A Trip to Remember: Day Three

After tossing and turning all night, I awoke at 7am, removed my sleep mask, and turned to look at Alayna.  The seat next to me was empty. What?  The doors to the van were still locked, and the path to the back of the van was mounded with suitcases and towels and shoes and extra blankets and all the gear we hadn't needed the night before.  Where was she?  I turned myself completely around and stretched to look in the very back seat, and I could juuuuust see her toes sticking out from the bottom of the blanket.  She must've traversed the mountain of stuff sometime in the night to curl up with her thick blanket that was waiting for her in the back of the van.  How had I not heard her?!  I guess I must've slept a little!

As I sat there in the early morning light, I took in the view around me.  The tent behind us had been abandoned in the night and was completely flat.  It looked as though its owners had slept in their tiny car-all four of them, plus a rather large dog!  Directly ahead of me, campers had arrived after dark, and I hadn't heard much from them.  In the light of day, I saw that there were three of them-a guy, sleeping in the car, and another guy and a girl on the bare ground, each in a sleeping bag, right out in the open about five feet from the edge of the cliff!  HOW they slept like that, I'll never know.  I'm thinking wind and fog and spiders and bugs and coyotes, not to mention the drop-off to death just steps away!  I watched as the girl rolled around in her sleeping bag, trying to get comfortable.  Her bag wasn't zipped and I could clearly see that she was completely naked.  Camping.  On the ground.  Under the stars.  In a storm.  On the edge of a cliff.  Naked. Welcome to Texas!

The crazy naked people!

That morning at Lake Meredith, there was only a slight breeze in the air, looking down from an  elevation of 3000 feet, the lake was calm and beautiful with just the faint remains of the clouds that had arrived through the night.  Jason, Owen and Nash headed down to the lake for a morning swim, and I headed off to shower.  Who knew when I'd get that luxury again!  This National Park was our first experience visiting them, and the facilities were great!  As we all arrived back at our campsite, a park ranger stopped by and congratulated us on weathering the storm overnight.  She told us that almost everyone who had been tent camping around the entire lake had ended up in their cars overnight!  Her name was Gigi, and she was full of all sorts of tidbits of information about this park.  She talked of flowers and wildlife and of the storms that came seemingly from nowhere at the night. As she talked, she drifted further and further from us, and eventually she moved on down the line, greeting campers as she went on her merry way.  I have to say, she was the epitome of what I had thought a park ranger would be and I loved meeting her.  

With the burn ban still on, our breakfast was a simple one-muffins and Powerade.  We'd have to find coffee at some point, but we were content to sit in our chairs and dine on this simple meal as we looked out over the gorgeous Lake Meredith for just a few more moments.

It was a team effort repacking our gear after what had been a tumultuous night, but we were ready to head west. We drove through Amarillo, grabbing coffee and gas in a hurry, and came through thousands of acres of open fields with wind farms.  It was so amazing and futuristic to see and I found myself wondering what farmers 100 years ago would think of all of this!  Just before the New Mexico border, we passed firemen putting out an active brush fire along the freeway.  It was scary to see how quickly a tiny spark could turn into a huge fire so quickly.  The weather had been so hot and dry since we had gotten to the south, and every county we had passed through had burn ban warnings posted.

Across the state line and into New Mexico, the land was filled with open fields and mesas. Mesas!  Just like we read about in 3rd grade geography!  The landscape was so different from the green forests and farmland of Michigan and I just stared in wonder for hours.  We stopped in Santa Rosa for tacos from the Silver Moon Cafe, (Jason loves to find little hole-in-the-wall local places whenever possible) while the kids chose to eat taquitos from the gas station!  

As Jason was driving most of the time, I took advantage of the patches of internet service we'd hit, googling each little dot on the map before we drove through it, reading aloud the population and history of these little towns.  We saw a few signs for a place called "Blue Hole", so I looked it up.  It is a natural water source, just 80 feet wide, 79 feet deep, with a year round temperature of 62 degrees.  Brrr!  With an outside temperature in New Mexico hovering right around 100 degrees, the idea of jumping into a frigid body of water sounded quite nice.  Located on the outskirts of Santa Rosa, Blue Hole was tucked in behind a big, old building, out of sight.  We paid our $5 entry fee and went through the gate.  We stripped down to our bathing suits, grabbed out towels and followed the trail of people headed behind the building. And there it was.  A large, circular, blue hole, with multi-leveled boulders at the back, and a wide staircase leading out of the water at the front.  There were people of all ages jumping from the cliffs-some from the lowest points, and some launching from as high as they could get.  It was a sight to see!  Deep down under the water, groups of scuba divers practiced their techniques, with little flags marking their locations on the surface.  

