Paul & Libby’s World of Travel

Leaving Dodge City, we roughly followed the Cimmaron Cutoff route of the Santa Fe Trail southwest through Kansas, the panhandle of Oklahoma, and into New Mexico. Aside from ranching and farming, it’s mostly “a whole lotta nothin” out there. But, it did take us to our final two states (plus a very brief side trip into Texas for the benefit of Emerson’s state count): Oklahoma (49) and New Mexico (50), thereby completing our 157×50 Project (more than 10 years early!).

I should probably pause to reflect on accomplishing the goal. Unlike last summer when we hit country #100, we did enjoy a greater sense of achieving something today. We’ve earned the “well traveled” badge in my book. But, it’s also kind of like reaching the level of black belt in martial arts: there is much more to learn and master. 

Our next challenge is figuring out what comes next. Where to go, what to do, how to get there? Plus (potentially) new goal(s), new bucket list, or something else? Good problem to have. 

Anyway, back to the immediate trip…

Once in New Mexico, we visited Clayton Lake State Park. 

The “lake” is actually a man-made recreational reservoir that’s surrounded by camping facilities. Out in the middle of nowhere grasslands, it feels like quite an oasis and seems like a good camping and fishing spot. During our picnic, we viewed a lot of wildlife including rabbits and roadrunners (we just needed a coyote and a pig to stage a full-on cartoon). We also saw an abundance of dragonflies and butterflies. 

However, none of that is why we drove an hour out of our way to visit this park. 

This is why we came here:

Dinosaur footprints! 

There’s an entire field of them at Clayton Lake:

After our short hike to the dinosaur tracks, we drove to Santa Fe, where we’re staying downtown in the heart of it all at the Drury Inn and Suites (which I picked for its location and good reviews).

We hit the first rain of our trip here in Santa Fe last night, which limited our explorations a bit. But, we did stroll down to the plaza and have an awesome meal of New Mexican cuisine at La Plazuela. 

Here’s an appetizer of creamy goat cheese stuffed squash blossoms: 

Today’s box score: +2 states (Oklahoma & New Mexico)

As we try to do something meaningful on each leg of the journey, we opted to spend the morning at the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha. It’s Nebraska’s top paid attraction and considered to be one of the best zoos in the world. With only a morning to spend there, we merely scratched the surface by seeing–fairly quickly–maybe half of the animals on display. 

Emerson seemed to especially like the aquarium:

Here’s a striking example of a sea nettle:

From the zoo, we drove a little over six hours to Dodge City, KS following a route southwest that was mostly off interstates through farmland and the occasional small town. While this didn’t provide the sort of majestic and sublime vistas that we enjoyed in the Rockies, we’ve enjoyed seeing the heartland of the prairie. 

The people who live I these rural communities live such a different life than we’re accustomed to leading. Even in modern America, this part of the country feels pretty isolated and in some important ways declining due to “rural flight” (as big agribusiness pushes out smaller farmers). Yet, there are interesting little museums, historical markers, and curiosities to be found nearly everywhere, if you bother to observe. 

For example, we passed through tiny Garfield, KS (pop. 190 or so) today. It’s named for the 20th President of the United States, James A. Garfield. Passing through the town–assuming you don’t blink–you’ll see a minuscule wayside memorial chapel that contains a church bell donated by the former President to the town. Garfield donated the bell for their first church (which no longer stands) in order to thank the town for making itself after him. 

These are the kinds of stories you can find all over America and the world. You just have to get out and look!

Today’s box score: +1 state (Kansas)

We woke up to a cooler and breezier morning having had a front pass through the prior night. This is what makes summer elsewhere so much more pleasant than it in Florida: variation (and lower humidity).

We departed fairly early for Badlands NP. Of all of the NPs we’ve visited on this trip thus far, this one is by far the most deceptive.  Approaching it from the north, you hardly even realize it’s there as you just drive through the grasslands of the upper prairie.  Then you reach “The Wall” where the prairie just kind of gives way to this vastly different landscape caused by erosion:

While it’s interesting to view from above, you get a much better sense once you’re down driving within it:

But, to really understand what gives the Badlands its name, you need to go out and walk within it. Here’s a view back to the “Door” notch (center in the distance) that we walked through to get to this spot along an easy, well-marked trail:

Without the markers, it would be far more challenging to navigate across this terrain. While some describe it as bizarre and “like the moon,” it didn’t feel as otherworldly as say Haleakala on Maui to me. But, it’s certainly an unusual and interesting feature and worth the visit. 

From the Badlands, we drove across South Dakota. At Libby’s urging, we stopped in Mitchell to see its corn palace:

From there we drove to Souix Falls, SD, then south to Souix City, IA, and finally stopped in Omaha, NE for the night. By doing tomorrow’s drive today, we’re now a day ahead of schedule and will have more time in the morning to explore Omaha! Tomorrow afternoon, we’ll start heading southwest toward Dodge City and ultimately Santa Fe. 

Today’s box score: +2 states (Iowa and Nebraska)