Simnett Travels

Sunday, May 1st – Gila National Forest to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico – Day 80   I had been stressing about how to get our front wheel drive SUV pulling a trailer up the hill we came down. If the car stopped high in the hill, I’d have to back up a trailer bumping all the way down. I just wanted it over with so I could figure out how to deal with the outcome.  A few things to do first. The dirt was very dusty in the campground. Everything gets coated in it. The kids had all their toys out for Diego, so toys and dishes needed to be washed off in the river. Dad and Mom cleaned the camper while the kids played on a rock dam in the river. Eventually everything was packed up and I was ready to try this drive. But not yet.   There was a canyon at the end of the campsite that was supposed to be a fun hike. We walked over. On the way, a green 4x4 Ford pick-up drove past us. I was relieved, if the Santa Fe fails, I’ll ask them for help. The canyon floor was rocky, but everyon

Saturday, April 30th – Gila National Forest– Day 79   The night was cold. We ended up getting the kids into our bed one by one. My feet were freezing. The temperature got down to zero degrees Celsius. We woke up to a beautiful view though. The temperature slowly improved until we could function properly.   As always, our first stop is the visitor centre. Ranger Molly gave us junior ranger packages and fantastic advice on trails and hikes. We hung around watching a movie about the area while working on activities. We decided on seeing the Gila Dwellings first, the reason we drove three hours into a forest and follow that with the hot springs on the Middle Forks Trail.   We drove to the site of the Dwellings. No food was allowed so we tried to get the kids to eat as much as possible to delay the meltdowns. We got our junior ranger vests and hiking sticks ready. We crossed a bridge and started the switchbacks up the side of the cliff. There were some areas where John needed to

Friday, April 29th – Las Cruces to Gila National Forest, New Mexico – Day 78   The trek to Gila National Forest was a good time. We woke up and got out of Leasburg Dam State Park. Nothing moves quickly. The kids are in school at 7am so everyone starts moving early. Breakfast is made and cleaned up. Everything needs to be packaged away before we wished a quick goodbye to Sue and returned the sleds.   Sue’s last recommendation was a restaurant named Sparky’s in Heath. They had purchased these massive statues of aliens, teddy bears, Ronald McDonald and displayed them in front of their burger joint. We took pictures and, we were hesitant, but we decided to get a bite to eat. Inside the place was packed with all sorts of unique statues, pottery, and signs. The burgers were delicious, and we were stuffed by the time we left.   We filled up on gas before we started heading into Gila National Forest. Gila National Forest is over three million acres of protected forest i

Thursday, April 28th – Las Cruces, New Mexico & White Dunes National Park – Day 77  We are trying to squeeze in three different destinations today. We received recommendations from the camp host yesterday, she recommended: the slot canyon – a 2 km out and back hike, Dripping Falls, a 3 mile out and back trail and visiting White Sands National Park. In White Sands National Park, you can take a sled and slide down the dunes. We picked up our red, plastic, circular sleds from the Ranger’s station along with a block of wax. We learned later they charge $26 for a sled at the Visitor’s Centre.   We started with the Slot Canyon. The kids looked good in their junior ranger vests holding walking sticks. John wanted to turn around to get his Tigey stuffie so we turned around. He didn’t grab it but decided to grab a Minions lunch box instead and then wanted to turn around again. A bad sign at the beginning of the walk.   A sandy, scrubbie path led to the entrance of the canyon and quickly it

Wednesday, April 27th – Carlsbad, New Mexico to El Paso, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico – Day 76  I will miss our parking lot camping site. It was free, quiet and had a good view of the stars. Of course, the guy screaming obscenities against someone else in their trailer late in the evening wasn’t ideal.  On our way out we stopped at the Guadalupe Mountains visitor centre to fill up our water and purchase a pair of hiking sticks. The drive past Guadalupe provided some spectacular views of the mountain. Our next stop was El Paso, a 2-hour drive. Gen had fond memories of the El Paso salsa and taco commercials, so we decided to investigate.  We drove downtown to visit a free art gallery. The AAA Chihuahua’s baseball team had just finished a game and there was no parking anywhere. We proceeded to the scenic drive. There was a fantastic lookout from the nearby mountains. We got out of the car, walked to the lookout, and paid a quarter for each kid to look through

Tuesday, April 26th – Guadlupe Mountains National Park, Texas & Carlsbad, New Mexico – Day 75   The next day we had a plan to visit the other National Park in the area, Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The kids spent an hour in the morning doing class. The annoying thing is we are now two hours behind eastern standard time so the 9am start has turned into 7am. We still have one more time zone to go. I’m not sure what is going to happen. I wish they had let the kids stay in their normal classes, with the teachers they knew and who knew them and their friends. It’s crazy trying to jump through these hoops.   We ate our breakfast of oatmeal with yogourt or honey or cottage cheese. We gathered all our dirty laundry from Big Bend and put it into the back of the car to be washed. We went to see two springs that were nice but uneventful.  Once that was done, we took off for Texas and Guadalupe Mountains. The drive was only 30 minutes. On the way we saw a fire at the side of