Welcome to City of Rocks, New Mexico!

This was another place that I had only heard about in the RVers Facebook groups. I had no idea how fun it would be, but as soon as we had parked, I was ecstatic! In the midst of flat desert, rose rocks as large as a house grouped together in fun formations just begging to be climbed! There are two campgrounds here, one has water and electric while the other is dispersed, dry camping. We opted for a dry camping site away from everyone else (we could only see one other person from our site), nestled among enormous rocks. I immediately sent photos to Heather, saying, "you need to come here!" It didn't take much prodding, and they did in fact come stay for two nights with us.

If you look closely, Asher can be seen on the large rock just outside our 

door. That's where he chose to eat breakfast and practice climbing.

A gorgeous setting to work on Play-Doh creations.

Our RV is in the background. See the size of the rocks?!

We took off to explore. Daddy and Asher on bikes, Journey and I on foot. I was lagging behind taking photos and I saw them squatting down like this. Asher was calling me over. He had somehow spotted this 1/4" praying mantis! So tiny, even when he was pointing, I could hardly see it!

Asher found these baby cacti next to the yucca and said, "awww". He thinks anything "baby" is cute! 

Our friends finally arrived and spent a couple more days with us. 

The kids had a blast exploring and climbing on the rocks.

Table Top Mountain rises above City of Rocks and was just begging to be climbed. Our friends are from Florida where there are no mountains, so this was the first time they've hiked one as a family. It was nice to be with them for this big occasion.

City of Rocks, below us in the distance. I love how this one area is so different from the rest. They appear so small from this height.

 On top of the mountain.

Journey fell asleep on the way back down. Thankful for Chris carrying her much of the hike.

Back at the campsite, Daddy rigged up a harness and gave the boys their first rappelling lesson. 

The boys found this Regal Horned Lizard at our campsite one morning. Super cool!

Our picnic/campfire area during the day.....

.....and at night.

Under millions of stars, this is home!

Las Cruces and White Sands

After our fun time together at Carlsbad Caverns we decided to follow our friends to the KOA in Las Cruces for a couple days. They managed to secure a spot for us right next to their "best site in the place" and that's no exaggeration. Our sites offered an amazing view of Las Cruces from atop a mountain, but theirs included a covered, lighted gazebo for dining and socializing.

As soon as we arrived, to the pool we went. You can actually see our RV in the background of this photo, looking out over the city of Las Cruces.

Our Fulltime Families group has a book club of which the Gebbias are part of. She invited me to sit in on the Google call because the author would be on to speak about Yosemite, which happens to be on our schedule this year. Mike Graf's Parker series books feature the adventures of a husband, wife and their twins in our country's National Parks. It was very interesting to hear his writing process and the insider tips for his favorite park, Yosemite. Just before concluding the call, there was a drawing for his next book, "Danger In The Narrows" - about Zion and Bryce, and I was the winner! We are excited to read this book!

While the men prepared dinner, the kids went exploring and collected pinecones. After 

sharing a delicious meal we sat around talking until it was hours past the kids' bedtimes. 

The next morning we drove to White Sands National Park together. The dunes are made of crushed gypsum, so they are more corse than what we're used to, but the gleaming white color was a nice change. This is the world's largest gypsum dunefield rising 60ft high and covering 275 square miles. Driving there looked like we were driving thru snow.

Asher on a dune looking out over the parking lot/covered picnic table area at the base of the dunes.

Views from the top

Journey waxing up her sled. We enjoyed sledding for a couple hours.

Journey with Rambler's puppy, also called Rambler. She wanted him to go sledding with us.

We hiked the short boardwalk trail. The kids were disappointed to not spot any wildlife, but we did see a beautiful blue whiptail lizard near the visitor center.

Our wonderful traveling companions, Heather, Chris, Jake and Jessee.

The National Parks have a Jr Ranger program which teaches children all about the park. They earn a badge by filling out booklets with games, questions about the park and talking to rangers. We tried doing this a year ago when we first left Vegas, but the kids were really too young. This time they were ready and excited to do this. We helped them complete the booklets and watched proudly as they were "sworn in" repeating a pledge to be responsible visitors and protect the park.

That night the boys put on their Junior Ranger Vests and badges while dinner was prepared.

(Journey's vest has been ordered.) 

We shared one last dinner before saying goodbye the next morning.