We are en-route home, and arrived in Lubbock, Texas last night to check-in with Chris, my stepson, and ensure all is going well with him.

I have to say, that I am not too familiar with U.S. University Campuses, but the site on which Texas Tech sits, where Chris is at school, is really beautiful.

The campus boasts Spanish Renaissance architecture and has been described as one of the most beautiful campuses in the U.S. Walking around the campus, one immediately feels a sense of calm. The light colour of the stone, the gorgeous Spanish-tile roofs, the thoughtful landscaping and of course, the space………………real space to walk, to sit, to think.

In 1998, the Board of Regents of the Texas Tech University System created the University Public Art Collection to enliven the campus environment and extend the education mission of the university. It is funded by using one percent of the estimated total cost of each new building on the campus. It is now ranked among the ten best university public art collections in the U.S.

I am not sure how many students appreciate what they have, but as a visitor, it is just a really stress-free environment in which to wander. I love coming here and walking around the campus.

The campus at Texas Tech above, and the three photos below.

Today is our tenth wedding anniversary … oh my, was it all a dream or a nightmare! HA!

Seriously, what does one say? I remember Mike arriving in London and the next thing I knew was that I woke up in Las Vegas with a wedding ring on my finger. I know that he drugged and kidnapped me, flew me to Las Vegas and arranged for Elvis to place a ring on my finger and I opened my eyes to see all the smiling faces of our families and loved ones!

Were you all in on it? Is this one of life’s unexplained mysteries?

The traditional gift for a tenth anniversary is either tin or aluminium (with an extra “i” for my American readers) with the modern-day alternative being diamonds!

Bless my Darling’s heart, and in spite of a seriously consolidated effort by Mr. Bob to ensure Mike does not end up in the dog house today, Mr. Bob has reminded my Darling, repeatedly, that our anniversary is on the horizon.

Last Sunday, my Beloved wished me a Happy Anniversary. He knows that the day was approaching and was hedging his bets to ensure he didn’t mess up. He has wished me a Happy Anniversary every day since as he knows that one day he’ll get it right. Cute!

Happy Anniversary to my Darling and I know that the next ten years will be filled with as much love, fun and happiness as the last ten!

Mike and Elvis with Mike Neary looking on!

Ten years ago, today!

In 1942, U.S. President Roosevelt authorized a secret programme to create an atomic bomb. Major General Leslie R. Groves was put in charge with physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer designing and building the bomb in a Laboratory, code-named Project Y.

Project Y scientists began the development of two bombs – one using uranium and one using plutonium. In the Spring of 1944, the scientists found that a plutonium bomb would not work – it would blow itself apart before the two pieces of plutonium could fully unite to create the supercritical mass required for a successful explosion.

Confronted with this problem, Oppenheimer requested the team pursue the development of a plutonium bomb based on the concept of implosion: conventional explosives would be detonated around a sub-critical core of plutonium, compressing it into a supercritical mass.

On July 16, 1945, members of Project Y and other observers gathered at a remote location in New Mexico some 200 miles south of Los Alamos, near Alamogordo. Some three weeks later, a U.S. Army Air Force B-29 dropped a uranium bomb known as Little Boy (named after Roosevelt) over the Japanese City of Hiroshima. Three days later, another B-29 dropped a plutonium bomb know as Fat Boy (named after Winston Churchill) over Nagasaki. Detonated in the air, the bombs caused immense destruction and killed well over a hundred thousands people.

Two days after Fat Boy was detonated, Japan agreed to surrender and World War II came to an end.

A replica of the Fat Boy atomic bomb shell at the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

U.S. Route 66 was one of the original highways established in November 1926. The highway, became one of the most famous roads in the United States, originally running from Chicago in Illinois to Santa Monica in California and covering nearly 2,500 miles (4,000 km).

In the 1930s, Route 66 served as a major carrier for those migrating west, especially during what’s known as the Dust Bowl, which saw farming families from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Texas, in search of agricultural jobs in California. The route passed through numerous small towns and with the growing traffic on the highway, helped create the rise of “mom and pop” businesses such as service stations and restaurants all readily accessible to passing motorists.

During World War II, more migration west took place because of war-related industries in California. Already popular, and fully paved, Route 66 was used for moving military equipment.

In the 1950s, it became the main highway for holiday-makers heading to Los Angeles. The road passed near tourist destinations such as the Grand Canyon and marked the birth of the fast-food industry: the first McDonald’s in San Bernardino, California.

Over its lifetime, the road underwent many improvements and was removed from the US Highway System in 1985 following the development of the new Interstate Highway System. Some sections of the road have now been designated a National Scenic Byway named Historic Route 66.

We are staying at the Route 66 RV Resort just outside Albuquerque in New Mexico. It is a new resort, having opened last year, and attached to Route 66 Casino and Hotel.

Today we left our snowy RV park in Colorado and headed through magnificent scenery to Albuquerque. Known as the most populated city in the US state of New Mexico, it has over half a million people with the metropolitan area spiking to nearly one million souls! It was strange for us to become part of a big city’s Friday night traffic jam as everyone heads home for the weekend!

Albuquerque lies in the Albuquerque Basin, a portion of the Rio Grande Rift. The Sandia Mountains are the predominant geographic feature visible from the city. “Sandia” is Spanish for watermelon, and it is believed to be a reference to the brilliant colouration of the mountains at sunset: bright pink – melon flesh – and green – melon rind! The pink is due to large exposures of granodiorite cliffs (similar to granite) and the green is due to large swaths of conifer forests.

