I promised more, and have now delivered!!!

After the fabulous beach, we headed northwest to the cool air of Colorado. It is a long way from Corpus to Colorado...for the record.

We swung by the Carlsbad Cavern's in New Mexico on the second day of our pilgrimage. Mason was amazed at the cave. He has always had a thing for caves and wanted to see one...so we showed him one. Amazing place to see. My first time, and I was impressed.

This was not always the sight in the back seat, but she did really great for traveling over 3200 miles. She is just about always a happy girl!

After Carlsbad, we headed north to Glorieta, NM, home of the Glorieta Baptist Conference Center owned by Lifeway. The words "peaceful, serene, and picturesque" do not do this place justice. I visited here twice during high school for Centrifuge camp.
They have the capacity to entertain around 5,000 youth at one time. I don't know how many acres it is, but it is in the hundreds. It is only 20 minutes east of Santa Fe, NM. I recommend anyone in the vicinity to stay a night. We did...two in fact. No offense to Nana and Gramps, but those were probably my favorite two days of vacation.
Did I mention we were the ONLY guests there. We were visiting between camps (I checked on that, of course) and the only other people there were maintenance and host couples that stay in each lodging facility. Amber was a little sceptical about why I wanted to visit there on the way to Colorado, but after staying, she loved it as much as I did. Mason and I played putt-putt, both kids played and ran in the grassy fields, on the play ground, and saw the beautiful flowers in the prayer garden (one picture up). You can feel God there, in the scripture hanging from every lamp post, in the smiles and greetings of every host person, and in the beauty, sights, and smells of nature all around you. Enough said, go there if you can!

We finally made it to Colorado! We had a good time visiting Nana and Gramps. We did all the usual stuff we do at their house with the exception of not going to the chuck wagon dinner/show we usually see. One additional thing we did...and the whole reason we went on these particular dates was...
The hot air balloon festival in Pagosa Springs! Mason was in awe of the huge balloons filled with hot air. We arrived in time to see a couple get aired up and take off. I had never seen a hot air balloon in person before, they are much larger than I though they were.

I love this picture. Mason ponders everything. He soaks it all in, and then tells you how he would do it. He is a lot like his mama in that he talks through his thought process out loud, which I get a kick out of and pick on her! There is nothing I like more than when he wants to talk to me and have a "real" conversation.

We finished our time in Colorado and headed home, only stopping to sleep a few hours. The kids did super and were both glad to be home to all their toys and their own beds! Mama and daddy were too! Maybe next week I can catch us up to date and get a couple of Halloween pictures in here!