Arizona:
Our first stop in Arizona was the Mesa Temple. My grandparents on my mom's side were married there in 1941. We had never seen this temple before and it was a wonderful experience to be able to do a session there.
We also got to visit Tombstone, Arizona where we visited the OK Corral, the Birdcage Theatre, and got to explore "the Town Too Tough to Die".
While walking the streets of Tombstone, I got to take a picture with Wyatt Earp and his arch enemy Ike Clanton (they look pretty good for a couple of dead guys, eh?)
We also got to visit Boothill.On the way home, we visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was my first time at the Grand Canyon since I was two years old, and I was definitely not disappointed.
New Mexico:
When my dad was little my grandpa was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, so their family lived nearby in Tularosa, NM. We got to visit one of the houses they lived in, while there and we got to see the white sand that they used to go out and play in. It's as white as snow and you can even go sledding in it! Way cool and simply beautiful!
The next place we went was to Capitan to see Smokey the Bear's museum and grave.
After that, we headed over to Lincoln County to see the courthouse where Billy the Kid made his very last escape! My dad visited this place with his family when he was a kid and he was very excited to show my mom and me all the cool stuff there. It's fun to see my dad acting like a kid in a candy shop!
And of course, we went to Roswell and went through a museum that displayed information about the famous crash. We figured it would be kind of a tourist trap, and we were right, but it was fun to look around.
I have always wanted to see the Carlsbad Caverns and finally got to. Sadly, the pictures cannot do them justice. I was really glad that we decided to walk, rather than take the elevator down; we got to see some amazing things along the way!
On the way back home, we got to go by the Albuquerque Temple. It was Sunday, so it was closed, but we got to take some pictures on the outside.
Texas
We went to San Antonio and visited the Alamo; we had planned on going to the Riverwalk that evening, but we were just too tired after a long day of travel.
That night, I decided to drive by the San Antonio Temple and then we went to walk around the grounds the next morning. It is a very, very beautiful temple.
Here I am in front of the temple...
...and here are my cute parents!Later, we headed up to Austin to visit the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Museum and Library. This is the fifth presidential library I have visited (the others are: Nixon, Reagan, Truman, and Eisenhower) and it was, by far, the lamest. They had a few interesting displays and it was still cool...just not quite what I was expecting.
Dealy Plaza, however, turned out to be much more interesting than I thought it would be. We went to Dallas and saw the place where JFK was assassinated and even got to tour a museum on the 6th floor of the old Texas School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald hid out and then shot JFK from a window.
This is the School Book Depository.
The "X" behind me marks the spot where JFK suffered a fatal shot to the head.That same evening, my mom and I got to attend a session in the Dallas Temple; my dad wasn't feeling well.
Oklahoma
My grandpa grew up in Oklahoma and we went to visit some of the places that he lived and visited. The first place we went was to the site of the B & O Cash Store, which was basically a huge store where you could buy almost anything you needed. My grandpa had lots of memories of shopping at this store in Temple, Oklahoma. The mural is painted on the side of the building that actually housed the store.
It was humbling to walk the streets where my grandpa walked as a child. It allowed me to witness, firsthand, his meager beginnings and made me even more in awe of what my grandpa made of himself and the sacrifices that were made to bring my family where it is today. I'm so glad that I got to visit some of the sites he lived in (among them were Temple, Hastings, Comanche, and a couple of others).Colorado
On the way back toward home, we decided to stop at Mesa Verde. I was SO excited. I minored in anthropology and specialized in the cultures of the southwest...including the Ancestral Pueblo Peoples, which included the Anasazi, who built the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. I have wanted to see these ruins for a long time now and finally got to. I was in awe and nearly beside myself with excitement. We took two of the tours: Spruce Tree House and Cliff Palace. The pictures can't do it justice, but here are a couple of shots:
Here are my parents overlooking Cliff Palace just before we hiked down to it.
Here I am at Cliff Palace...it was amazing!
Here's my dad and me down by the ruins of Cliff Palace. It doesn't show any of the ruins, but I love this picture because I actually convinced my dad to smile for the camera! : )So...there it is. Just a couple days short of a full month on the road and a million memories later, I can safely say that I had an amazing summer vacation with my parents AND that I am ready for the longest nap. Ever. : )
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