From Here to Colorado Springs - Oklahoma City

We left Colorado Springs to head back home but did not want to go back exactly the way we came.  Our destination for the day was Oklahoma City.  We decided to go by way of New Mexico and northern Texas to Oklahoma.  

As we drove south toward New Mexico, I noticed animals out in the vast plains.  They kind of looked like deer but not the kind we are used to in Georgia (white tailed deer).  It turns out they were mule deer which are of course common to the area.  

I don't think I mentioned this in my earlier posts but another thing I noticed while driving through Colorado were these low, wooden fences that were long but not continuous.  I searched the internet and found out that they are snow fences designed to keep the snow from blowing on to the roads.  Being from Georgia, I had never seen anything like that before our trip out west!

Our first rest stop was near Pueblo, CO off of Interstate 25 where we stopped at a beautiful facility that we knew nothing about.  Turns out it is a 2.7 million dollar CDOT rest/information center.  It was gorgeous and has an interesting history that you can read about at www.digitalcommons.unl.edu if you are so inclined.  While my husband visited the facilities, I walked around outside enjoying the weather and listening to the birds.  I was able to get a picture of one of them before we left.  I love watching birds but am not the best at identifying them.  Here is a picture of the lovely creature.

We saw interesting shapes of what I guess you would call bluffs as we drove toward New Mexico.  It was hard to get a good picture of them as we drove but you get the idea from these photos.

We entered New Mexico in the city of Raton.  The land became very picturesque with higher hills and valleys as you might be able to see in my photos.

After driving for a while, we saw black rocks on the ground.  Curious, of course I checked it out on the internet!  The rocks are part of the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field from Capulin Volcano.  You can read more about it here:  www.nmnaturalhistory.org  Unfortunately the photo I took of them did not come out well.  It was too blurry to tell what you were looking at.

Another interesting item to me were the road signs we passed on the highway that said - Safety Corridors.  Apparently the corridors are designed to save lives on the highways.  They encourage safe driving habits especially in those areas.  If you are caught speeding in a safety corridor you should expect to pay a steep fine.  They are put in place in specific sections of highways based on crashes reported in those areas.

We did not get to see very much of New Mexico, just the extreme northeast corner of the state.  I would love to have seen more but time would not allow.

Here are some facts you might find interesting about New Mexico:

* Lakes and rivers make up only .002% of the states total surface area.

* The Rio Grande River runs the entire length of the state.

* The worlds first Atomic Bomb was detonated on 7/16/45 on the White Sands testing range new Alamagordo.

* White Sands National Monument is a desert of gleaming white gypsum crystals

* New Mexico has more sheep and cattle than people - 17 people per square mile

* Only about 13 inches of rain falls a year so most roads are left unpaved

* Taos Pueblo is one of the oldest continuously occupied communities in the US - People still live in some of the 900 year old buildings

* The roadrunner is the state bird

* The yucca is the state flower

* Turquoise is the state gem

* Some famous people from NM are Ronnie Lott, Neil Patrick Harris, Demi Moore and John Denver

* The economy is mostly based on oil drilling, mineral extraction, dryland farming, cattle ranching, lumber milling, film industry, the military and the government

* The climate is semi-arid to arid depending on the region of mountains, plains and desert

* Santa Fe was established as a settlement around 1608

* The Santa Fe Trail was the 19th century US territory's vital commercial and military highway link to the eastern US cities

* There are no major league professional sports teams

Next, we drove across the Texas Panhandle.  It is made up of 26 counties and is the area at the northern part of state bordered by New Mexico and Oklahoma.  There were lots of oil wells and windmills but other wise there was not a lot to see as we drove through to Oklahoma.

We arrived in Oklahoma City in the early evening.  We got checked into our room and drove to Lake Hefner, which was near by, to have dinner.  I guess I hadn't really thought about how much money there is in Oklahoma City because we drove through an opulent neighborhood with very posh houses and a gorgeous gold course on the way to the lake.

We ate at a Tex-Mex restaurant at the East Wharf area of the lake.  A so-so restaurant with a fabulous view of the lake as you can see in my sunset photo below.

We were unable to do anything else in the city since we arrived so late but it looked like a nice place to live.

Here are some interesting points about Oklahoma:

* Will Rogers was born in Oklahoma in 1879, first as an Indian, then a cowboy and on to become a movie star and writer

* Garth Brooks was born in Tulsa, OK

* There are more man-made lakes in OK than any other US state

* The state bird is the Scissor Tail Flycatcher

* OK has the largest Native American population of any state

* The worlds first installed parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City on 7-16-35

* Boise City was the only city in the US during WWII to be bombed - On 7-5-43 six practice bombs were dropped around midnight

* The economy is based on natural gas, oil, agricultural products, aviation, energy, telecommunications and bio technology

* The state flower is the Oklahoma Rose

* The climate is a humid subtropical region

* Most of the state lies in "Tornado Alley"

* Sixty-seven Native American tribes are represented in OK

* Oklahoma City has one major league sports franchise - the OK City Thunder of the NBA

* The name Oklahoma comes from the Choctaw phrase - okla humma - which means red people