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After leaving our friends' place, we drove down the road to nearby White Sands National Monument. (Yay - another score for our annual national park pass!) The White Sands dunefield is made up of white gypsum sand, and it covers about 270 square miles! And now I know this interesting fact about how many box cars it would fill, lol. The first five miles of Dunes Drive are paved. The last three miles are a hard-packed gypsum sand road. These panoramas still don't do justice to the vastness of the dunes. Flat Deedra came along, of course. View of a parking area from the top of a small dune. We picked another area to get out and explore - the "West Filming Area" - we figured it had to be pretty good with a name like that. It was a short walk to the dunes. White Sands is a truly impressive sight to behold! We loved our visit and would recommend it to anyone! I also hiked the Dune Life Nature Trail. I learned a little something about some of the animals pictured here. I saw a different view of the dunes. I spotted interesting animal tracks. What kind of animal track do you think it is? After touring White Sands we drove over to Las Cruces, New Mexico. It has a charming downtown area. It has nice views of the mountains in the distance. It has several of these sweet solar powered USB charging stations near benches. It even has an arcade bar where we ate dinner and played pinball! Flat Deedra likes the "City of the Crosses", and so do we!

Friends from Belize now live in Alamogordo, New Mexico (elevation 4,334') - it's been too long since we saw them last, so we knew we had to pay them a visit. Jon and Shelly, now have a sweet baby named Julian, and we spent a wonderful weekend with them catching up, playing with the baby, watching him start to walk, playing games, cooking dinner at home, and going out for lunch a couple of times. Shelly brought their kitty cat, Bow, all the way from Belize, and I made friends with him again. He seems quite comfortable, and Jon and Shelly said he isn't like this with many people. Do you think he remembers me from Belize? On a beautiful Sunday afternoon we decided to drive up to Cloudcroft for a hike and to see the cute mountain town (elevation 8,676'). Jon had to prepare for work, so he stayed behind, but Julian came with us! We hiked the Osha Trail, a 2.5-mile loop in Lincoln National Forest. The trail offered some incredible views. It was a nice trail through a beautiful area - very enjoyable! Julian seemed to feel the same way. He never got fussy and was quite content to just look around at everything along the hike. Happy Hikers! :) After the hike we drove over to Cloudcroft Brewing Company, where we enjoyed craft beer and cider, tasty pizza, and nice live music. After lunch Julian immediately fell asleep, so we just did a drive-by of the town of Cloudcroft, which was fine by us. The town seemed nice enough, but we had already had a fabulous experience in Cloudcroft, so we didn't need to see any more. Here is the Relive video of our 2.5-mile hike, then the drive into Cloudcroft:

Ever since getting an America The Beautiful (National Park) Pass for our Everglades bike trip we decided to make sure we get our money's worth out of it. So, we are on a mission to visit as many National Parks and National Monuments as we feasibly can this year. We had never been to Carlsbad Caverns before, and it was along our general route, so we had to go! Flat Deedra came along, too, of course. The visitor center there is nice, and this 3D illustration of the cave system is particularly cool. You can take an elevator down directly into the cave, or you can walk about a mile and a quarter to the natural entrance. We chose the natural entrance route, of course. During the summer months bats come flooding out of the cave near sunset, and you can watch from this amphitheater. Now you just walk through it to the natural entrance. Down, down, down we go! It's a descent of 750 feet - about 75 stories! (Our calves hurt for days after this, lol.) The cave is truly enormous! It took us about three hours to tour the whole thing. (The path for the cave tour is about 1.25 miles long.) So many cool formations!!! Wish I could remember what kind they all are. "Whale's Mouth" Notice the path to the far right to get some scale and appreciate the enormity of the cave. "Silent Bell" Coming from Indiana (where there are lots of caves), and having spent many years in Belize (where there are lots of caves), we have seen our share. Still, we never get tired of caves because they're all so beautiful and different. After the cave tour we got new kicks (tires) for our van, Pearl, then drove on to Alamogordo, New Mexico. These high desert views are starkly spectacular. On the drive we saw a bunch of dust devils off in the distance. Having never seen them before, it took us a moment to figure out what they were. At seeing the first one there was a passing thought of it being a tornado, lol.