Of course, Jason, Owen and Greyson headed to the highest point on the rocks and plunged into the icy water below.  Then, my little Alayna took her turn, jumping off all by herself and swimming through the coldness across to the steps.  

I'd like to take a minute here to talk about how much I do not like swimming.  Not in lakes, or rivers, or pools, or oceans, or even hot tubs..  I do not like it.  But I told myself I'd never be here, in this moment, again.  I think the kids (and Jason) were all surprised when I headed to the cliff with Owen and Emerson in tow.  Almost as soon as I stepped to the edge, I jumped.  I knew if I stood there and looked down, I'd panic and head back in the other direction.  Owen and Emerson jumped with me and it felt like slow motion as I went down, down, down towards the icy water.  As I was falling, I thought to myself, "This is the scariest thing I have ever done."  I know it doesn't LOOK like that far of a drop, but let me tell you, IT WAS!  So far. Endless.  A lifetime of falling.  OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a little.  But only a tiny bit.  

And then I hit and went under.  Way under.  It took until I was almost back to the surface for my body to register just how cold the water was.  It took my breath away.  I literally could not breathe. 

I think my face says it all!

 I immediately started swimming across the hole to the steps.  I was physically shaking from the coldness and just wanted to get out into the warmth of the New Mexico sun.  After I made it out of the water and joined the others, we all agreed that it was the strangest feeling to have your body be hot on the inside but your skin freezing cold.  The big boys jumped in again and then we persuaded Nash to jump in off the low platform and he did it!

Look at that pure shock from the coldness!

After we all decided that we were sufficiently cooled off, Jason found a little stream running nearby.  Of course, we were all in the water immediately. It was still cold, but not "Blue Hole" cold, and the the bottom was covered with smooth, round stones. 

At the end of the little stream, there was a waterfall, and all of the kids wanted a chance to stand in it.  I think these are my favorite pictures of them from the entire trip, because they are all genuinely happy and having fun!

This was such a cool spot on a hot day and we were all glad we took the time to experience it.  If you ever find yourself on that lonely stretch of Route 66 in the middle of New Mexico, I recommend you look this place up!

As we headed toward Albuquerque, we had the pleasure of driving into and through a rainstorm!  It was a pleasant surprise after the relentless heat of the last few days.

After a slightly major traffic delay due to construction west of Albuquerque, the mountains got a little bigger, and the road a little more rolling.  We saw signs for things like Indian Tacos, and Fry Bread, and even a Green Chili Double Cheeseburger from McDonald's. You know you're in the southwest when...

The rest of us napped as Jason drove us straight across New Mexico.  The landscape was so desolate and sparse.  The tiny towns looked all but abandoned and it was hard to imagine them in their heyday.  We were getting anxious to get to our campsite before nightfall, but when we crossed the Arizona State Line, we realized that we had gained an hour and we had a little more time to set up camp before the sun set.  

We arrived at Homolovi State Park, which I think Jason chose solely based on the name, and there were several available campsites.  We opted for one near the bathrooms, and I think everyone had the same idea because within the hour, several more campers had arrived and filled up all of the other sites near us.  Campgrounds were so different here, with no grass, and no shade trees-just a few small bushes to separate the sites.  

We set up our camp chairs around the fire pit, where we were finally able to have a small fire!  There was a feast of hamburgers on the grill, and seasoned potatoes cooked in foil packets in the coals.  

Then it was time for s'mores, and Emerson even cooked some popcorn over the fire!  It sure was quiet out there, even with all of our neighbors so close by.  The sky was nearly dark by 8pm, and we were all ready for bed before 10pm!  We had started the day in Texas, driven all the way through New Mexico with one fun stop at Blue Hole, and were laying our heads on our pillows in Arizona.  What a day!