Nurf Adventure Trails: More Arizona, with a dash of New Mexico and some Texas on the side

Russell and I are currently in New Orleans with massive tropical storm “Lee” hovering over us with a seemingly endless supply of rain and wind.

mmmm.

So a quick update on our trip, further through Arizona and then to Texas.

After the Grand Canyon, we went to a terrific little town called Flagstaff. We had wonderful couchsurfing hosts, Isaac and Marguerite with their precious little 6-month old daughter, Catalina, who really made our experience there memorable.

We drove through to Sedona on our second day, and found the landscape spectacular. The little town was also fascinating. Very “cowboy” with a surprising array of literature, music and eclectic characters. Just outside Sedona there is an ancient Anasazi (native American) site, Montezuma castle built into the limestone cliffs. Very interesting history surrounds this ancient tribe and we were thoroughly impressed with their building feat.

From Flagstaff we went on to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Here we were privy to an electrical storm of note! The town was very touristy and we didn’t really enjoy it that much and so we drove on and camped at a place called Carlsbad. We, of course, had to drive through the infamous Roswell, which is a bit of a laugh really. They are REALLY into their aliens and UFO’s there. I wish we had time to visit the museum, as it is apparently fascinating!

We paid a visit to the Carlsbad Caverns, which apparently, is the 8^th natural wonder of the world. I did not know that there was an 8^th natural wonder, but the caves were pretty impressive with massive rooms and beautiful formations.

From here it was a very long and tiresome road to Texas!

At this point I should probably mention that we have never struggled with heat before as we have here…Even Namibia at its hottest still relents a bit during the night at least! The car thermometer will give you a clue as to the temperature…!

We’ve encountered the most genuine and warm hearted people at Texan campgrounds. The one night the manager (named Dusty) even went as far as giving us a complimentary cabin with air conditioning! (I must have looked rather pathetic in the heat I’m sure!)

When we reached Austin we were exhausted. We found the city interesting, but it was really too hot to go exploring there.

Our host, Luke, did point out a genuine Mexican restaurant which we then took him to and both of us admit that it was the best Mexican food we have ever eaten!