We had never been to Carlsbad, New Mexico before, and it was the right distance to drive for the day, so we got there in time to bike around and check it out. We found and biked the Pecos Riverwalk path around Lake Carlsbad. The lower portion of the lake didn't have much water. The portion above the dam was full and beautiful. There were floating bridges across the lake, picnic areas, and a swimming area. There is even a water park by the lake. Unfortunately, I got a flat tire near the end of the ride. Fortunately, we were close to the car when it happened, so there wasn't far to go. (We later learned it was because of a nasty, sharp thorn called a "goat head" that is common in these parts.) Anyway, we put up the bikes, walked around downtown, and had dinner at a nearby restaurant. Flat Deedra came along for the ride. Here is the Relive video for our 7.11-mile ride/walk that day, including additional photos:

We've been to San Antonio, Texas a few times before, and we always enjoy ourselves there, so we just had to swing by and walk the Riverwalk again. It was just a quick, one-night visit, but nice and relaxing. Here is the Relive video of our 6.26-mile walk in downtown San Antonio, including many more photos:

We lived two winters in Austin, Texas (2012 and 2013) - we loved it then, and we wanted to see it again. So, we spent a beautiful week there reconnecting with friends and the city, and we had a fabulous time! Following are some highlights from our stay there. Check out the Relive videos for additional photos. We enjoyed a nice place to stay near the happening SoCo (South Congress Ave) area. South Congress has more chain stores and less food trucks than before, but it's still full of fabulous restaurants, bars featuring great live music, and cute shops. Still a great area! 3/19/2025, Wednesday - Biked the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail We enjoyed the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail (aka Town Lake Trail or Lady Bird Lake Trail) trail when we were here before, and we knew it had improved a lot since then. Now a complete loop around Lady Bird Lake, we biked the entire thing. It's a truly fantastic trail! We found a nice park along the trail for a picnic lunch. We took a short detour to Rainey Street, which used to be home to a food truck court and many cute bungalows converted to a variety of restaurants. Oh, how things have changed! (We knew they inevitably would.) Just a handful of these old venues still exist, but now they're surrounded by huge high-rises. We tried to eat at a place we liked before and ended up bailing out (that's a whole story) - the vibe just isn't there anymore for us. Turtles on the lake! :) We revisited the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue where, many winters ago, we blared some live recordings of a couple of his concerts. Several runners and bikers on the trail stopped to appreciate a song or few that night. :) We saw countless Waymo self-driving taxis (available via Uber) driving around Austin, and we watched one successfully navigate itself out of a blocked alley it had expected to go through. We biked to The Brewtorium in north Austin for the monthly BASHH (Big Ass Social Happy Hour) networking event. In 2013 they were much larger (and downtown), but it was still a fun event, and the food/drinks were good. After the networking event we biked a little further north to Turnstile Coffee Beer Cocktails and Burgers. There we met and caught up with Pete, a friend we made back in 2012 or 2013 at a BASHH event. We then biked home, arriving a bit before 2am - whew! Here is the Relive video for our 40.29-mile ride that day, with more pictures: 3/20/2025, Thursday - Explored the New and Old 6th Street After sleeping in and charging the bikes, we rode to downtown and over to East 6th Street, then walked it down to Congress Ave and back. Then we parked our bikes and walked from the east end of 6th Street to the west end. We enjoyed happy hour drinks and snacks at a rooftop bar/restaurant on East 6th Street. With this ride, we passed 1,000 miles on our bicycles since getting them in mid-October 2024 - woohoo!!! Here is the Relive video for our 12.4-mile ride/walk that day, including additional photos: 3/22/2025, Saturday - Biked the Shoal Creek Trail We moved to a lovely neighborhood north of downtown. From there we biked the Shoal Creek Trail south to the lake. It's a beautiful trail along a creek. It runs through the heart of the city, but you'd hardly know it. We watched the undulating wave of bats emerge from the Bat Bridge (the Congress Ave bridge over Lady Bird Lake). We were on the wrong side of the river for best viewing, so it wasn't spectacular, but still interesting. 3/24/2025, Monday - Biked a Loop of Austin We did a big loop bike ride around Austin this day, and we enjoyed a late lunch at Easy Tiger on the north side. We remember it from it's days at a totally unique venue down on 6th Street. Very different here, but still a nice vibe. Our path took us on the Shoal Creek Trail, through neighborhoods, onto the Walnut Creek Trail, down to the lake and downtown. Here is the Relive video of our 31.08-mile ride that day, with many more photos:

