Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM

No, this is not a wedding cake starting to melt, but one of the truly fantastic formations at Carlsbad Caverns.

Roswell, NM

We stopped to visit some "special" friends in Roswell!

Balloon Fiesta 2012, Albuquerque

Dawn Patrol:  Our day started on the field at 5:45 am when the first five balloons of the day fire up and check out the skies. It was awesome to be right there in the middle of it all!

Up close and personal!!!!

Up, up, and away!!! 550 balloons take to the sky.

What goes up must come down--right in the middle of the parking lot! We watched seven balloons sail just over the coaches and down behind us. Anyone close grabbed the gondola and pulled it to a safe place to deflate. What an experience!

Santa Fe, NM

We've had a great time in Santa Fe visiting historic Santa Fe with its Plaza, touring the old Cathedrals, and admiring the many amazing galleries. We also did some driving through the golden aspens to Taos and visited the Taos Pueblo. Today it was Bandelier National Monument to see the remnants of the ancient ruins of the early people of New Mexico.

On the Move

Fill 'em up!! A good start to the day for Valero.

 We spent two days in Oklahoma City and had the opportunity to visit the Oklahoma City Memorial for the 1995 bomb site that killed 168 babies, children, and adults.  The museum held so much information and was emotionally taxing.

It is a remarkable tribute to the lost lives and the devastation of a major part of the city.

On to Amarillo, Texas where we ate at the "famous" Big Texan Steak House--you know, eat a 72 ounce steak plus the fixings and eat for free. We didn't try it, but we did watch a young man not be able to accomplish the feat. The food wasn't too bad.

Larry Niemann, RIP

 My dad passed away last week at the age of 91. Although he had suffered from dementia for the last few years, he was always eager to carry on a conversation and still had his great sense of humor.

 I love you, Dad, and will miss you!

We traveled to the St. Louis area where Dad lived near my brother, and my sister traveled from Michigan. We don't often all get together, but we decided a good "memorial meal" would be one of Dad's favorites--Buttons, pork chops, and apple salad!

Buttons (I don't know what the German name would be) are a heavy dough that has been boiled and then fried with bacon. Sometimes we would eat it with syrup. I haven't had it in a long time and it was delicious!!

Montgomery, AL

We spent a day on our travel from Mammoth Cave to Destin, FL in Montgomery, AL and had a great tour of the city. Our trolley driver was very knowledgable and we saw and heard some great history. Later we went back to the capitol building for an inside walk. The stairs were just inside the entrance on both sides of the foyer and led to the second and third floors which were open to the beautifully painted rotunda.