Update

It has been a long time since I posted anything new here. Time flies. Days are busy. I don't take as many pictures as I used to take. For the last year I've been working outside of our home. It's hard to catch up since I'm so far behind. I think I might take another stab at this whole blogging thing though. Family members have asked that I post again. The kids are growing so quickly. We still do many fun things that are worth sharing. This is sort of like a scrapbook online. We just took a huge cross-country trip and I have lots of beautiful pictures. I'm just going to start where I am and post what I can. I may go back in time and post things from the last year. When I do I will date them the date they happened not the date they're being posted. Posts may be sporadic and I make no promises to keep up with this forever. For now, it's good to be back. Happy Day.

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Outside the museum

Black Hollycock and Blue Larkspur Georgia O'Keeffe 1930

A great quote explaining why O'Keeffe paints big flowers.

       

After coming thought the Raton Pass we stopped at a the first tourist information spot. Really what we wanted was a current New Mexico map. What we found was a flier for the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. Knowing she's my favorite artist Nathan suggested we stop. I hesitated knowing stopping would delay our arrival in El Paso but was convinced by the fact that we don't know when we'll be in Santa Fe again.
Looking back we're all glad we stopped. The museum isn't huge but it's beautiful. Actually the first beautiful thing we noticed was the city of Santa Fe. It's classic desert southwest in appearance. The buildings are stucco, the town square a some small festival with mariachi music and performing folks, and there were budding trees and blooming flowers making their first spring appearance. Inside the museum we looked at beautiful works of art. Georgia is known for her large scale flowers, desert landscapes, and abstracts. We saw examples of them all as well and photographs and a history of her work. We bought a few small prints that I've framed now that we're home.

New to Us All: New Mexico

Heading south on I-25. Do you see what I see? MOUNTAINS!  

Near the Raton Pass on the border of CO and NM

First New Mexico sign

Off we go into the wild blue yonder....

     

Colorado: Take One

Wait...I thought Colorado had mountains??

Jordan and the quietest guest, Stanley.

   

Our first night was spent with Nathan's brother Jordan. He kindly put us up in his bachelor pad. After 15 1/2 hours in the van a tent would have seemed homey so his spacious, comfortable lower level apartment was more than we could have asked for. His sweet girl friend Danielle and her puppies were over for the evening. The kids and puppies frolicked in the yard while the adults visited. We hit the road again the next morning with the promise we'd be back again on the following Thursday. 

Next Up: Nebraska

Our first day our goal was to get to a northern suburb of Denver and stay the night with Nathan's brother, Jordan. This meant traveling out of Wisconsin, across Iowa, across Nebraska, and halfway across Colorado. We didn't stop much or for long but here are a few shots along the way in state number two of the day.

Welcome to Nebraska

I spy a Water Tower Hot Air Balloon

Bridge? Nope. Over the Road Museum

Snow Geese Migration: There were millions of birds on the horizon and in roadside ponds

       

Entering Iowa

Ready to cross into a new state: Iowa

Hard to read but the sign says IOWA

Not sure what this is but the Iowa tax payers could complain 

Strange "Welcome to Iowa" art

A few short hours after leaving our driveway we crossed the mighty Mississippi and entered Iowa. The morning was actually beautiful. Watching the sun rise is a reminder that God has chosen to bless us with another day in his grace.      

Hit the Road Stanley

At 5:16am CST we hit the road. The kids were buckled up, duffle bags were loaded, snacks & meals were packed, the gas tank was full, the GPS was set, and we were off.

Who is the flat guy tagging along? That's Flat Stanley.

Where where we headed? Our ultimate destination was the Caauwe homestead in El Paso, TX.

Spring Break 2013.