On Sunday we drove to Slidell, Louisiana in so we could cycle on the Tammany Trace trail, which is another Hall of Fame Rail Trail. The trail is north of Lake Ponchartrain, which is just north of New Orleans (a city we love), and it connects Slidell, Mandeville, Abita Springs, and Covington. We have been here before and visited these lovely towns, but we never knew about this bike trail. The trail is 28.2 miles long, and we got a late start (that's a whole other story, lol), so we knew we wouldn't be able to bike the entire thing, but we hoped to make it to Abita Springs and maybe visit Abita Brewing Company. The bridge over Bayou Lacombe - we saw the sign that said the bridge hours were 7am to 6:30pm, and we wondered all day long whether the bridge really closed at 6:30 (note the foreshadowing). Bayou Lacombe Mandeville Trailhead - we remember going to a farmers market at this location about 12 years ago! No horses in tunnel? Okay, that's a new one. Our shady, trailside rest stop under the I-12 interstate bridges. A park in Mandeville - we liked the giant pavilion with loads of solar panels on the roof. Abita Mystery House! We visited this cooky "museum" when we were here about 12 years ago. It's definitely worth a stop if you find yourself in Abita Springs. I liked this mural at the Abita Springs Trailhead. Abita Springs Trailhead. We had hoped to stop in this town to do a tasting at Abita Brewing Company and maybe have dinner. However, we thought about the possible bridge closing and decided we needed to turn back. We tried to hightail it back to the Bayou Lacombe bridge before 6:30pm in case it did actually close. We talked about the bridge hours with another couple of bikers we encountered, and apparently we talked a little too long... We arrived at 6:33pm to find the bridge going up. The worker there was super apologetic, but he said the hours were strict and he just couldn't lower it again. Whomp, whomp! (If only we hadn't stopped to talk, lol.) Our trusty phones (via Google Maps) showed us how to get around another way, which took us briefly on a busy road, then through neighborhoods like this. It looked to me like my bike bag was also happy for the nice bike ride, and successfully making it back to our vehicle, even with a little detour. Plus, we're soon to hit 1,000 miles on these bikes! Despite the hiccups in our ride this day, we thoroughly enjoyed the Tammany Trace trail, and we can see why it made it into the Rail Trail Hall of Fame. Here is the Relive video of our 50.07-mile bike ride this day, with many additional photos: Back in Slidell, we found a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner. This photo doesn't even begin to illustrate the enormity of my margarita! (I had no idea it would be so huge.) My Spinach Enchiladas were full of nice, fresh spinach - yum! Eric also liked his meaty, mushroomy meal (I don't remember what it was called, lol).

After getting Eric's flat tire fixed we parked near Depot Park and hopped on our bikes to explore the 17-mile Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail. This lovely trail passes through and by nice wild areas, like this Sweetwater Preserve. OK, I guess NOW we're on the official Gainesville-Hawthorne State Trail, lol. (Apparently we started on the Depot Trail that connects this trail to downtown Gainesville.) "George, George, George of the Jungle, watch out for that treeeeeeee!" Hahaha, a couple cute references there. IYKYK (which means, if you know, you know) Prairie Creek is hauntingly beautiful! Our nice break spot at Phifer Flatwoods Preserve. Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park has wild horses and bison! We didn't have time to check that out, but we had hoped to at least take the trail to the lake overlook in the park. Alas, bikes are not allowed on that trail. Next time! Hawthorne Trailhead - we made it to the end, woohoo! Back we go, hoping to reach before sunset, which we did. After returning to Gainesville we walked around downtown and found this cool Man in the Moon that I love. Here is the Relive video of our 34-mile ride, including many additional photos:

We read that the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway has a land bridge and we wanted to see one in person, so we decided to bike it. There are plans for the trail to extend all the way across Florida. Currently only 15.6 miles of it are completed from the Santos Trailhead to CR 200. We started at the Santos Trailhead. At the Santos Trailhead there are also lots of mountain bike trails. The start of the trail at Santos. We passed Florida Horse Park, which is HUGE. The trail is lovely and makes for a very relaxing ride. A little history about the trail. More info about the land bridge over the interstate which allows people and animals to cross safely. This is the land bridge itself. There is some land on either side of this path, although it's not quite as much as I had pictured. There are a couple of places on the land bridge to get a view of the interstate over which the trail passes. Thank goodness for the land bridge - wouldn't want to try to cross all that on a bicycle. Our nice rest stop. The end of the completed section of paved trail. After a brief rest we headed back the way we came. Just before reaching the land bridge again, Eric got a flat tire. Thankfully, just after the land bridge is another trail access point, so Eric walked his bike there while I rode back to our van then drove to pick him up. So, in the end Cara rode 32.1 miles, and Eric rode 25.07 miles. Aside from Eric having to walk his bike a couple of miles, we both enjoyed the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. Here is the Relive vide of Eric's ride, which includes many more photos:

