ALL GOOD THINGS MUST END...

The last day we were there Trish and I dropped the guys off at the Hubbard Museum and she and I went to Lotza Stuff and Pinon Pottery down the road....would have been way cheaper had I gone to the museum.  The pictures inside the museum are Walt's, he was quite impressed with it.  I can't tell you anything about the photos, I was spending money like we had it.

I can tell you this is the walkway to the entrance and the stairs lead up to the parking lot (we dropped the guys at the handicap area to save some air)

and this one....LOL.

Scott was totally flabbergasted why they would want a window on the hearse...actually shivered and screwed up his face thinking about a body peering out at him.  He is so innocent and sweet.

At the top of the stairs is a fabulous little garden area that reminds me of a cupcake top.  It swirls around and you can take a side path to the very very top.  They ask that you stay on the path and the statues are right next to the path so my age and arthritic knees worked against me and I had to take shots as I could.  They turned out ok, I think.

Bits and pieces that didn't fit in anywhere else or got left behind.

Angus Cemetery, on the edge of the fires...remember the camp pictures, this was right next to the camp literally across a driveway.  The camp had horrible damage  but other than a couple of singed trees the cemetery was spared.  It was evident that since the fires volunteers had come in and cleaned the cemetery and fresh flowers were on 75% of the graves. 

Relaxing is the name of the game at the cabin......

What's wrong with this picture?  Not a danged thing!!  It is as it should be.

See the toboggan in the background?  My ever so clever son-in-law turned it into a hanger for afghans.

Think you might need to concentrate on your shots being high instead of straight playing here.  The whole course was filled with these hills.

View from the front of the cabin.  Sierra Blanca on the right.


A couple of reminders from Smokey and from Trish

Well Marti didn't see an elk.....

but she finally did get a bear.  Her story is that the bear looked at her and was absolutely scared to death when it saw her and is "pettyfried wood" now.

Geocaching takes you to places and makes you stop at places you normally wouldn't ....this was no exception.  The cache was located right on the state line in a small cemetery.  I'm glad we stopped.

This is a memorial to W. (Gravey) Field the founder of  Bronco, Texas.  His story is fascinating, but long.  If you really really want to read it let me know and I'll send it on to you.  In a nutshell he was born in Arkansas, lost his mother when he was eight, and didn't get along with his step-mother.  He left home at 12 years of age supporting himself with various jobs around ranches.  At one ranch one of his jobs was to pick up cow chips to be used for fuel, and that task earned him the nickname "Bullshit Bob". 

He took his earnings, bought a wagon and a team of horses and headed to Arizona.   When he hit this area at the state lines he thought it the prettiest grassland he had ever seen and parked his wagon, opened a general store and applied for a post office.  The store operated on the honor system, the cash register a baking soda tin holding scraps of paper with IOU's written on them.  He was out delivering mail.

He arrived in the area with his wagon and a team of horses, when he died he had 2000 head of cattle, 200 head of horses, and he owned or controlled over 100,000 acres of land.  He certainly lived the American dream.

This is the prettiest and most welcome  sight any Texan sees when on vacation.   We were no exception, but we can't wait to go back to that beautiful beautiful area!  Thank you Trish, Bruce, and Annie for a wonderful stay.

Don't forget to listen for those back road whispers, you never know what you'll hear.