2025 Summer Vacation: Tuscon AZ & Saguaro National Park

 After 2 lovely days in Las Cruces, we headed out to Tuscon for 1 day to visit Saguaro National Park. We passed this guy on the side of the highway... 

Which made us laugh because, along with my theme song, "On the Road Again," the Roadrunner symbolizes my/our love of travel.

Up until this day (July 3rd) we'd been lucky to miss severe weather and thunderstorms that kept us inside. But this afternoon, we caught a little rain. Lucklily, it was light and cleared up enough for us to get inside the visitor center at Saguaro (pronounced suh waa row) National Park where we toured the exhibits therein and it cleard up nicely by the time we were ready to drive through the park.

Although there are hiking trails for those rugged outdoorsmen and women, we chose to drive through the park for 2 reasons. One, we only had the afternoon to visit as we were heading to Phoenix the next morning. Two, I'm not going to go traipsing through any area that's known rattlesnake country!

Anyway, we saw plenty of these big, sometimes exotically shaped cactus plants. Just look how tall!

These cacti can grow up to 60 feet tall and, when fully hydrated, weigh 5000 pounds.

Some folks may not appreciate the uniqueness of the Saguaro cactus, but I find the beauty of nature never ceases to amaze me.

We stayed at Rincon Country West RV Resort, a retirement community that I'm sure, had we more time, would have been a lot of fun with all of the activities, swimming pool, hot tub and other ammenities geared to keep residents healthy and engaged. And as you'd expect, the restrooms in such a beautiful place were the kind that keep me singing a happy tune. Spacious and clean.

Hope you enjoyed this peek into Tuscon, AZ and Saguaro National Park and that you'll check back in a couple of weeks as we continue our vacation in Phoenix!

Until then, take care, God bless and safe travels.

PamT

2025 Summer Vacation: Las Cruces New Mexico

 Hello Again, Fellow Traveler!

In my last post, I mentioned we left Tuesday, July 1st heading to Las Cruces, New Mexico. If you've never been to NM, put it on your bucket list. The mountainous terrain set against a powder-blue sky is just lovely - clouds or not. We timed our departure as often as possible to drive 3-4 hours (5 max!) and arrive at the campground or RV park around 1 pm. 

Today we checked in to Hacienda RV Resort and let me tell you what a beautiful resort it is! All of the RV spots are paved and though they had no picnic tables, they were large enough to set up your own if you dared the heat LOL! Hacienda was pet friendly, with a fenced in dog park and a dog washing station. There was no swimming pool but a hot tub - which made no sense to me because, I mean, you are in the desert and it is hot, hot, hot. 

Regardless, the restrooms and showers were roomy with attached dressing areas and blow driers in each. Check out their gallery and you'll see why this lovely place had me siging a happy tune the entire time we were there.

We had dinner at a beautiful Mexican restaurant (what else? LOL!). I think it was El Sombrero but not positive, but the decor was simply astonishing.

The next morning we set out to our destination: White Sands National Park.

Imagine driving along a desert road and seeing sand as white as snow!

Still blows my mind thinking about it. Mississippi and Florida are the only places I've seen sand this pristine.

Neither of us felt like trekking up the dunes much less sliding down on cardboard or on a sled. Besides, I had my dog with me and he would have had to stay in the truck and it's just plain too hot for that.

We did take the 8 mile drive that leads from the visitor center to the heart of the gypsum dunefield. The first five miles of this drive is on paved roads. You traverse the remaining 3 on hard-packed sand. Stay on the road though, because vehicles can get bogged down in loose sand.

While there, we took a side trip to see the Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument.

These steep, rocky spires jut into the sky 9000 feet above the Chihuahuan Desert floor. Depending on what angle you're viewing, they do look like organ pipes. 

After a pretty full day of traveling, we managed to sneak a sit in the hottub, and you know what? It really wasn't all that bad!

The dry, desert air made it fairly comfortable once the sun went down enough for us to find a spot of shade. Especially nice when you're sipping a homemade Sangria Margarita 😅

After our showers in the luxurious bathrooms, we settled in for the evening, watched a little TV then went to bed ready to wake up the next morning to a new adventure.

I hope you'll check back in a couple of weeks and come along with us for the ride to Phoenix, Arizona with a stop off in Tuscon.

Until then, take care and be safe out there on the open road.

PamT

2025 Summer Vacation: Balmorhea State Park

We left San Angelo on Monday, June 30th headed for Balmorhea State Park in  Toyahvale, TX. This beautiful park is built around a natural spring-fed pool with water temperatures between 72 - 76 degrees year around.

We happened to catch the first bit of rain in our vacation at this time and it was a mite cool to swim.

For me anyway!

Not only deterred by the weather, the fact that swimming in this lovely, clear water involves close encounters of the marine kind was enough to keep me out of the water. Yeah, look closely at this collage, that's catfish and a soft-shell turtle!

Floating along with those would be uncomfortable enough but what really landlocked me was the fact that, although we didn't see any, there were signs indicating that water snakes might be found in there as well.

No Thank You!

The campsites were lovely too, with pretty little haciendas over the picnic tables. There were lots of grassy areas to walk the dog too and the people were very friendly and hospitable. All in all, we had a lovely stay at Balmorhea State Park.  We left Tuesday morning, heading to Las Cruces New Mexico and White Sands National Park. On the way, we stopped at a rest area about 30 miles east of Toyahvale which was very nice and clean, which as you know always has me singing a happy tune. 

Next time I'll share our visit to White Sands National Park. I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Until then, take care, God Bless and Happy Glamping.

PamT