Fellow cyclists on the Shark Valley Trail said that the Withlacoochee State Trail was their favorite bike trail in Florida, so we had to check it out. It's just under 46 miles long, so we figured it would be 2 days of biking to explore it all. We decided to start in Inverness, a city at a rough mid-point in the trail that also had a cute downtown to explore. On Tuesday we rode the Withlacoochee State Trail from Inverness to the north end near Citrus Springs, then returned. We got a late start for biking, so we figured we would do the shorter section this afternoon/evening. A nice outdoor event venue in downtown Inverness. On Tuesday we picked up the Withlacoochee State Trail in Inverness and rode north toward Citrus Springs. We just love the moss on the trees and think it's beautiful. Rest stop. Flat Deedra made it with us to the north end of the trail at Citrus Springs! The Gulf Junction Trailhead at the north end of the trail. After returning to downtown Inverness we ate dinner at Salty Dogs Steamer & Bar, then had drinks nearby at Coach's Pub & Eatery. Here is our Relive video for Tuesday's 34.66-mile ride, including many additional photos: On Wednesday we started at Wallace Brooks Park in Inverness and biked south, which is a longer section of trail. It was a beautiful day, perfect for cycling! Caution - gator territory! (We didn't see any that day.) The trail is super nice - wide and paved, and very relaxing to ride on! We turned back here at the Ridge Manor Trailhead after about 25 miles, because we knew we didn't have enough battery juice to go all the way to the end. Flat Deedra made it to the Ridge Manor Trailhead, too! Eric rode just past the trailhead to the bridge over a highway then returned. These trail bridges over busy roads are superb! On the ride back to Inverness we saw a couple of deer on the trail. I tried to stop before scaring them and get a really zoomed in picture. You can kind of tell they're deer, lol. We saw two more after this but didn't try for photos. Here is our Relive video for Wednesday's 50.6-mile ride, with loads more photos: Back in Inverness we treated ourselves to sushi dinner at Kawa Sushi House. We had a Peanut Avocado Roll, a Philadelphia Roll, and a Sweet Potato Tempura Roll - yum!

