I am linking up with Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday
October 27, 2013
Hubby and I are back after a week long vacation to New Mexico. We were kind of scared the week before leaving with the government shutdown. Our trip was planned around a few National Parks and Wildlife refuges all of which were closed during the shutdown. Luckily the politicians came to an agreement days before we were to leave. Driving a loop we went from Albuquerque RT 40 to RT 285 to Carlsbad. One of our main stops was at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We drove along on RT 180 the national park highway stopping at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. Continuing on to RT 25 to our next stop in the town of Truth or Consequences and a one night stay at a hot springs hotel. From there we stayed a couple of nights in Socorro and then back to Albuquerque. We put 1,250 miles on the rental car!
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You can see some of the New Mexico sights we saw while on our first day. Rt 285 looks like it goes on forever. While driving I saw a couple of different herds of Antelope or I call them Pronghorn. After flying and driving for hours we started looking for food. The first town we came to was like a ghost town with tumbleweed blowing across the road. In the next town of Vaughn we found a nice place with good food called Penny's Diner.
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Above are the birds seen at the Bitter Lake NWR : lots of Sandhill Cranes, Pied-bill Grebe, Loggerhead Shrike, a few White Pelicans and a pretty shot of the full moon near Carlsbad.
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When I plan our vacations, I try to find attractions that both hubby and I will enjoy. On this trip the main attraction for hubby was the Carlsbad Caverns and of course I managed to research all the great places for birding. We managed to break up our drive along the route 285 stopping at the Bitter Lake wildlife refuge near Roswell, New Mexico. I have to report we did NOT see any aliens on our drive.
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I will be showing more photos from our New Mexico vacation, so I hope you will stop back and check out my post. It was a fun trip..
As always, I hope you enjoy my post and thanks for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your comments.
Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit Mosaic Monday and more
from Our World Tuesday
Thanks to our host: Mary our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer. I wish everyone a happy week!
October 27, 2013
Hubby and I are back after a week long vacation to New Mexico. We were kind of scared the week before leaving with the government shutdown. Our trip was planned around a few National Parks and Wildlife refuges all of which were closed during the shutdown. Luckily the politicians came to an agreement days before we were to leave. Driving a loop we went from Albuquerque RT 40 to RT 285 to Carlsbad. One of our main stops was at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We drove along on RT 180 the national park highway stopping at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. Continuing on to RT 25 to our next stop in the town of Truth or Consequences and a one night stay at a hot springs hotel. From there we stayed a couple of nights in Socorro and then back to Albuquerque. We put 1,250 miles on the rental car!
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When I plan our vacations, I try to find attractions that both hubby and I will enjoy. On this trip the main attraction for hubby was the Carlsbad Caverns and of course I managed to research all the great places for birding. We managed to break up our drive along the route 285 stopping at the Bitter Lake wildlife refuge near Roswell, New Mexico. I have to report we did NOT see any aliens on our drive.
.JPG)
I will be showing more photos from our New Mexico vacation, so I hope you will stop back and check out my post. It was a fun trip..
As always, I hope you enjoy my post and thanks for visiting my blog. I always appreciate your comments.
Join in on the fun and for more wonderful photos please visit Mosaic Monday and more
from Our World Tuesday
Thanks to our host: Mary our host of Mosaic Monday and to the hosting group of Our World Tuesday: Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, Sandy and Jennifer. I wish everyone a happy week!
75 comments:
All these birds have been long waiting for you.
You are their best friend.
Glad you had a good trip! Carlsbad Caverns National Park looks amazing. I love the picture of the Sandhill Cranes.
How great that you and your husband share a love for nature. I'm glad the shutdown didn't mar your trip and enjoyed seeing the birds, especially the sandhill cranes. Greetings, Jo
Excellent pictures in the collage!
very well taken.
Beautiful photos, Eileen! We've always wanted to see New Mexico and some of the NWR's. We better add that to our bucket list!
HI Eileen Lovely to see the birds you encountered on your way and I look forward to see what you found in New Mexico.
look at the colors in that terrain!!! gorgeous! looking forward to more!
Looks like a wonderful vacation. So glad the shutdown didn't affect your plans. Can't wait to read and see more.
That road does look like it goes on forever, like the picture of the moon, the countryside an dog course . . . your bird sightings. I look forward to seeing more.
