Enjoying Our Dash

Our next stop took us to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We stayed at the first of our casino resorts, the Route 66 Casino and RV Resort.  This was a beautiful resort with lots of amenities, gorgeous views, and of course the casino. While there, we took a ride up to Santa Fe to check out the town and see some of the beautiful cathedrals. We visited the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi it was as gorgeous inside as it is outside. We also visited the Loretto Chapel. This is an amazing place with a story that is full of mystery. When it was completed in 1878, there was no access to the choir loft 22 feet above the floor. Local carpenters explained to the Sisters of the chapel that there was no way to put in a staircase without impacting the already small seating area in chapel. They would have to use a ladder. The Sisters didn’t like that answer, but they didn’t know what else to do, so they prayed to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters for help. Help arrived in ...

Our next adventure took us to New Mexico to check out the White Sands National Park. Here is how the National Park’s website describes it, ‘Like a mirage, dazzling white sand dunes shimmer in the tucked-way Tularosa Basin in southern New Mexico. They shift and settle over the Chihuahuan Desert, covering 275 square miles—the largest gypsum dunefield in the world. The White Sands National Park preserves more than half of this oasis, its shallow water supply, and the plants and animals living here.’ 1 At this park, there is a 16 mile loop road but unfortunately, the loop road was closed at mile marker 3.  The National Park’s website initially said that it was a ‘weather event’, but when we got to our campground, the owner told us that an F-16 plane had crashed in the park earlier in the month. This makes sense because the Holloman Air Force Base and the White Sands Missile Range are adjacent to the park. Hiking and sand sledding are a two of this...

Some of you know that I am a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan (don’t hate).  When Jerry Jones, the owner of the Cowboys and other business leaders built a new stadium in Arlington, Texas, I quickly added a stadium tour to my bucket list.  After 15 years, I finally made it there! On the tour heard about the unique construction features of the stadium, the engineer in me loved that, and we saw many of the behind the scenes areas, which the Cowboys fan in me loved. Some of the unique features were explained on the tour: There are two, 3,255-ton, 1,225-feet long steel arches raise 320-feet above the field anchored by 4 abutments. The abutments are 60 feet underground, with an additional 40 feet showing above ground.  They are the longest single-span arches in the world.  You can see one of the abutments in the pictures above and below. Because of these single span arches, there are no columns of any kind inside of the stadium. This means that there are NO obstructed view se...

One of our first stops was in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Here we had a chance to visit the National Military Park. During the Civil War, ‘the Mississippi River was the single most important economic feature of the continent — the very lifeblood of America. Upon the secession of the southern states, Confederate forces closed the river to navigation, which threatened to strangle northern commercial interests.’ 1 For this reason, both sides agreed that Vicksburg was the key to success in the war. ‘The Vicksburg Campaign began in 1862 and finished with the Confederate surrender on July 4th, 1863. For over 18 months, various armies would maneuver throughout the western theater, and occasionally face each other on the battlefield. Both Union and Confederate armies realized the importance of Vicksburg, but it would take over a year and a half and over 48,000 casualties before the fate of Vicksburg and the Mississippi River would be determined.’ 2 Union forces attempted ...