Back in Tombstone

The sun is bright, it's high 60's, there are mountains on the horizon and I'm back in Tombstone AZ for the winter. The house was opened back up for me, but the yard needs lost of work right away. The grass and tumbleweeds are thigh high, evidence of a good monsoon season this summer.




We didn't find any outstanding things to stop and look at on the trip across country. However, just the country is always worth looking at. I had heard of the Dismal Swamp and the name always fascinated me. It's nothing like the New Orleans swamps as it's almost more tidy than what I think a swamp should be.





Here are the remains of an old gas station in Texas. I loved the sign on the door which advised one that the Sheriff's posse would most certainly chase you with guns drawn if you defaced the building.


The old Texas county seat, courthouses were beautiful in fanciful brick and high towers. By the time I decided I needed to photo at least one of them, what we saw were modern buildings. It's not the first time this has happened and I seem to have a list of missed photographs.

Once you got west of the Mississippi River you really begin to notice the sky and watch the weather approach. We were lucky that we only hit spitting rain and heavy overcast on just two days of the 9 day trip.

We had to drive through the White Sands National Monument once again. We wanted to test a lingering New England mindset that driving on something that white would be slippery. They plow it like snow, it looks like snow, but it is white gypsum sand. Funny how the subconscious tells you one thing when reality is something else.

I love the patterns that the wind makes on the dunes. It's too bad that there were so many people prints in the dunes that it was difficult to find unspoiled wind patterns like this.

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I was tired of sitting in the car at around day 7. I had finished all of my pre-strung bead crochet, my body wanted to do something besides sit and I got more than a bit cranky. I was tired of strange motel beds and even stranger motel decor like bright pink bed sheets and swagged drapes with huge tassels. Granted, we got off of the interstate and looked for clean, cheap motel rooms. Too bad that they tried to modernize 1950's motels and just missed the mark most of the time.

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It's good to be back in the South West where there are mountains on every horizon, it's warmer than New Hampshire and there is abundant sunshine. It'll take a couple of days to re-stock the pantry, clean up the house and get back into work/beading/designing mode. But first will be Thanksgiving with my sisters, nephews, nieces, grand-nephews and general crazy family.