On the Road Again.... Volcanoes, Cowboys, and Rocks

We are off again on another grand adventure or 3 weeks of family torture in the truck and trailer. We left yesterday about 7:45 and went as far as Capulin, New Mexico. We made much better time than we had thought we would. We even stopped at the WalMart in Amarillo ( much nicer than ours). We stayed at a nice little campground that was about 3 miles from the extinct Capulin Volcano. We ran up there yesterday afternoon, and Keeg thought that was a really cool. We drove to the top on a road that did not have a guardrail. I could not look out the window because it freaked me out. Unfortunately, Coley also has a thing for heights. We made it to the parking lot at the top, and after spending the day in the car, we decided that we all needed a little exercise. There was a trail around the rim of the volcano that was about a mile. The distance was not the problem. It was uphill! Serena walked halfway by herself, then we carried her. She has amazing stamina-I think she may be the toughest one yet. Keegan had a great time, and I was afraid I would have to be airlifted off of the thing!
We got up and about fairly early this morning. The sun comes up bright and early mountain time. About the time we crossed the border and were driving up Raton pass Serena declared that her eyes had quit working. She was rubbing them and refused to open them. We are not sure what was going on. She was also unhappy with the movie in the dvd player at the time so maybe she just did not want to watch it. Keegan has been a wonderful traveler-Serena has been a bit of a princess.
After unloading the Puma in the campground we ran up to the PRCA Hall of Champions to show the kids Quail's exhibit. It's not exactly a museum for little kids. They enjoyed it, but it did not hold their interest very long. We still had lots of afternoon to kill, so after finding a Sonic and getting our fix, we drove out to the Garden of the Gods. We once again decided the kids (us) needed a little exercise. We did not let the clouds coming in over the mountains or the thunder deter us. We found the parking lot and off we went on the nature trail that wound amongst the huge red sandstone monoliths. We walked almost a mile up and down, and Serena trudged along the whole way by herself. We had a good time, and even got to pull our raingear out for the first time. We ate at Culvers tonight, and thought of our Chicago friends, Dawn, Dan, and MiKayla, who introduced us to Culvers in Branson last summer.
The kids are in bed, and I am worn out before 10 pm! Tomorrow we have dinosaurs and Pikes Peak on the agenda. Keegan played his first game of mini-golf tonight at the campground, and he had a big time. He informed me that I can't call it putt-putt. He is just hoping the weather improves so he can go swimming!


Capuling Volcano in the distance-I am actually driving!



The first of many self family pics on the trail around the rim.


Can you tell how steep this was? Keegan was examining something interesting, and Serena was mad that I would not carry her down. I had images of both of us rolling downhill.



Keeg in front of Granddad's exhibit while Serena refused to stand still for a picture.


Garden of the Gods