Phil and I left Dallas on Friday early afternoon and headed out to Midland, TX to spend time with Mitch, a long-time friend from Camp Summit, whom I met as a counselor in college. Mitch and I have had the opportunity to stay in touch for the last 5 years as pen pals and have celebrated an annual camp reunion each summer since. It was an incredible blessing to spend time with his huge and wonderful family. What a precious time!In the morning, Phil and I hit the road for Carlsbad. The drive itself was an education in what makes west Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, wild. Within minutes of getting on the highway, we were seeing large patches on the asphalt. Large, furry, round, legged-patches, creatures creeping across the lanes. After I saw the second of a series of them I realized they were tarantulas! I could not have been happier to be in the car!
Our drive was full of extravagant scene changes from flat, dry grassy planes to green rolling hills, ranches, red-dirt fields, orchards and ominous mountains. Even the weather was dynamic, starting cool in the morning, reaching high 90's, plummeting to chilling temperatures at dusk in the mountains then back to sauna-style highs once we arrived in Phoenix in the late evening. In a 24-hour period we witnessed a cloudless morning, brilliantly sunny afternoon, a windy evening quickly followed by stillness and an enthralling lightning show which danced between the mountain ranges, a light rain and then cloudless midnight sky.We took a detour to Carlsbad, New Mexico, where we perused a local outdoor artisan market then journeyed approximately 800-feet under the surface of the earth to view rock formations in one of the largest caverns in the world. Carlsbad Caverns are more than 14 football fields in length and reach unknown depths. We spent a few hours checking out stunning formations and walking the length of one of the larger rooms within the cavern. Masterpieces of naturally occurring calcium deposits took on countless shapes, positions and colors as they appointed incredible, intricately decorated rooms within the caverns. It was a study in the creative genius of the Creator and was an incredible blessing for us to see!
We followed up the cavern visit with a quick picnic lunch then a 9-mile off-road drive up, over and down into some of the most scenic mountains and valleys in Carlsbad National Park. Afterward, we drove the remaining 10-hour stretch to my sister's place in Phoenix, AZ. The trip brought us to the edge of El Paso, just north of the Mexico boarder, in and out of New Mexico and into Arizona. The drive was spectacular - full of wonderful and abundant conversation and incredible views!We look forward to a day off the road and full of time with my sister here in Phoenix!
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