Roswell, New Mexico and Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas

 Our next visit would be to Garrett and Krystal's family in Lawrence, Kansas. On the way Kent had mapped our course so we went through Roswell, New Mexico, which wasn't too far out of our way.

Surprisingly, the Welcome sign didn't mention aliens.

Here's a picture of our van parked outside of the UFO museum. We didn't waste our money by going into the museum, though.

 We did go into a souvenir shop across the street. Kent posing with a couple of the locals.

I found a building with a trim that I much preferred to the alien theme!!

Several of the places used aliens to advertise their business.

 We didn't spend too much time in Roswell, but continued on our way. Along the route we passed through the town of Clovis, NM, where I'd lived for a few months while my dad had some pilot training before he went to Vietnam in 1970. I finished up my 5th grade year of elementary school in Clovis, and remember learning New Mexico state history.

Our hotel stop for the night was back in Amarillo, Texas, though we had to drive through New Mexico to get there. We'd stopped at the Cadillac Ranch in December 2018 but I didn't get out of the car because it was too cold and muddy. Here's an overview to see how it's out in the middle of an open field.

It's set back from the road about 100 yards.

 People are encouraged to bring some spray paint and decorate the vehicles.

 It's definitely an unique landmark!

 After our night in Amarillo we headed out the next morning, passing through Oklahoma on our way to Kansas.

Visit to the Carsons in El Paso and to Carlsbad Caverns

We arrived in El Paso on July 18th to spend some time with Tyler and Rachel's family.

One of our first outings was taking the kids to the library on the day after we arrived. 

 The kids found plenty to keep them busy, in addition to looking for some new read aloud books.

Almost every night I read books to the kids at bedtime.

That evening Rachel had planned an early 6th birthday party for Andrew.

We were glad we could be there to celebrate his birthday.

Andrew received several Lego sets, including one from us, which are his favorite toy right now.

Rachel made a fancy and beautiful birthday cake with layers of colored crepes and whipped cream in between each layer and on top.

 It was gorgeous inside and out and also tasted great!

Kent wanted the kids to pose with the wooden swords he'd made for them so he could take pictures to use when he prints out his dragon stories.

I guess Sylvia didn't want to take a picture with the sword, but the twins looked adorable in their pictures!

On Saturday afternoon we went to Carlsbad Caverns, which was about a two-hour drive away.

Granddad walking with his little buddy.

The kids looking at a display about some of the bats which live in the caverns.

This map shows the layout of the caverns very well. 

It's an amazingly extensive series of caves.

We took quite a few pictures but it was really impossible to show in pictures how interesting they were inside.

 The twins were pretty wiggly and didn't want to stay on the paths, so eventually Tyler and Rachel took all the kids on the shortcut out of the Big Room and waited for Kent and I at the end.

After we got out of the caves, Rachel took Andrew and the twins back to El Paso in their van, and Tyler, Kent, Sylvia and I stayed to watch the bats come out of the cave below.

Andrew said he didn't want to stay. Here we are waiting for the bats to come out, which happened at about 8pm. Because of the bats sensitive ears, the audience wasn't allowed to talk or to take pictures as half a million bats flew out of the cave and into the night to hunt for food. It was an awesome sight. We drove home in our van after we'd watched the bats fly out for about 20 minutes.

The following are just some every day activities while we were there.

Melody bonding with Grandma.

Christian and Melody looking very grown-up on their bikes and wearing their helmets!

A picnic outside for lunch

Kent had built a small Barbie "condo" to give to the granddaughters of our sons. Here's a picture of Sylvia wearing a dirndl I originally made for Lissa and standing in front of her new Barbie house. 

Granddad also set up a rope swing and Andrew and Sylvia really had fun with it. 

A proud papa with his brood, and the twins trying to help Granddad load the van before we left. Or was Granddad trying to get them smuggled in the van to take them with us??

It won't be too much longer that I'll be able to hold both of the twins in my arms, they're getting big!

Our traditional photo with the grandkids in our church clothes. It was tricky getting all four of them to look at the camera and to stand still! 

We packed a lot into our whirlwind visit to El Paso. We're always so happy to spend time with our grandchildren so they'll have good memories of us!

George HW Bush Presidential Library

I looked at the map of Texas and noticed that the George HW Bush Presidential Library was only about an hour away from Houston in College Station, 

 so Kent and I headed there after we left the Lee's house.

It was very nice, with lots of interesting facts about his younger years and service in World War II.

There was a recreation of the Oval Office, so Kent took a turn sitting at the Presidential desk. 

  A quote from his inauguration in 1989.

Portraits of George and Barbara Bush.

The two Bush presidents.

Pres. Bush was president when the Berlin wall came down, so there's a section of it in his museum.

 I like the quote on this wall, which was on the outside of the building as we were walking to where George and Barbara are buried.

 Their daughter, Robin, who died when she was four, is also buried with them.

                            
We learned so much about George HW Bush's life. He worked for most of his life in public service. I always liked him, and now I admire him even more after visiting his Presidential Library