, that's it for now.. we're going to Post about Hot Springs Arkansas next.  Hot Springs Arkansas is actually a National Park in the State of Arkansas.  It lets you park right in the town, there are bath house enter including in the camping, and there is suppose to be one of the best BBQ places around right in that town of Hot Springs. So, we'll see and update you!

Hugs
Sofie (Jerry will edit and comment later.. as he often does.. adding his twists.)

Not a lot to add Sofie has covered it pretty well. We are having a bit of an overheating problem that I will have to remedy when we get home. We got a tankful of bad gas in Texas I guess they sell all the good stuff. 

Tornado hits our camp site while in New Mexico!

I’m still not sure if the reason we were the very only people camped at a New Mexico State park last night was because of the Tornado which hit us. We survived without a scratch, just a lot of sand everywhere, thought we were going to lose the top of the van, but, Jerry’s quick actions saved her & us.
Well, we arrived, it was beautiful, warm sunny and not busy at all! Just one boat on the lake water skiing, that was it. We were all in heaven. This was classified as primitive camping, as there wasn’t any electric nor running water, which is fine with us, as we travel prepare. Jerry found us a flat part of the beach to camp on, it even had a nice cement picnic table. Duke and I explored the rocks and water and started taking pictures of flowers. Then we found a place to go for a run, so, we came back and changed for our run. I know it was clear and just after 6pm, as I promised to be back for 7:15pm. We went for our run, into the desert, enjoyed seeing a big river dam, bunnies, lizards, cool flowers. So, when we got back around 7:15, we said we’d be gone for a 5mins to just go take some quick pictures.. the sun was just starting to go down. I couldn’t figure out where all the flowers went.. (I figured it out in the morning, when they were all back.. desert flowers close at night.. this city person didn’t know that!).

So, we took our pictures, can came back an hour later, as I lost track of time, to a very different sky over the water, a cloud had formed so quickly, and I had never seen a cloud that thick and at the far end of the cloud it had what seemed like cloud drapes slowly lowering in whips.  I took a ton of pictures of that, as the drapes of clouds on the sides, made for a great frame for photos.. so, we sat down and ate the BBQ (which maybe I should have come back in 5mins like is said..) everything was soo good! I took pictures of Jerry during dinner, as the clouds were so unusual.   Then, the winds picked up, I’m glad it waited till we were finished eating, I wasn’t going to let that steak & asparagus go to waste!

First the water changed, from calm to white caps right away, didn’t know a reservoir of water could do that! Sand started being whipped around, tumble weeds starting flying by.. we got Duke in the van first, then the digital equipment.  That’s when Jerry saw the top of the Van starting to bend in the wind.. he quickly went inside, while I ran around in circles trying to grab plates from flying around.. he said the pipes in the van which push the top up were bending almost 5 inches to right, he was certain for a few moments there while struggling against the wind to pull it down, that we were going to lose the top of the van..  we were quickly safe in the van, with rain coming down hard, thunder and lightening somewhere where far off.  I don’t think from start to finish it lasted more then 20mins.

We had the most beautiful sunset afterward.  Later that evening a police car drove by to see if the crazies parked on the beach during a Tornado were alright.. well, that’s one way to make sure you have an entire State Park to yourself!

In the morning, we all slept in, and then Duke and I went for another run.

Tonight we are Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  There are a number of HotSprings here, Jerry & I went to one right on the RIO Grand this evening.  We’re in a hotel because I needed a reliable high-speed wifi, as I’m doing a webinar tomorrow morning for two hours. A coaching session to folks, one in Sudbury Ontario and the other in Calgary Alberta, tomorrow’s session is on how to Leverage the Power of Facebook for their individual businesses…I’ll be remote but able to see their computer screens and help them set themselves up.. I use GoToMeeting for that, I won’t know till we get to Truth or Consequences how it’ll go.

We were on Hwy40, through New Mexico, it parallels historic Route 66.  We’ll turn south at Albuquerque, New Mexico to Hwy 25.  I’m going to do a separate Post on just Route 66, I found it so reflective of the movie Cars!

We stopped in Albuquerque for gas and to stretch Jerry & Duke’s legs.. I probably won’t be able to move, as that was the first double header run I had in a while! 

I’ll post more about the HotSprings and Route 66 later this evening.. (if it's too late..)

Sofie