Day 132

I Am A Chicken Shit

Sep 15, 2013, 7:10 PM

This morning we slept in. The first thing I did when I finally got up was to secure our reservations for Albuquerque. I'm so excited we are going to be able to see the Hot Air Balloon Festival. Plus after leaving Las Vegas we are going to be going to Arizona. We will be able to go to the Grand Canyon again. This time the south rim. This really will be just like retracing our steps from our honeymoon. Of course making the arrangements for Albuquerque was not easy. The International Hot Air Balloon Festival must be quite the thing. The Albuquerque campgrounds were all full with ballooners. 

Later we went to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. This was like stepping onto Mars. Everything was so red/orange. The park was really nice, but it was 90 degrees. Not great for hiking in sand dunes. We did climb to the top of a rise and get some photos. We went into the Visitor's Center, there wasn't much there but they did have a display of sand from around the world. Pharmaceutical bottles lined a wall. All labelled with different places. Although there were several places that had reddish color, the sand from this park were by far the most vivid. After we left we explored the area a bit. We found another place to look around and get some more photos, but in the next stop the excitement really ratcheted up. There was a pretty place to get a photo and there was a 4-wheeler road to pull over on so Steve stopped and I got out. I got one shot but I wanted to go just a little further down the road so that a sign would be out of the shot. I walked just a few feet down the road and I heard a rustling, I thought I may have kicked some gravel, but that wasn't quite right for the sound. I looked down and SAW A RATTLESNAKE!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my God, I guess I startled him and he shook his tail a bit more, he lunged a little bit, and he took off in one direction and me, oh I freaked and ran for the car. Steve had stayed in the car, he doesn't bother to get out every time I need to get a picture. Just earlier today I told Steve I was almost disappointed that we hadn't seen a snake yet, then I almost trip over one. That is when I discovered I am a chicken shit at heart. I didn't even try to take a picture of the snake, oh no, not me, I RAN for the car. 

After that I was ready to go home. We had a quiet night and no snakes. Tomorrow we are going to travel Route 12. It will be a long day I'm sure. Good night all. Have a good day tomorrow, and watch out for snakes!