It sounds like a wonderful vacation - I'm so glad the government is up and running again - for a lot of reasons.
We saw Sandhill Cranes in Wisconsin last summer - what a treat for us! Your photos are stunning. I can't wait to see more.
Wonderful pictures. We loved RVing in NM -- so many wonderful places and we did like Carlsbad. I hope you went to Bosque Del Apache. It has wonderful wonderful birds.
How Fun!!!
Nice New Mexico images, I think that rest of them are beautiful.
I'm so glad the shutdown ended right before your trip! Perfect timing. Looks like it was a lot of fun. My husbands mom lives in Carlsbad, NM and we visited there a few years ago. It was beautiful! The Carlsbad Caverns were so amazing.
Can't wait to see more of your trip!
Sounds like a wonderful trip, Eileen. Glad the Government OPENED before you all got there... We hope to get back out there sometime too.
Hugs,
Betsy
....oh boy, that explains all the birds you found....no aliens!! [kidding of course]
What did your husband think of the Caverns? I was there long, long, LONG ago!!
Happy that you shared some great birding with us all Eileen.
New Mexico has a LOT of ghost towns. Lots of wide open spaces, too. We travel through there every spring on the way down to see the grandson. Love the quiet roads. But when you're looking for food...........it's another story!
Glad you found a good place to eat
Wow looks, like a great vacation. What a great collection of photos.
That is some LONG road!!
What an awesome trip. Thanks for taking us along. More more more :)
It sounds and looks like a great trip with a variety of different birds and experiences, and I'll be looking forward to seeing more.
Fantastic shots. I've always wanted to go to New Mexico. Maybe I will one of these days but in the meantime great to see your shots.
I'm glad the politicians got the parks open before your vacation started. I remember some of those New Mexico roads that go on forever from our trip out there a couple of years ago. It sounds as if you did a great job of researching your itinerary.
Glad that your trip turned out ok/ lovely photos! I especially love that orangish full moon! :) Perfect Halloween moon :)
Welcome back Eileen!!!
Wow!!!What a wonderful trip you had!!!Beautiful images and great photos!!!Thank you for sharing!!!Have a lovely week!!Hugs!!
Dimi...
I'm glad the parks were open for you to explore and that your trip was nice.
Good thing you didn't run into any aliens. LOL
Judith
What a wonderful vacation!! Seems planning your vacations is almost as exciting as taking it!!
Gorgeous, Eileen! You planned everything just right! Are you sure one of those beautiful cranes wasn't an alien in disguise?:)
Poppy
Hi Eileen... What a wonderful colorful trip, and so glad that you was able get into the parks!!
Great birds shot's,! I thought at first some of those Sand-hill Cranes where rocks : ))
Well I am glad there was only tumbleweed blowing about and not aliens!!
Grace
The colours of the land just seem to intensify at this time of the year. Lovely photos. Valerie
Eileen,
We have been to New Mexico a few times too-it is an interesting State and has some very barren areas-I have always wondered why the antelope seem to stay so close to the highways-they appear to be mesmerized by the traffic-what do you think? Great photos:)!!
Warm Hugs,
Jemma
Always enjoy seeing your photos from your trips - thanks for sharing them.
Have a great week.
How fun! So glad you had a good time and the parks weren't shut down. Beautiful photos! I'd love to make a trip out west sometime.
This is such a perfect time to make that trip! I lived in the four corners region of NM for a few years and enjoyed seeing a lot of that area. I would love to go back next Fall. I'll come back to see more photos! You are such an amazing photographer! Enjoy your week!
Beautiful colours in these images Eileen, I'm glad you had such a good trip and look forward to seeing more images!
I really like the colors in your landscape shots, the golden with the deep blue in the last shot. Looking forward to more.
I enjoyed seeing your photos from New mexico, Eileen. I live a state away and I can't wait to see more of this beautiful place. I'm glad the NP's are open again!
You have make beautiful photos, Eileen!
Greetings, RW & SK
Oh, I've always wanted to visit Carlsbad Caverns! Wonderful shots Eileen!
Great images of birds from the mexico trip.
Looks like a wonderful vacation in beautiful scenery. So glad the parks opened just before you were due to go away.
