Photo Bomb: Mesa Verde

I have virtually no information or stories about taking a trip to Mesa Verde.  I don't even remember when me and my family went to the canyon.  All I have is these pictures.  

This one was an unintentional collage shot.

The famous cliff dwellings.  We didn't go down there.  Mostly because getting out of the canyon involved climbing a long rickety wooden ladder.  You know they have an elevator at Carlsbad Caverns to get back to the surface.

Photo Bomb: Monaco

About time for some class here.  Aunt Judy and Uncle Don took a trip to Monaco a few years ago as part of a Mediterranean trip.     

The Casino Royale hotel at the end of the street.

Cool car.  I don't know what kind it is.

The relatives were there right before the F1 race, so workers were setting it up on the street.

A nice yacht in front of the cruise ship.

 

Photo Bomb: Back Porches

This is an odd theme.  The first three pictures were from the wood deck back porch of the boarding house I used to live in.  The lighting probably makes it look nicer than it was.  First is the large tree in the backyard.

There's the deck.  That's Hardy the Cat on the step.  He was friendly and came with the house.  I miss him.  There was a separate apartment in the back of the building.  It was nice and cozy.

There's another view from the porch.

On to genuinely nice backyards, this is where my Aunt Judy used to live in Missouri outside of Springfield.   

Yes, the grounds were theirs as well.  Uncle Don had riding mower to trim it.  Eventually, the grounds keeping got to be too much for them, so they moved to a suburban house in town.

 

There's some of their backyard garden.

Photo Bomb: Big Spring and Estate Pics

I took a few pictures during my trip to Missouri back when I was in high school.  These first three pictures are from a place called Big Spring.  It's pretty scenic, but I don't remember anything else about it.

We visited a cousin who lived Arkansas.  Needless to say, they were well off.  Her husband had an Atari 5200 in their living room hooked up to a big screen TV.  These were unimaginable luxuries at that time.  I got to play Missile Command on it.

 

Merry Christmas Cards

 Because it's seasonal, I'm posting a few Christmas cards.

This one is frustrating.  It's an older card.  I don't remember who it's from and I can't read the signature.

I posted this card before, but I didn't post the envelope it came in.  This one was from Grandma.  We didn't get to see each other hardly at all.

Aunt Judy sent me this one this year.  It's pretty nice.  Tucker the dog says, "Woof."

This card was from a neighbor of my dad's this year.  It one came with a huge loaf of banana bread.

The rest of these came this year from various charities.  

Photo Bomb: Old Town Albuquerque

These are a few random pics of Albuquerque's Old Town, which is a scenic district with shops and restaurants.  As the name implies, it has an old-timey ambiance.  (I'm like a tour guide.)  Obviously being from the other end of  the state, I'm more partial to Las Cruces' Old Mesilla, which is much more historical (as Billy the Kid hung out there) and historical-looking (in other words, rundown).  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that and not much tourist information either, other than two of the restaurants are haunted.  Well, here's some shots of Old Town, which I know nothing about.    

Photo Bomb: Around Las Cruces

I love my hometown of Las Cruces, New Mexico.  I admit it's a bit of a dump, but it's a very comfortable sort of dump.  It's like your favorite worn out pair of sweats.  At one point a few years ago, I took some pictures around town.

Here's a Christmas pic.  This might be a farm in Mesilla.  That's close enough to Las Cruces.

These pictures were taken after that one around sunset.

These next few pictures I took at sunrise.  Yes, I was up with sun.  I'd just gotten off work and decided to take some pictures.  

Sunrise over the Organ Mountains.

This is Picacho Peak.

This is a scenic street near Mayfield High School.

Photo Bomb: Hueco Tanks

Just outside of El Paso is the state park of Hueco Tanks.  It's basically a pile of rocks out in the high desert.  It acts as a water reservoir and has been used for centuries by the various inhabitants of the region.  There are ancient petroglyphs painted on the rocks, along with a dam built (shown below) by, I think, a stagecoach line.  

When I lived in El Paso in the late 80's, you could just drive at there on a whim and hang out whenever, which is what me and a high school friend did a couple of times.  The rock climbing and hiking there is easy, unless you go for the sheer vertical surfaces.  Nowadays, you can only get into the park by reservation.  The Montana street sprawl probably goes all the way out to it.  Admission is at least reasonable.  For a while, they only allowed entry via a $100 season pass, but that went away quickly.    Regrettably, I don't have a bunch of pictures, which this place deserves.  It's well worth a trip if you're in the area.

The dam.

The scenic yucca.

The scenic tree in between some rock walls.

Another scenic tree.  (I'm sure all of these plants have been photographed so many times, they must be bored by it.)