City of Rocks State Park (Deming, New Mexico)

October 15, 2017, departure day. Our whirlwind stop in Sacramento was soon done; over the next two weeks we had appointments in Chanute, Kansas and Anthony, New Mexico for scheduled maintenance on the 5th wheel. Travel was uneventful, the work successfully completed, and we ended up with a few extra days before we were due to arrive in Tucson for our winter stay. We decided to spend four nights in Deming, New Mexico at the Dream Catcher RV Park, part of the Escapees network of RV Parks, which put us in close proximity to The City of Rocks State Park.

Located about halfway between Silver City and Deming, and seemingly arising out of nowhere in a patch of the Chihuahuan Desert, is a patch of rocks resembling a city. With your first glimpse it becomes obvious where the name comes from, with this description from the New Mexico State Parks website explaining it best:

“City of Rocks gets its name from the incredible volcanic rock formations found here. The park encompasses a one square mile area in the scenic Chihuahuan desert region of southwestern New Mexico at an elevation of 5,200 feet. The “city” is a geologic formation made up of large, sculptured rock columns, or pinnacles, rising as high as 40 feet and separated by paths or lanes resembling city streets. These rocks were formed about 34.9 million years ago when a very large volcano erupted. Then, erosion over millions of years slowly formed the sculptured columns seen today, creating a stunning, otherworldly landscape.”

We had fun winding through the paths, and “seeing” the faces of people, animals, and imagined creatures in the enchanted formations. 

Hidden Falls

We arrived home from our UK trip on October 4^th, 2017 and only had 11 days in Sacramento before we would be back on the road. Not a lot of time to do much, other than squeeze in final visits with family, get ourselves organized, and of course, get in a hike! We decided to visit Hidden Falls Regional Park in Auburn, about 35 miles northeast of Sacramento in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Although not the most impressive time of year for waterfalls, we decided to check it out anyway, reserving the right to come back in the spring sometime when the falls are at peak flow. Hidden Falls has around 30 miles of nature trials for hiking, biking, and horseback riding, as well as picnic areas and swimming spots. There are observation decks for viewing the waterfalls and taking in sweeping views of the Sacramento Valley and the Sutter Buttes.

October in this part of California is the driest it will be all year, with natural landscapes leaning towards earthen tones of yellow and brown, and most all plant life looking thirsty and brittle. But somehow, when I am in this setting, it feels like home to me. I lived in this part of California for over 50 years, and there is something very familiar and comforting about this environment, a sense of home. We enjoyed our hike here, and found beauty in the unadorned rolling hills, with the spattering of green and the cool blue water all the more enjoyable for its scarcity.

Glasgow, Scotland

UK Trip, Days 21-22, Glasgow, Scotland, 10/2 – 10/3, 2017

The last two days of our United Kingdom trip were spent in Glasgow, Scotland, which is the city we flew out of to come back home. Although I hear about European vacations squeezing in much more than we did, at times, our 22 days did feel rather whirlwind and ambitious. Along the way there were times when I truly just wanted to take a couple of days to kick back, but knowing we had a limited amount of time to be here kept me going, and my enthusiasm alive, to see as much as possible in these three short weeks.

Our train ride from Edinburgh to Glasgow was quite short, thankfully! Our hotel allowed early check in, so we settled in to our room before 11:00 a.m., and headed out immediately to the Hop-On/Hop-Off bus tour of the city.

Initially I wasn’t too pleased with Glasgow, for a number of reasons. For one, I was really ready to come home at this point; tired and suffering from hotel, museum and Cathedral fatigue. My first impression of the city was one of a rundown, grungy, working class city, less vibrant and dynamic than Edinburgh, and freezing cold with nonstop wind and rain. But as we immersed ourselves into the environment, I warmed up to the city (even if the city didn’t warm up!), and found some delightful places and experiences after all.

As was the case in most everywhere we stayed on this trip, the hub of the tourist areas, the old towns, or the city centers were within walking distance from our hotels; this was the case in Glasgow, and we enjoyed walking around, taking in the sights, and taking pictures of our surroundings.

We learned from our bus tour guide that Glasgow has emerged from a history of deep poverty, underemployment, and tenement housing, all of which led to crowded living conditions, lack of water, undernutrition, crime, and illness. Some of the housing we saw in the outskirts of the city are remnants from those times. As we rode around the city, our tour guide also pointed out the impressive murals spanning entire sides of high buildings throughout Glasgow. He explained to us that Glasgow “supports street art by local artists to promote the city center, reduce the negative visual impact of land and unit vacancies due to the current economic circumstances, and provide features that will attract more visitors”.

We spent a couple of hours inside the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. It really did have some interesting exhibits. The museum opened in 1901 and is a favorite with local people and visitors. It has stunning architecture and a family friendly atmosphere, with 22 galleries covering everything from art to animals, to Ancient Egypt, and more. We also spent time at the Riverside Museum, which houses the Glasgow Museum of Transport. These exhibits covered every form of transport, from prams, to bicycles, cars and trains, airplanes and hang gliders, subways, and RV’s.

The Doulton Fountain was another worthy stop recommended to us by our bus tour guide. This fountain, known as a Terrace Fountain, is the largest fountain ever constructed in ceramic (terra cotta). It sits in front of the People’s Palace on the Glasgow Green. It really was beautiful with intricate design and detail. It was made for display at the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888, had fallen into disrepair by the 1990’s, but was restored again by the early 2000’s.

Below is a montage of our Glasgow pictures, in no particular order, capturing our very quick visit of this, our final city.

We celebrated our farewell to the UK with a final pint of Guinness at The Horseshoe Bar.