But all inelegance aside, it was a wonderful vacation. I'm surprised more people don't travel by train. We saw such beautiful countryside. You see things from a train that you don't see while driving on the highway and the constant humming & vibration of the train lulled the baby to sleep for naps.
(Old trestle once used to mine for gold.)Nestled in between Lincoln National Park and an Apache Indian reservation, the town of Cloudcroft is beautiful & filled with history.
(Apache Warrior)Cloudcroft is also filled with mom & pop shops selling American Indian art, accessories, and jewelry, but it's anything but overly commercial. It reminded me of Northern Exposure's Sicily, Alaska.
Inspired to utilize more natural elements in my design, my dad and I each bought huge chunks of raw turquoise which will look lovely atop a stack of art books in my den. And I found this gorgeous necklace...
Yep, the trip got me in touch with my inner nature girl/native American and I've decided 
While we never saw an actual bear which the area is supposedly full of, my sister and her kids did find some very large blackbear tracks.
And this time of year thousands of hummingbirds flock to the area on their migration south. We spent much of the time sitting on the porch watching them fight over a spot to drink from the feeders.
It was inspiring in so many ways, we can't wait to go back.
we need a tipi for our backyard... How fun for cool fall nights?
While we never saw an actual bear which the area is supposedly full of, my sister and her kids did find some very large blackbear tracks.
And this time of year thousands of hummingbirds flock to the area on their migration south. We spent much of the time sitting on the porch watching them fight over a spot to drink from the feeders. 
It was inspiring in so many ways, we can't wait to go back.
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