Every October, the city is home to the International Balloon Fiesta, sponsored by Canon, the camera makers. The event is a true spectacle as 600 hot air balloon enthusiasts take to the skies at sunrise in what is believed to be one of the most photographed events in the world that includes many exciting photographic competitions for the amateur! We have checked out the event but there is only limited space for motor homes and you need to book one year in advance to get a space! Another one for the bucket list!

Something borrowed, something blue – until such times as I can share my own pictures!

Near today’s city of Aztec in New Mexico, early farmers took advantage of the Animas river’s year-round water. Ancestral Pueblo people had long-lived in the Four Corners Region (consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona and northwestern corner of New Mexico), and sometime late in the 1000s, a group began building a large complex near the river.

When construction ceased two hundred years later, the community consisted of great houses, small residential pueblos and Kivas (round builds). The formal layout of the settlement and the orientation and visual relationships among the buildings indicate a grand design.

Archeologists believe Kivas were public buildings that may have brought together different clans for ceremonies and other functions. In 1916, Earl Morris headed the first dig at Aztec. He spent the next seven years excavating and stabilizing much of the site which had been derelict since the people left in the late 1200s. 

The largest of the houses had at least 500 rooms that rose three stories high. Excavation revealed original roofs with centuries-old wood and vast deposits of well-preserved artifacts.

Some of the wonders of the buildings are the impressive architecture, fine masonry and high-quality building materials, all of which you can see in this wall. The strong centre of the wall is constructed using rough stones and a lot of mud mortar. This technique allowed them to build taller walls with a fine shaped sandstone on the outside which gave the wall a beautiful finish. The people of Aztec incorporated lines of green stone within some walls, the meaning of which is unknown to archeologists.

Treasure Falls is a waterfall in the San Juan Mountains, northeast of Pagosa Springs in Colorado. Above the falls sits Treasure Mountain.

The falls are named after a local legend about “a treasure of gold” buried in the mountain the falls plunge from.

Legend has it that a party of Frenchmen entered the San Juan Mountains somewhere around the Wolf Creek Pass in 1750. They set about panning for gold and were super successful amassing a fortune. They were repeatedly attacked and cached-in their gold near Treasure Falls. Only a handful of the original party survived and returned to French territory.

Mike and I found ourselves restricted to viewing Treasure Falls from the car park as neither of us had imagined seeing so much snow in the area and the only safe way of completing the 300-feet hike to a foot bridge to view the falls, really needed snow boots! I was wearing trainers and Mike something equally useless!

Wolf Creek Pass is a mountain pass on the Continental Divide, in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. The views are spectacular!

Miss Poppy-dog is six today!

To all members of Poppy’s fan-club, thank you for your gifts, good wishes and happy tails!

As today is Poppy’s day, we humans will do whatever she wants! Likely an extra lay-in bed as she’s rather a bed-head at heart; some seriously long walks with additional squirrel chasing; an afternoon nap with her Daddy; and, ribeye steak for tea! Steak is one of her favourite things to eat alongside sausages, ham and Domino’s all meat pizza! The pizza listing has nothing to do with the blogger, but when I was in London earlier this year, her Daddy put Domino’s delivery service on speed dial and it seems that he and Miss Poppy sat and watched TV and ate pizza together!

Happy Birthday Poppy!

Daddy’s girl!

Being adorable and watching for squirrels through the motor home window!

Poppy and Derek the Dragon!

We spent the day in Pagosa Springs, a delightful town some 35 miles north of the New Mexico border, nestled at an elevation of 7,000 feet above sea level on the western slope of the Continental Divide.

This combination of high desert plateau and the dramatic Rocky Mountains to the north and east, creates an unusually mild climate, especially in summer months, when compared with much of the surrounding Southwest. Pagosa Springs is blessed with some 300 sunny days each year, as well as enjoying four distinct seasons.

Located in the upper San Juan Basin, the town is surrounded by the three-million-acre San Juan National Forest, and is adjacent to the largest wilderness area in the state of Colorado, the Weminuche Wilderness which covers over 750 million square acres!

The town is named for the sulfur springs located here, including the world’s deepest geothermal hot spring. This “Mother Spring” feeds the pools hosted by three local hot spring locations. The water from the “Mother Spring” is approximately 144 degrees Fahrenheit (62 degrees Centigrade) and the mineral-rich waters are celebrated for their therapeutic powers.

Visitors from all over the world come to Pagosa Springs to enjoy its hot baths. Some come to cure ailments, others simply to relax in the mineral-rich waters.

The Healing Waters of Pagosa Springs are not the only relaxing agent in town! The state of Colorado has legalized Marijuana and the town has three dispensaries – San Juan Strains being one!

Greetings from Durango, located in southwest Colorado, at the foot of the San Juan Mountains, where we are keen to check out the area as a possible “short-list” candidate to call home sometime in the future.

Gold fever struck the area in 1860 as hundreds of miners camped out hoping to make their fortunes from gold, and silver, in the mountains surrounding the town.

The town of Durango was founded some twenty years later by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company along the banks of the Animas River to serve the San Juan mining district. Within a year, the city’s population had sky-rocketed to nearly 2,500 with people arriving from everywhere to work in the smelters and mines, and on the railroad.

Today, the town’s population is in excess of 18,000. For the outdoor enthusiast, Durango has something for everyone: breathtaking scenery with both the San Juan National Forest and Mesa Verde National Parks within easy reach; biking and hiking trails galore, plus river rafting and fishing. When winter snow falls, Durango soon becomes a ski paradise with Ski Magazine calling it one of “America’s Top 10 Ski Towns” featuring slopes for every skill level.

There is also a charming downtown area that is a Nationally Registered Historic District and home to boutique hotels, restaurants, craft brew-pubs, art galleries and shops.

The backdrop of one of Miss Poppy’s walks today in the San Juan National Forest while we were checking out properties and land for sale!