*It's Charmander - we saw some cool shit this week, take a look-see <3 - also Stellar by Incubus*
Day 151 (Monday, January 30th)
We dropped the car off at the mechanic
in the morning and it was close enough to Val's that we walked back.
It was a beautiful day, and we hung out until Val got off work and
then went to have crawfish for the first time! Oh yes but not before
putting on temporary tattoos. We also had crabs and fried shrimp and
other things, it was quite a delicious feast. And to top it off we
then had Sub Zero ice cream.
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| Where we got the car fixed, they were really friendly which made me feel slightly better about spending 5 months budget on the car : ( |
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| Gorgeous tree on the walk back |
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| Our golden temporary tattoos |
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| SEAFOOOOOODDDDDD |
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| They use some science shit to make the cream into ice cream ask Karol about it |
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| Ice creamz |
Day 152 (Tuesday, January 31st)
Took Val to work, just in case the
Buick was ready today and then we could go get it. There is an
adorable porch with hanging chairs that we hung out in for the day
until we went to Tesla where Val works to have Chipotle with her for
dinner on her lunch break. It was pretty slow so then we hung at
Tesla with Val for a while. After about an hour we went to the
Starbucks for Karol to blog. Then we went back home and got a little
tipsy.
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| Some dead guy in the closet... |
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| Karol looking happy as a clam in the trunk of a Tesla hahahaha |
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| Outside Tesla on the way to the Starbucks we chilled at |
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| Vallewy and Bewwa hehehehe |
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| Miss Lady |
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| Charwette and Bewwa |
Day 153 (Wednesday, February 1st)
Got some donuts and took Val to work
again, since the mechanic needed the car another day. We had Zaxby's
for lunch, and then did finally get the car back. We had actually
planned to leave today but we stayed an extra day since the car
needed some extra TLC. Val worked the evening shift so we got some
BBQ with Madelaine for dinner, and then picked up Val from work at
9ish.
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| Shipley Do-Nuts |
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| Karol like-a the Zaxby's |
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| Bathroom pic @ Zaxby's (with my weak thumbs =k) |
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| The awesome BBQ Madelaine took us for! So good, thanks again <3 |
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| This was how the night ended... we were sad we had to leave the next morning- I am putting on my fake happy face, Val is...hahahahhaha I don't even know it's so good though |
Day 154 (Thursday, February 2nd)
It was a sad morning, leaving Val for
what feels like the millionth time. She was headed for The Walking
Dead Cruise to the Bahamas which should be amazing and we left for
Carlsbad Caverns. There was a park nearby the Walmart we were going
to stay at in Carlsbad for the night so we took a nice stroll and got
some gorgeous pictures. We went to sleep excited to see the caverns
the following day.
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| NEW MEXICO IS COOL LOOKING |
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| ...rest stop bathroom photo? |
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| So much open space here |
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| Pretty park in Carlsbad, NM |
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| More park |
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| Love this pic, Karol (:DDD =k) |
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| Yeah, more park, we really liked it |
Day 154 (Thursday, February 2nd)
So we did the self guided tour of
Carlsbad Caverns and holy shit was it AMAZING. It was a little less
than 3 miles total I think, and it felt like a different world. Just
look at pictures although it really doesn't do it justice, like at
all. We cooked some lo mein noodles (thanks mom! =k) at the picnic area before we
drove to right outside White Sands to a Walmart in Alamogordo to
sleep.
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| ARRIVAL (also a good ass movie) |
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| Bathroom pic Carlsbad Caverns |
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| Cavern entrance |
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| Creeeeeeeepy |
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| Felt like another planet |
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| The pictures really do it justice, but hopefully it inspires you to go check it out! |
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| Whale's Mouth |
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| Almost like a cemetary |
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| Can't emphasize enough how beautiful this place was |
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| You should go there right now |
Alamogordo is in a valley small enough
to see the mountains completely surrounding you in every direction. I
absolutely loved this, being encircled by mountains. This Walmart had
by far the best view. We tried Blake's Lotaburger for dinner which
our stomachs were not happy about afterward.
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| Our view for the night |
Day 156 (Saturday, February 4th)
We drove the short distance to White
Sands National Monument and got a permit to backcountry camp. First
we had lunch and then where the park ranger told us the best hills
were so we could sled on the dunes. This was sooooo fun and better
than snow because not as freaking cold. Then we walked the Interdune
Boardwalk before we had some more soup and got our packs (way too full of shit we weren't gonna use, we're bad at backpacking... =k) on to hike
the 1 mile to our campsite. It was really cool navigating the dunes
(with the help of trail posts of course) to get to the campsites.
Being surrounded by white was a pretty surreal feeling.
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| Almost there |
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| There it is : ) we were so excited for this place...it did not disappoint |
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| You can see the sand line |
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| Getting sandier |
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| Where we had lunch... |
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| Caesar salad, parmesan crisps, bananas, cookies, leftover lemonade hahaha |
Here are some more pictures from our meandering around the dunes...
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| White planet |
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| Sand patterns |
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| DUNES |
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| Little pebbles |
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| Man... so good |
We set up camp, played some frisbee on
top of a sand dune (as the sun set <3), and then made some pasta
for dinner. It was quite an awesome birthday : )
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| From atop the nearest big dune, looking down on our campsite |
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| Karol and sunset |
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| We were frisbeeing on a sand dune, what is life |
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| CATCH ITTT |
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| I threw it down from the tall ass sand dune |
This place was amazing, I think it's currently both of our favorite National Parks (despite being really apparently unprepared for the night, we both slept less than half the time we spent in the tent overnight =k).
Day 157 (Sunday, February 5th)
We left the campsite and headed to
Albuquerque where hopefully Karol will be getting a tattoo. The nice
lady at the car repair shop in Houston used to live here (typing this at a
McDonald's in Albuquerque right now) and recommended a Mexican
restaurant called Frontier and we had that for dinner. Now we are at
a McDonald's so I can do this post and then we sleep in the car
again. I don't think I mentioned how cold it was at White Sands...we
basically didn't sleep so that was a bummer.
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| On the way to Albuquerque (so weird how the road appears to disappear... =k) |
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| More of the captivating New Mexico |
And now for the tentative news. The
cold is ruining plans but whatever. So I don't really want to WWOOF
anymore, but Karol was excited about the particular farm in New
Mexico, so I figured I would drop him there and then I can do some
solo hiking and maybe go back to Houston to spend some sister time - just the two of us. This is still the plan, but it is really cold and
if I couldn't sleep with another person next to me I highly doubt it
will be a good time alone in the tent. So...yeah, not sure what to
do. Going to the farm tomorrow and then I guess I'll see what
happens. I wanted to hike for 3 days in the Gila National Forest but
I think it will be even colder than White Sands was. I'm having a
hard time deciding what to do now, and then also for the future. It
won't be long before we settle (and maybe even sooner cause two months of straight hiking and camping might be too much, I don't even know if I'd want to deal with that much =k) and thinking about getting a job
already is frustrating. In fact I'm getting meh now just thinking about
so I will sign off. Thanks for reading, see ya next time.
Also not sure when next blog post will be due to possible lack of internets. We'll be back at some point. Love y'all.
