Chickasaw Ntl. Rec. Area, OK - Nov. 7, 2006	With electric hookups, the fantastic view from our RV site, and the campground to ourselves, Chickasaw made a wonderful stop for us.  The kids earned a Junior Ranger Badge at the Nature Center, and we visited two Sacred Springs.
A Norman Rockwell fishing hole made a great way to spend the warm, fall afternoon.  The kids must have caught two dozen blue gill (sunfish) we had for dinner that night.	Ft.Sill, OK - Nov.8, 2006
Pedernales Falls State Park, TX - Nov.18, 2006	A friend of ours in San Antonio knew about Pedernales Falls. What an excellent place to climb and explore!!  We even saw people catching some pretty big fish. This is one of those places I'd love to go to again and again.... much like Custer State Park in SD.
Enchanted Rock St. Park, TX - Nov.20,2006 I read about this place about a year ago, when "The Journey" was beginning to formulate into a reality.  It's not only a sacred site, but one of the largest granite monoliths in the world.  It's also full of cracks and crevices (caves) to explore, and huge rocks to climb all over.	The monolithic granite has life! Enchanted Rock
Portuguese Man-O-War, Padre Island Ntl. Seashore, TX - Nov.28, 2006	At certain times of the year Padre Island is "coated" with these guys.  Not only are Man-O-Wars all over the beach, so is tons of trash. Ninety percent of the 100 miles of seashore has hurricane debris coming in regularly.  The kids and I hope to volunteer cleaning up for a month maybe in the spring.
Big Bend Ntl. Park, TX - Dec.1, 2006 Hot Springs next to the Rio Grande; Big Bend, TX Big Bend is a great place!  We stayed for three days dry-camping and had a wonderful time. The hot springs ruins are from the early 1900's when a "health resort" was built in the area.  The bubbling water is about 105 degrees, and the pool sits right next to the Rio Grande.  Relaxing and beautiful!  This Ntl. Park is home to javalinas, and also to mountain lions, bears, roadrunners, and bobcats.	Big Bend Sunset; looking out the RV window Javalina (Collared Peccary); known to eat small dogs... Luckily, only this little guy and a roadrunner were seen up close and personal. (There was a story in the local paper about a woman who left her tiny dog tied up outside her RV, and when she returned from hiking a group of Javalinas had eaten the dog....)
Sunset; White Sands Ntl. Monument, NM - Dec. 7, 2006 The white sand (true gypsum) is cold - it reflects the sun/heat. It also blows and "drifts" like snow, and looks like it too.	Sledding allowed on the dunes!!! White Sands, NM So, why not play around in it like it's snow? Another fantastic place to see...magical.
Carlsbad Caverns, NM - Dec.12, 2006 We hiked three miles of tunnels; a little over three hours of walking... and taking two hundred pictures.  Another must-see, even if it was a three hour drive from Holloman AFB, it was so worth it. The kids didn't complain about the drive, and would do it again!	Choosing "the best" pics from Carlsbad is tough.... We hope to come back in the spring when the Mexican bats return so we can watch them "swarm" from the cave at dusk.  That's how the caverms were discovered in the first place... from the thousands of bats. Guano was collected for years to use as fertilizer before Carlsbad became a Ntl. Monument.