Glad to have you back Eileen :) Looks like you had a great vacation ! The pictures are beautiful and vibrant :)
I'm glad you were able to enjoy your journey Eileen; it really sounds lovely that you both can travel with similar interests and enjoy together like you do. The locations are beautiful as are your photos. Look forward to seeing more of your travels. That would've been quite tragic had you not been able to visit the N.P's due to politics
Hi Eileen!!! Indeed, you got beautiful photos of the birds and find great place for birding..
such have an interesting trip.
thanks for sharing your travel experience..
Great set of pictures - I like the one with the herons (?) head sticking up though the plants.
Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne
Lots of good places there for your birding explorations Eleeen. Of course I've only ever seen such wide open landscapes in the western movies (and the ghost towns). TRuth and Consequence ?- great name that made me laugh. I'll have to go Google that place. Look forward to seeing more of your trip.
Gorgeous scenery,..and as always beautiful birds. You do such a fine job with your nature photos. Lovely post.
glad it worked out for u guys. beautiful views. ( :
have a great weekend.
Love New Mexico and your photography is always marvelous ~ glad you had a great trip ~ carol, xx
Hi! Nice journey for you and your husband. I looked your beautiful photos and enjoyed very much. Thanks for sharing.
i am soooo happy you were able to go!!
amazing images, all transporting me to new mexico and i LOVE what i see!!
the colors in the last image are so amazing!!
Wow ... beautiful pictures Eileen. Cranes and I see that are beautiful to behold. Here in the Netherlands can I visit only in a zoo. Also your last photo is a great and colorful landscape.
Glad you got to take your vacation. You certainly captured some beautiful scenes.
what a wonderful destination for vacation. someday i hope to go there too.
Looks like you had a great vacation, Eileen!! I love your captures and such a wonderful variety!!Thanks for sharing the fun and the beauty!!
Great photos of the scenery and birds. That first stretch of highway looks as if it goes on forever!
Great pictures, really beautiful autumn scenery, wonderful place!
What warm fall colors here. I always felt slightly anxious on those flat wide open roads out west.
We love New Mexico. My husband took art workshops in both Taos and Santa Fe. We have thought about buying a second home in Santa Fe because Steve could paint in the wonderful light and we could ski Santa Fe.
We have not been to Carlsbad Caverns, but we should give it a try.
I look forward to more photos of NM.
Beautiful countryside and nice birds. I'm glad the government got its act together so you could enjoy the national parks!
What a great time of year for a road trip. You captured wonderful sights along the way. So glad the parks re-opened for you.
What a great series of images, Eileen! What a great birding spot too... so many birds in one place!
I love the terrain and that road going on forever is quite a sight.
Beautiful collages viewing. Wish you a good day / good new week :) Hanne Bente
Everything looks so beautiful and you captured a lot of birds. I'm glad the shutdown was over before you left.
Looks like a wonderful trip! I'm glad the shutdown was over and you were able to get into the parks.
Welcome home Eileen and so happy that you and your hubby were able to GET In :) Cannot believe our bad fortune, but I vowed to make the best of it. Your first post shows some beautiful sights and birds and i look forward to other shares.
Love the fowls. Bitter lake reminds me of "marah." And what a gorgeous moon! Very well captured.
Hazel
Your itinerary sounded like the perfect roadtrip, Eileen. Something for everyone. Like you, I enjoy researching before a trip and getting the flavor of the place. My fav photos--if that's possible--are the "striped" landscapes.
Eileen, what fun! I'm glad you saw so many birds and found stuff to interest your hubbie! Always a challenge for me as well!
Beautiful colours. - Margy
Another exciting adventure Eileen. These are great photos and I look forward to your next posts.
glad you were able to enjoy the NP's shut down ending before your visit
It looks like a very interesting place! Your pictures are great, as always!
think you had a nice trip. Love the cranes. They look very different from ours.
Oh my goodness Eileen - what a post!
Another feast for the bird lover.
You really are a great photographer - blogging has opened up all these opportunities for us to view works such as this.
Before it would have been through exhibitions and books.
Thank goodness for conservationists and good planning to secure the wonderful bird life on our earth.
Shane in New Zealand
This is a new place for me. Thanks for sharing the info. I had no idea there was water near Roswell. It also looks like a great place full of cool birds:)
I do the same thing while planning our trips. Always too much to do and not enough time. Glad the government shutdown didn't affect your plans.
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