We saw the really long Pinellas Trail Loop on the map, so we decided to bike it, of course. We did it in sections, over several days. The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail is 46 miles long and runs in a rough "C" shape from Tarpon Springs to St. Petersburg. It is the main part of the 75-mile Pinellas Trail Loop which uses other trails to complete the loop, although there are still a couple of discontinuities on the east side. 2/25/2025, Tuesday - Biked Tarpon Springs to Dunedin On Tuesday we drove to Tarpon Springs, parked, and hopped on our bikes to explore the Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail. We started in downtown Tarpon Springs and headed south on the trail. It is sooooo nicely separated from the road. :) The town marker signs are cute. The wider path is for cyclists and the narrower path is for pedestrians - good thinking. Eric spied an osprey that had built its nest on top of the tall fence to the left. See zoomed in pics below... Osprey!!! :) We stopped in Dunedin to walk around and find dinner, as well as a place to park the following night. We enjoyed Happy Hour and Taco Tuesday specials at a lovely bar/restaurant called Senor Rita's Tequileria & Margarita Factory. This picture doesn't even begin to show the enormity of my margarita! I had 2 vegetarian "Hippie Tacos" and a Tostada - delicious! Eric had 3 different meat/seafood tacos, and all were very good. After dinner we biked back to Tarpon Springs, making it a 21.1-mile ride for the day. 2/26/2025, Wednesday - Biked Dunedin to Largo and Clearwater On Wednesday, after getting some work done at a coffee shop in the morning, we drove to Dunedin and hit the Pinellas Trail again, continuing the route southward. There was one little bit on a wide sidewalk, and a busy road crossing, but other than that, it was a nicely separated trail that is super relaxing to ride. When we reached Largo we decided to turn back and take a slight detour to Clearwater for Happy Hour. Belleair Coachmen Park on the waterfront in downtown Clearwater... Downtown Clearwater There was still a ton of reconstruction being done. Lots of places were closed, and some had just reopened. We stopped in at Clear Sky on Cleveland for Happy Hour. We love trying brussels sprouts dishes to find a great recipe for us to make. This one had Thai peanut butter and raspberry jam. Not perfect, but it gave us some ideas. It was nearing sunset, so we headed back to the waterfront and decided to get a better view from the bridge to Clearwater Beach. Up the roundabout ramp we go... It was dark when we left downtown Clearwater, but it was a nice ride back to Dunedin - 17.3 miles in total. Back in Dunedin we walked around a bit, had dinner at Tios Pios Food Truck, and drinks at HOB Brewing Co. Thursday was a work day for us, then we drove to St. Petersburg and walked around downtown. 2/28/2025, Friday - Biked St. Pete to Largo After getting some work done in the morning we hit the Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail from the other end in St. Petersburg and rode toward where we had left off in Largo. This sign says the trail is in the Rail Trail Hall of Fame, and we can definitely see why! I love all the incredible murals around St. Pete. These raised sections of trail to avoid busy roads and intersections are simply amazing! A cool home seen from the trail that Eric and I both liked. Seminole Largo!!! We met up with the spot where we had left off in Largo. We decided to detour here for dinner before heading back. We went to Sekushi at the Plaza in Belleair Bluffs for happy hour specials. We sampled many dishes. This is Eric's Shrimp Tempura. My yummy vegetable gyoza. It was well after dark when we reached St. Pete again. For some reason the Relive video only logged the first half of the ride, and not our return. So, the video says our ride was 21.85 miles, but it was really a total of 42.6 miles that day. On Saturday we expected to go to the farmers market downtown, but it wasn't happening because there was an F1 race going on in that area. So, we charged the bikes then checked out the Grand Central District of St. Pete, a little west of downtown. We loved the vibe there. We found a place to play pinball, of course. I found more awesome murals. 3/2/2025, Sunday - Biked from Safety Harbor On Sunday we drove over to Safety Harbor to start cycling from there. I picked it because it looked like it had a little walking district, plus a couple of nice trails that would connect us up with the east side of the Pinellas Trail Loop. We started from downtown on the Bayshore Trail. It soon also becomes the Ream Wilson Trail. At a park along the way we saw a sign about not molesting the alligators, which we laughed about, then immediately we saw this gator! We turned to follow the Ream Wilson Trail west, and it took us through some beautiful parks. Great egret (I believe) We met up with the Duke Energy Trail, which is part of the north/south section on the east side of the Pinellas Trail Loop. The trail basically follows along high power lines. Not the prettiest scenery, but it's nice to have the trail. We went a little way, then decided to turn back and check out Safety Harbor. We decided to take a short side trip to check out the bike path on the bridge to Tampa, and we saw this along the way. Look closely - the vehicle being trailered is a boat, not a car! We looked at the bridge crossing then turned back. Otter Crossing - oooh, I would have loved to have seen one! :) Back in Safety Harbor we had a nice sushi dinner at Happy Salmon. This is Eric's Fantasy Roll. My Vegetable Tempura Roll. We rode roughly 21 miles this day and loved every minute of it. While we didn't complete the entire Pinellas Trail Loop, we did much of it and liked it. Exploring it made for a really fun week.

Uncle Dave and Aunt Linda were visiting friends who live in Florida, and we met up with them for a bit. One day we all went to check out nearby Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs was largely settled by Greek sponge divers in the late 1800s. You can still find loads of sponge shops and sponge boats here, although it feels very touristy, with more tours than working industry. There are obviously loads of Greek restaurant options in Tarpon Springs as well. The downtown walking district is nice and has some very cute shops. An artful depiction of the Greek sponge divers and the type of equipment they used. We decided to eat lunch at the Greek restaurant with the highest ratings, which was Niko's Grill House. Cara's Veggie Tilikta - basically a pita wrap filled with zucchini fritters, tzatziki sauce, red onion, tomato, and fries. It was really good. In fact, everyone loved their food. Large portions, though, so several of us needed naps later. Everyone thought the sign was funny, although there was debate whether the husband day care center should be offering wine or beer. A statue to the Greek sponge divers. Many of us were still full from lunch, but we had dinner reservations at 6pm, so off we went to Whiskey Joe's Bar & Grill. This is the picture the roving photographer took of our group. After dinner we went back to our new friends' home and hung out. It was Dave & Linda's last night in Florida before flying back to cold Indiana winter. The neighbor had brought over her pet snake, a ball python, and the ladies took turns holding it - even Aunt Linda! It was a really nice day catching up with family and new friends, and exploring someplace new to us.