Paisley's Adventures, Travels, and Explorations. : February 2016

Captain/New Mexico

Every ship has a Captain, and I am fortunate enough that in my case my captain is also my husband.

I realize that I don't write about him often, when I am recounting our adventures, because I put so much of what I am feeling into it.

What can I say about Josh. He's (extremely) patient, willing to pack up and go on a whim, and even allows me to be the road trip DJ (most of the time) :) He also drives 99% of the time while I am researching places I'd like to stop, and making yellow highlighter dots in my atlas.

He turns my chaotic lists into organized, time efficient routes. He is my road trip karaoke partner.

Over the summer, we had an open weekend. We started discussing going "somewhere" close enough that we could realistically make the trip in once weekend and not have to rush *too* much But we wanted to venture far enough away that we would be seeing scenery we were not used to.
It came down to Albuquerque or Colorado Springs. Josh had never been to New Mexico, so we decided to go there.

I packed a bag for the girls, and added my things to the bag Josh had already started, and at the end of the work day, we headed for Amarillo. We stayed in what might have been the worst hotel room I've ever stayed in, in my 28 years of existence.

In the morning, we got on our way. Not only was I thrilled we were going on this trip, period, but I'd been researching going on some of the Route 66 road trips for weeks, without any expectations of doing anything like in the near future so the fact that we would be able to see some of those places, and awesome attractions was really exciting to me! We had decided not to stop too many times on the way out, that way I was able to do a lot of research on places to stop on the way back. We drove through Tucumcari the first time without stopping, and let me tell you THAT was torture!

We arrived in beautiful Albuquerque right before lunch time, and ate at a restaurant called La Hacienda in the historic downtown area (that I LLLLOOOVVVVEEEEDDDD).
The food was fantastic, and the atmosphere basically had me swooning. We even got serenaded by some Mariachi.

Enjoying the beautiful day, eating lunch on the patio.

Group shot!

Josh and Emma.

The girls and I.

I wanted this glass- I should have bought it. :)

The girls letting some energy out.

After a fantastic lunch we explored the charming boutiques and unique stores of the historic old town, and then hopped back in the car looking for our next adventure.

Ophelia resting on a stump in the downtown area.

I loved the courtyard areas between shops.

I'm not entirely sure what Josh was looking at, here.

Emma wondering if she should try to get closer to the pigeons.

Outside of an awesome store full of art. :)

Here we are at the American International Rattlesnake Museum.

The girls thought this was so funny!

Dowtown Rooftops.

We ended up at one of the sites of the Petroglyph National Monument, and I'm so glad we made that a stop on our trip. While we gazed upon those beautiful marks of history, it was hard to not feel awestruck and full of wonder about what life must have been like in those days. Not only was this a totally cool little walk/hike, but the weather was great that day. It was actually a little cloudy, and not too hot. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

That day we also decided to drive to Taos, and we were going to make that our last stop- until we couldn't find a hotel room. There just happened to be a Pow Wow that weekend, and all the hotels in Taos were booked. In disappointment, we decided to get back on the road. We ended up taking a BEAUTIFUL route to Los Alamos, where we ended up staying for the night.

The next morning we woke up early, and had already decided to go check out the Puye Cliff Dwellings. They were AMAZING. I wish we would have had time
to take the tour, but when we arrived they had JUST opened, and the first tour wasn't happening for a little while. That being said, even getting to view them was amazing.

A piece of pottery from the Puye people.

Josh checking out the pottery.

Group shot in front of the cliff dwellings. The tour guide was kind enough to snap some for us.

We began our drive home, after seeing the cliff dwellings. In my next post, I will share some of the ghost towns we stopped at. This was one of my favorite trips from last year, and I can't wait to see where this year takes us. :)

Picher, Oklahoma. Part I.

Where do I start...

The Picher water tower.

This town is one of the coolest places within a couple hour drive of Arkansas City.

World War I and World War II helped create a lot of industry, as a large percentage of the metals mined in Picher were used to create bullets,
and bombshells. The industry that led to Picher's success eventually caused it's destruction. One of the by-products of Picher's metal mining
is the gigantic mounds of chat that are still present to this day.

I have read that families used to picnic on the chat. It was also reportedly used to fill children's sandboxes. The mounds of chat were
seemingly innocent. There was some concern when the local creek began to turn red.

Children were sick often, test scores were below average, and lung cancer was prominent. By the 1980's, test results led
to some preventative measures, but it wasn't until 2005 that the government started offering buyouts of houses and property owned in Picher.

These days, Picher is slowly dwindling. While there are still some residents, the buildings and businesses that were abandoned are crumbling.
I went for the first time in April 2015 and three months later we went again, and I can tell you in that amount of time, a few of the buildings looked
like they had caught fire.

If you are interested in seeing this once booming town, I'd go now. Just leave things as you found them, so that the other explorers can come
across the same amazing things you did.

<3