Road Trip II

Remember the days when your chatty neighbor would have you over to the house to show you his vacation slides?...and then he'd spend thirty minutes fighting with his slide projector...and it would blow hot air and put off that dusty plastic-y smell?....let's do that. 

These are some of the photos I took on a recent road trip from Ft. Richardson (Jacksboro, TX) to Alamogordo, NM and back. Y'all squeeze onto the plastic-covered plaid couch. Get comfy. 

The building pictured above is the old hospital at Fort Richardson (US Army installation from 1867-1878).

Our guide told us that women were shorter back then, as this stove hit me about mid-thigh.

The pharmacy room was fascinating. The guide told us that although they could identify most common diseases back then, they rarely ever cured them. The medicines they concocted were just as likely to make the patient worse.

This was me marveling at the quality of light in this old building. I doubt the beautiful light was consolation for the hardships they endured...  :p   

There were two main rooms for injured and sick soldiers with twelve beds per room. 

This was the perfect ending to our day.

see above? This wide-openness is something that is so mysterious to me. I am filled with a sense of awe and emptiness, familiarity and isolation all at once...

From Fort Richardson we went on to the High Plains for Christmas. I'll write more about family later...or maybe not. I gained a lot of clarity on this trip, and gratitude. I'm so thankful for my friends. I have a wonderful group of people who keep me grounded. 

The day after Christmas we headed to Cloudcroft, New Mexico...where my grandparents had a cabin for over thirty years. There was just enough snow on the ground for the kids to have a snowball fight.

We camped in my pop-up and it was toasty warm at night! We had great camping neighbors who made the trip so much more fun.

We took a day trip to White Sands  . I've been a dozen times, but this place is so special to me. It's definitely one of my favorite places to photograph, and I did shoot a roll of 120 in my 1920's Voigtlander folding camera. 

Sometimes I wish I had a place like this to visit more often...just to be still and quiet. 

White Sands is located outside of Alamogordo, NM.

Clark Griswold has nothing on Alamogordo....

Ok. The last day of the trip we went to Carlsbad Caverns...yet another amazing National Park. Again, I'd been several times as a kid, but this time was even better. I was absolutely blown away by the beauty and majesty of these caverns. 

 It felt so good to experience so much natural beauty. I hope to make several more trips like this in the coming year. What about you? Been anywhere interesting lately? Had any epic adventures?


Can you believe it's 2017??!!