Road Trippin’ with Dad
Got back home a couple of days ago and I felt like I needed some time to recover. You know it was a good vacation when you need to relax after. It’s not easy being around another person 24 hours a day for 7 days, no matter who it is. It’s even harder when you’ve lived alone for years. But the chance to take a trip like this with my dad probably won’t come up just a whole lot anymore and I was anxious and honored to take it.
He picked me up in College Station and we drove over to Caldwell, up to Cameron, to Temple, around the bottom of Killeen to Lampasas. From there, we went through San Saba, Brady, and Eden, up to San Angelo. We went NW to Sterling City to Big Spring, where we headed west through Lenorah and Andrews. We ate lunch in Andrews and continued on to Carlsbad, NM. Yeah, we could have gone a different way, probably tying into I-10 and going north at Ft Stockton, but why? You miss so much beautiful country when you’re just on an interstate clogged with 18-wheelers and people who are only concerned with the destination. (says the chick who intentionally chose a route busy with oilfield traffic…)
It’s kind of hard to remember what we did specifically each day, but one thing is that we had some great food. Best restaurants from this trip: Kaleidoscoops, El Charro, Lucky Bull, YellowBrix, and Martin’s Capitol Cafe. We also got food at Allsup’s and Long John Silver (don’t you DARE judge me), and the LJS in Carlsbad is excellent, just in case you were wondering. The La Quinta Inn in Carlsbad is highly recommended. If you’re super-nice, you might get fresh-baked cookies in the evenings!
We went to Roswell and Artesia too, looking for Pecos Valley diamonds (video is coming soon) and sentimental locations. We went to Guadalupe Mountains National Park just across the southern NM border in Texas. We took my dad’s new Ford Ranger off-road for the first time in many different places on BLM land. We visited several city parks and, unfortunately at one, we watched a nearby house burn down (I don’t have a lot of confidence in CFD). We drove through the Lincoln National Forest and walked up to Sitting Bull Falls. We visited Brantley Lake State Park, and Living Desert State Park. The place that fuels my dreams the most is the James Phelps White house in Roswell, home to the Historical Society for SE New Mexico. We toured that house and, just wow.
It kind of sucked having to come back home. The weather was chilly every morning, freezing at night, and stayed very windy. My hair remained tangled the whole time from the high winds. But it was a wonderful, memorable, fun trip and I look forward to planning more with my dad for this year. I wonder where we should go next?
