Tuesday, May 8, 2007

This morning, I was startled from sleep by the sound of heavy rain and thunder. Our hotel room was illuminated by lighting. Roswell was under a flash flood watch. We had planned to spend the morning at the wildlife refuge and the weather didn't look like it was going to cooperate. We took our time getting dressed, ate a casual breakfast in the lobby and decided to go ahead and go to the visitor center at the refuge. God was so good to us once again. We drove in some pretty heavy rain and wind but the closer we got to the refuge, the better the weather became. It stopped raining and we were able to enjoy the visitors center and the driving tour. If you are ever in Roswell, this is a must see. The center is beautiful. We were the only people there today and the employees took time to talk to us and tell us about the refuge. There were two videos, one about the refuge and one about the dragonflies that live there. They were wonderful and even Emma sat there captivated by the information. The neatest thing was that all of this was free! They operate on donations. So we were glad to drop a little into the bird feeder and take home a new bird book and dragonfly book from the gift shop.

After the inside tour, we headed for the driving tour. It's an 8-mile loop that takes you around the Pecos river. We saw jack-rabbits, all kinds of duck and water fowl, a Paragon Falcon and Emma got to see a turtle. (she loves turtles) Living in the refuge are deer, bobcats and coyotes. We didn't see those! The landscape is breathtaking. On the drive in you see typical open land for cattle to graze. Once on the refuge property you see all kinds of wildflowers, plants, and cactus. We were amazed at one of the overlooks. You could see dry desert like earth, the river, lush greens around the water and then the beautiful mountains. It was breathtaking. I hope our pictures turn out!!

Tonight we ate Mexican with my Great-Aunt, her son Bernie and his family. It was wonderful. We get a kick out of people listening to us "talk southern".(I have to admit, I poured it on a little thick a few times today. :) They just seem to get a kick out of it.) After dinner we went back to Bernie's home and visited a little while longer. We laughed until our sides hurt. My Great-Aunt and Grandmother are good friends and they are having a blast together. Apparently, they have been sitting up until 11:00 every night chatting about life. They were both emotional tonight. I have to wonder if they are clinging on to each minute, Aunt Vene will be 83 this week and has suffered several strokes. Her speech is fine, and she's still doing fairly well considering what she's been through the last few years. She doesn't get out much so we were tickled to death she wanted to go for Mexican. I realized tonight how much she and Grandmother look alike. I wonder if that is how Valerie and I will be when enter out 80's? I hope so.

We are having a good time, but I miss my man! When we talked tonight, he had fallen asleep in the den. Bless his heart, he had a frozen pizza for dinner tonight. I felt really guilty about going on and on with how good our dinner was tonight!!

We spend one more day here and then we head back for Atlanta.