the turquoise trail

{colorado} I crossed the state line into Colorado and continued a short drive into the state to Pagosa Springs for the night.  I was amazed by how quickly the landscape changed from adobe homes in the sandy desert to log cabins in the lush mountains!  The change in landscape and change in elevation brought with it a rather drastic change in temperature; the night was rather brisk and my first time experiencing single digits in quite a while.   Welcome to Colorado! Pagosa Springs is a hot springs and skiing resort-style town.  It has a very nice little downtown, a few hot springs and all the typical tourist amenities.  I spent my night at the local Walmart, then went into town the next morning for church.  I joined Mark and Sara & their three kids for a Mexican mothers day lunch afterwards, then they took me for a scenic Sunday drive.  We wound our way through the mountains to the east of Pagosa Springs, finding a waterfall and a few scenic ...

{arizona} My time in Arizona started with a night at the local Walmart in Douglas (which I kept calling George).  Coming in from the west along the county roads, 'George' didn't look overly promising, but thankfully the Walmart offered a well-lit and security-patrolled refuge.  I think I should be thankful for that, anyway; looking back it's probably not a great sign that they need patrols, but I assume it's because it's right on the Mexican border.  Either way it was an uneventful night.   The next morning I headed off to Bisbee for a look around the much-reccommended artsy town.  Thanks to all the time changes I was wide awake at 6am and had an abundance of time to kill before the rest of the town woke up around 10am.  I spent my morning climbing stairs; Bisbee has a 1000-step race once a year and I found most of the 1000 to climb.  I also found a cafe to spend some time at, and had the most delicious vegan/gluten-free/dairy-free pumpkin spice co...

{texas} After my refreshing visit to Balhormea State Park I continued north through Pecos, which is very much an oil & gas town - I saw nothing but transports and pickup trucks for miles!  There were lots of oil wells and little camps along the way north, where I crossed the New Mexico state line.. {new mexico} Welcome to New Mexico! ...and spent the night in Carlsbad.  I didn't take the time to explore too much of Carlsbad, but I enjoyed a relaxing evening catching up on emails etc., then got an early start to Carlsbad Caverns.  I was undecided over whether I should take an organized tour or just explore the 'big room' & main cave on my own, so I wanted to be there at 8am to get some more information.  When I arrived I realized that the self-guided cave tour covers quite a lot of area and takes about 2.5 hrs, so I decided that would be enough. The trail to the natural entrance opened shortly afterwards, so I headed off on the 2km hike descendin...

Turquoise trail represents the path taken; stars represent the attractions mentioned in my previous post. {budget} This trip is a bit difficult to give a total value to, as my parent's were already in Arizona, with an RV, and a fully-stocked fridge.  However, I'll do my best.  The flight from Buffalo to Phoenix was roughly $340, round trip.  Dining is pretty typical of any North American pricing, more expensive in the cities, but it depends on where you are wanting to eat.  We mostly bought groceries and cooked our own meals, which is very cost-effective.  As for attractions, it depends on your interests, but I would plan on spending approx. $150; more if you plan to attend a professional sporting event.   All in all, this trip cost me approx. $600 for the 9 days, but I didn't do a lot of shopping or other extras.  {nutrition} Probably not much different than other North American places.  If you have dietary restrictions then ...

Ask me what I thought of Arizona a month ago, and I would have said ‘Grand Canyon & Desert'... I recently spent a week RVing around Arizona and I was amazed by the variety of landscape and natural attractions worth checking out!  Some of the information might be irrelevant if you don’t have an RV, but the route and attractions could remain the same if you have about a week to spend. I saw the Grand Canyon a couple years ago, so we didn’t make time to go there again, and there was no shortage of other things to see. If you haven’t seen the Grand Canyon, I would suggest juggling things around to make sure you get to see it. I flew in and out of Phoenix, which was convenient and fairly central for what I was hoping to see. The attractions I’ve listed below were the highlights for me. There is plenty to see and do in between, but if you take it at a leisurely pace and enjoy the scenery along the way, you can plan to spend about a week going from point to point. {South M...