Thanksgiving Road Trip 2009

We had an AMAZING Thanksgiving this year!!!  My little brother, Travis, just moved back to New Mexico from North Carolina earlier this year and so Thanksgiving was at his house!  We had soo much to do the week of Thanksgiving so we decided to leave on Thursday morning at 4 a.m.  That was all fine and dandy until Tatum got carsick from the winding mountain road leading to Globe, AZ.  Sooo....thank goodness Circle Ks are open at 5 a.m. on Thanksgiving!!!  She was completely fine after that (as you can see from the picture below--her car seat was wet from being rinsed out) and the rest of our travel was very uneventful. 

Travis and Stephanie did a fantastic job with the big meal.  Everything was delicious.  I am NOT a sweet potato fan but the way Stephanie made them I went back for seconds!  That night we stayed up late watching movies and talking--not smart because we had plans on shopping bright and early the next morning!  But sleep deprivation did not stop us!  Steph woke me and Patricia (my parent's foreign exchanged student from Slovakia) at 4 a.m. and we were out the door by 4:15!  What a crazy event "Black Friday" is but we made it through--and with lots of good buys.  After shopping, showering, and a small nap we loaded up the car again and headed to Carlsbad, NM.  We got there Friday night so we checked into our hotel and then we all crashed hard and slept well that night!

We stopped at a little rest stop in the

middle of nowhere, NM and there

was this wild turkey wandering around!!!

He somehow got out of Thanksgiving:)

Saturday Nov. 28th:  Carlsbad, NM is an interesting little town.  I've only been there once before.  It is most famous for the Carlsbad Caverns there.  Very similar to the Kartchner Caverns and Colossal Caves in AZ but it's about 10 times bigger!  We walked down 76 floors and then walked another several miles once we got to the bottom.  Tatum fell asleep for the last mile and so Chris and I took turns carrying her--great workout!  I'm still sore from it!  Such an amazing place.  And I got some awesome pics.  

"The Whale's Mouth"

We spent the rest of the day shopping the town bazaar and playing at the park.  Here are some sites of Carlsbad:

  That evening was the main event.  My dad heard of this "Christmas on the Pecos" event held there every year.  We all loaded up on a little boat and went down the Pecos river looking at all the christmas lights of the houses that backed up to the river.  There were some pretty amazing light displays.  It's hard to take good pictures of Christmas lights so I opted for some video instead.  I have posted our favorite house at the bottom:

My Mom & Lolo

Carlie & Patricia

Travis, Stephanie, & Sabey

The kids LOVED it, Tatum slept through it (again)!  Once we were off the boat there was a fireworks show!  Who doesn't love that?!?  We again crashed hard and slept well that night gearing up for our 9 hour drive home on Sunday!  We made it home all in one piece--and Tatum travelled better this time too!