Today was another long drive and little did we know that we were to experience a nice wide variety of weather. But first, breakfast. Cloudcroft is an old town and the main street has been pretty much preserved. And on that street we found a good old fashioned American breakfast saloon (almost including cowboys). It would have looked even better without the cars and the modern advertising but then that would have also made it look like a Disney theme park - and that's never a good thing. We breakfasted on wonderful French Toast and a real fried breakfast (not quite a full English but that really would have been asking too much; Americans and black pudding? I don't think so)
I had high hopes for the trip down the mountains, hopes for some spectacular views and we'd only just driven round the corner when the first photo-op presented itself - the old mining railroad had left behind a spectacular bridge spanning the gorge. Unfortunately it hadn't left behind much detail on the railroad's history but as a start for the day it set high standards (which, let's be honest, we knew would be dashed later on). We drove down the mountain on a road that actually had bends, which kept Inga amused for a while before stopping to take more pictures as the valley below came in to view.
I say valley but it's really the plateau between two mountain ranges which would be too complicated to explain except that I just did. At the bottom of these mountains was White Sands which was our one and only tourist stop for the day. White Sands National Monument is a strange desert in that (a) it's white and (b) it's not sand, it's actually gypsum. People turn up to just to see the white dunes but also to sledge down them (yes, despite their uniqueness, most people turn up to despoil them in the pursuit of 'fun' )
We were good, we turned up to see a white desert and take pictures of things (which is pretty normal for us, well me). Despite the facts it is gypsum (275 square miles btw), things still grow in the bits not used by the military to test missiles (Hey, it's beautiful, of course it needs blowing up!) . Having seen a fantastic professional picture of a lone cactus against a white dune with a brilliant blue sky, Inga hinted heavily that she'd like a similar one. An easy task, or so I thought. What I hadn't taken in to account was the lack of pristine dunes, the lack of lone cacti and the lack of solitude. The last point was easily solved by walking a few metres away from the road and parking spots (I love the fact that the vast majority of Americans don't like walking). The other problem was that the further you drove in, the less cacti there were to photograph. Never mind, I'm sure something would turn up.
We did our signature "walking out of the desert shot" and then headed back to find the cactus of Inga's dreams. Well, I did, she sat down and waited after I spotted one a few hundred metres away and set off to get the best shot I could. In the meantime Inga managed to find two German tourists (I think they might have been American Germans, but still they gabbled away quite happily in the old tongue).
After this we headed North once more with our sights set firmly on Colorado Springs. As we were discovering with the US, it was again quite a drive. We drove and drove, and refilled with petrol (I refuse to call it "gas") and then drove some more. The desert changed to prairie which was lovely and green and we soon found out why as the rain once again came down. Not just rain but lightning too. It's quite odd being so exposed whilst lightning flashes down around you. Then we had sun. Then rain. Bloody weather couldn't make up its mind! We reached Colorado Springs later than planned and managed to find the house we were to stay at only to find they were still all at the restaurant. A quick iPhone trawl later and we were off, arriving just in time for the Max and Harold great gift giveaway, which was promptly put on hold so everyone could greet us and make us welcome. We'd made it. Next stop, Benn's graduation. As a sort of PS, I should say that we covered 650 or so miles today and that is no easy feat, even with snooze control. We were knackered and, despite the fact that we were on a sofa bed, it took seconds to fall asleep. And this is supposed to be a holiday? Back to work for a rest, methinks!
Today was another long drive and little did we know that we were to experience a nice wide variety of weather. But first, breakfast. Cloudcroft is an old town and the main street has been pretty much preserved. And on that street we found a good old fashioned American breakfast saloon (almost including cowboys). It would have looked even better without the cars and the modern advertising but then that would have also made it look like a Disney theme park - and that's never a good thing. We breakfasted on wonderful French Toast and a real fried breakfast (not quite a full English but that really would have been asking too much; Americans and black pudding? I don't think so) 
I had high hopes for the trip down the mountains, hopes for some spectacular views and we'd only just driven round the corner when the first photo-op presented itself - the old mining railroad had left behind a spectacular bridge spanning the gorge. Unfortunately it hadn't left behind much detail on the railroad's history but as a start for the day it set high standards (which, let's be honest, we knew would be dashed later on). We drove down the mountain on a road that actually had bends, which kept Inga amused for a while before stopping to take more pictures as the valley below came in to view. 
I say valley but it's really the plateau between two mountain ranges which would be too complicated to explain except that I just did. At the bottom of these mountains was White Sands which was our one and only tourist stop for the day. White Sands National Monument is a strange desert in that (a) it's white and (b) it's not sand, it's actually gypsum. People turn up to just to see the white dunes but also to sledge down them (yes, despite their uniqueness, most people turn up to despoil them in the pursuit of 'fun' )
We were good, we turned up to see a white desert and take pictures of things (which is pretty normal for us, well me). Despite the facts it is gypsum (275 square miles btw), things still grow in the bits not used by the military to test missiles (Hey, it's beautiful, of course it needs blowing up!) . Having seen a fantastic professional picture of a lone cactus against a white dune with a brilliant blue sky, Inga hinted heavily that she'd like a similar one. An easy task, or so I thought. What I hadn't taken in to account was the lack of pristine dunes, the lack of lone cacti and the lack of solitude. The last point was easily solved by walking a few metres away from the road and parking spots (I love the fact that the vast majority of Americans don't like walking). The other problem was that the further you drove in, the less cacti there were to photograph. Never mind, I'm sure something would turn up.
We did our signature "walking out of the desert shot" and then headed back to find the cactus of Inga's dreams. Well, I did, she sat down and waited after I spotted one a few hundred metres away and set off to get the best shot I could. In the meantime Inga managed to find two German tourists (I think they might have been American Germans, but still they gabbled away quite happily in the old tongue).
After this we headed North once more with our sights set firmly on Colorado Springs. As we were discovering with the US, it was again quite a drive. We drove and drove, and refilled with petrol (I refuse to call it "gas") and then drove some more. The desert changed to prairie which was lovely and green and we soon found out why as the rain once again came down. Not just rain but lightning too. It's quite odd being so exposed whilst lightning flashes down around you. Then we had sun. Then rain. Bloody weather couldn't make up its mind! We reached Colorado Springs later than planned and managed to find the house we were to stay at only to find they were still all at the restaurant. A quick iPhone trawl later and we were off, arriving just in time for the Max and Harold great gift giveaway, which was promptly put on hold so everyone could greet us and make us welcome. We'd made it. Next stop, Benn's graduation. As a sort of PS, I should say that we covered 650 or so miles today and that is no easy feat, even with snooze control. We were knackered and, despite the fact that we were on a sofa bed, it took seconds to fall asleep. And this is supposed to be a holiday? Back to work for a rest, methinks!
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