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.

AND THEN WE WENT.....

After we went to look at the fire damage we headed a little further up the road to Nogal (translation - Walnut Tree), a small community Actually that is its 4th name, it has worn three other name badges.  Known as Dry Gulch in 1879 when gold was discovered, then Galena, then Parsons, for a miner in 1892 and finally to Nogal. When the mine played out Nogal didn't die as so many other mining towns did.  It remains a small community, content with houses dotting the hills.

If you want a good read about small town happenings in the old west, take a couple of minutes and read this excerpt from Gary Cozzens book “The Nogal Mesa: A History ofKivas and Ranchers in Lincoln County”

We saw a pretty little church from the road and had to go check it out.

It was so simple and yet so beautiful sitting on top of the little hill.  I've always liked a church that looks like a church and not a department store, so this was right up my alley.

Trish hollered from the car (bless her heart, she spent hours in that car with the girls while we looked around) that there were "hangy things on the tree" so I dutifully headed over to check them out.  Glad I did.

Hangy things

Non-hangy thing

By going to check out the "things" I was able to get a look at the view the parishioners get to see every Sunday.  Breathtaking.

As we left the parking lot we saw the back of the sign.  Loved it!

The post office of Nogal, NM

and the merchantile

The sign above the porch reads:

Nogal 

Post Office

Established 18??

Nogal

Merchantile

By the mid-1920s, Nogal had matured somewhat, and the Nogal Mercantile Company was distributing gasoline at twenty-three cents per gallon from a Haynes Visible pump. The Mercantile also sold lubricating oil and motor oil named “A and Arctic” that could be had for twenty-three cents a quart and eighty-five cents a gallon. Kerosene was sold for nineteen cents a gallon or for ninety cents for five gallons. The owners were quoted as saying: “Our prices are the lowest in Lincoln County, 20 cents saved on 10 gallons
of gas means 18 to 20 miles more of travel.”

Just some miscellaneous shots along the way.....

Peeking Bear Ranch Sign

I lost my Mother of the Year Award this trip....poor Scott was so worried about the bear and scared to death he was going to be eaten.  Of course we had to really play to it and give him thunder all the time.  When we stopped at a rest area to walk the dogs and have a sandwich I looked down and saw this bear print (if you use your imagination and are as gullible as Scott).

Scott bought it, and his head swiveled the whole time we were sitting there.  I know, I am so bad.  (giggle)

Speaking of picnics, I promised to tell you about the other picnic after we toured the loop.  We went to a beautiful little natural area and found a table and settled in to eat our sandwiches.

Our table

Our view

Told you it was pretty there!  So we are munching along and Trish says "there's a deer".  Sure enough she was standing there just looking at us.

See her about center?  And so close to the road.

The next thing I hear from Trish is "OMG, OMG, OMG there's a baby!!!"  Mama came on down the hill and turned around to check on her baby, but kept a close eye on us too.

It was about this time that we realized this little fawn was newly born.  It still wet and had the birth goo on it and would take two steps and stumble, get up and try again and stumble.  Mom kept encouraging it and making sure it was ok, all the while watching us to be sure we didn't mean any harm

 Once the fawn got down the hill and the doe checked it out, the doe crossed a small, very small, little ditch.  To the fawn it was like crossing the Mississippi though and it took several tries on those wobbly little legs to make it across.  Mom was cheering it on from the other side.

Face plant!

You didn't see that did you?

Third, fourth or tenth time is a charm.  SUCCESS!

Wait Mom, I'm coming!!!

Needless to say that was the icing on the cake for us.  Marti and Annie were not impressed, they had deer at the cabin, they would rather go swimming.

Once they dried off it was time to head toward Sierra Blanco and home....

(ONE MORE SHORT ONE TO GET THE STRAGGLERS AND I'M DONE...maybe)