New Mexico Adventure - Week 1

     For several months, Savana, LilyAnn, and I have been eagerly anticipating a trip out west with Mamaw to visit the Coopers (Aunt GieGie, Uncle Mark, and cousins.) Finally, the much-awaited day came and we loaded up in the van for the first leg of the trip - from our house to Mamaw's. Michael and Hanna drove us over there, stayed the night with all of us, and took us to Tallahassee the next morning (Monday) to pick up the rental van.

The travelers.

     We drove through parts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana on Monday, ate at Outback, and stopped for the night in Shreveport, LA.

     Then the really exciting part began. 

     I have always wanted to see the west, and although simply viewing Texas from the highway and a rest area doesn't exactly qualify as "seeing the west," it was a start. I was thankful I did not have to drive, and I happily navigated for Savana and LilyAnn.

This is pretty much what I expected to see in Texas - most of it was different from what I expected, particularly the oil wells and windmills dotted all over the landscape.

We pulled off the road about an hour from the Coopers' so that we could take pictures of the scenery (and ourselves in the scenery.) Sophia later informed us that we haven't seen much yet and we take pictures of the most boring things. I guess that makes us classic tourists.

     We got to the Coopers around 9 on Tuesday night. It was great seeing them again! My, how my cousins have grown!

L to R: Caleb, Olivia, Samuel.

     We painted, and painted, and painted some more....

Nothing like signing the wall before painting it.
LA and Sophia with their masterpiece.

Oops, I guess I took the picture too early; here is the masterpiece.
(James said it looks like abstract expressionism; Mama said it looks like a chimpanzee intelligence experiment.)
Either way, I'm glad that wall is now solid pink.

     After painting several more rooms, we older kids got permission to take a hike on Saturday. So, like adventurous hikers who don't use trails, we convinced Mamaw to drop us off on the side of the road so we could hike straight to the base of the "mountain" and up it. I was informed later that it was only a foothill, but it sure felt like a mountain!

The adventurers

      Your's truly was appointed leader, but if leadership consists of "getting there first," I failed miserably. If leadership means herding everyone else up the mountain and pointing out the route from the rear, and bringing everyone back in (mostly) uninjured condition, I succeeded.

     We had a great hike - until we got a little bit lost on the way down. Even so, it was good, but we decided that next time we should bring more water.