Epic Road Trip: Thanksgiving 2018

 We headed East toward Texas on Tuesday when I got home from school.  A lot of the trip was on flat, straight roads until we got to Cloudcroft and climbed the mountain to one of our favorite New Mexico destinations, The Lodge.  We arrived in time for a beautiful dinner at "our" table.

 The next day we got an early start because we had a long drive to Austin, TX.  On the way we passed through Hope, NM.  The town did not live up to its name.  The Hope Store is permanently closed.  There was a building that had obviously experienced a structure fire.  It was the fire department.

 A large part of the trip between Carlsbad, NM and well into Texas was through the heart of the oil fields.  There were pumps and refineries and wells and gas flares.  It was ugly and smelled like hot asphalt and dust.  We got snacks at a truck stop and it was hard to breathe.  There were some tiny home villages, some lots filled with RVs, and lots of taco trucks.  It seemed to go on forever before we emerged into breathable air, but at least the speed limit was high and we could move along.  When we weren't stuck behind large equipment, that is...

 Once we reached the Texas hill country outside of Austin the scenery was much prettier, and when we reached our destination on Lake Travis I was completely charmed. We stayed in a lovely cottage on the lake with a kitchenette, access to a full kitchen, a living room with a fireplace, bedroom with a walk-in closet, and a beautiful yard.  We were able to use a canoe and could have rented a power boat if we wished.  It was cloudy when we were there but fairly warm.

 I walked in the morning before Stephen got up, exploring the lake views and the nearby marina.  Stephen and I walked and canoed after breakfast before heading into Austin.

 

 We got to Austin around lunch time, but it was Thanksgiving day and nothing was open.  I was pretty sure Thanksgiving day was the perfect time to see Austin, as long as you didn't want to actually visit any museums or shops, because the streets were fairly empty and I have heard that Austin traffic is terrible.  Eventually the pubs and music venues on 6th street opened and we had a late lunch at this Irish pub.  The piano player made up for his mediocrity with volume, according to Stephen.

We went back to the cottage on Lake Travis Thursday night and had a nice, relaxing evening.  The next day we checked out and headed West.  I wanted to stop in a charming town we had driven through on Wednesday; Fredricksburg, TX.  We walked around and had a beautiful lunch there.  The historic buildings, shops, park, and Christmas decorations we enjoyed in Fredricksburg are well worth another trip just to stay there some other time.

Stephen had planned to break up the long trip by staying at an historic hotel in Van Horn, TX on Friday night.  The Hotel El Capitan is owned by the same people that own The Lodge in Cloudcroft.  It's a neat place!  But weirdly, it is the ONLY neat place in Van Horn.  The rest of the town...  well, I guess it would be kindest to say that I-10 passed it by and now all that's left are truck and auto repair places, lots of seedy-looking motels, and a residential area with many crumbling cement block houses and old mobile homes.  I asked the desk clerk if it was safe to go for a walk on Saturday morning and she said, "Sure!" and I did walk, but I wasn't sure. 

 Our room had this cute little Juliette balcony!

Here are scenes from my morning walk.  Another weird thing about Van Horn is that it's in the Central time zone but it's actually West of some of the Mountain time zone because of the shape of Texas.  So sunrise wasn't until 7:30 AM!!!  

We had a very nice breakfast at the El Capitan Hotel (the Sousa march is my earworm every time I type this, and the whole time I was staying there), drove around the town a bit, and headed to our next destination, a short hike at an historic site.  But first...

 Here's the dip:

 And this is a flood gauge in the bottom of the dip.  They are serious about this!

 When we got to our hiking site, the wind was so strong that I couldn't open the truck door!  We decided to try it anyway and bundled up.  It was sunny, so we were fine and I didn't actually get blown off the trail, although the wind attempted it a few times.

After a stop at the Visitor Center, we had lunch in the truck (no picnic in that wind!).  Then we drove back to Cloudcroft for another night at The Lodge, and returned to Albuquerque the next day.  It was a whirlwind tour of Texas, but perfect for me, who had never been there, to get a feel for it.  And now I know where I want to spend more time and what parts I'd just as soon skip!  

Another alternate Thanksgiving celebration for which I am very thankful.

Las Vegas, New Mexico

Dad found a book called, "The Most Beautiful Villages and Towns in the Southwest," and one of the featured towns is Las Vegas, New Mexico.  So that's where we headed on our road trip.
Our hotel on the historic plaza was quaint and comfortable, featuring a restaurant where we had an excellent lunch and breakfast.

We drove around the old part of the city, stopping at the Carnegie library and admiring the Victorian houses.

 The TV show "Longmire" was filmed in Las Vegas.  This is Longmire's door.

On Saturday morning we went to the Las Vegas Wildlife refuge where we saw ducks, geese, birds of prey, and cranes.

On Saturday afternoon we had a tour of "Montezuma Castle," which was once a luxury hotel and is now the home of United World College, an International Baccalaureate school.  The hotel was one of the first buildings in New Mexico to have electricity, but it burned down twice.  The current building has been meticulously restored.  UWC has more than 200 students representing over 75 countries.  It is designed to replace the last two years of high school, and serves students aged 15 to 19 (the age difference is due to the fact that different countries have various systems of high school education).  Two students took us on the tour and impressed us with their poise and knowledge of the school.

One of the buildings on campus is a modern sanctuary with prisms in the ceiling and very interesting acoustics.

We had a great time exploring this charming little town in Northern New Mexico!