Welcome to the wonderful Friday each month where Nature Friday comes together with YAM Aunty's FFF!! Make sure to visit YAM Aunty HERE to get the Rulez and join the FFF fun!!
Spring is coming, this I know,
The weather is warmer, with no chance of snow.
The flowers are blooming,
the sun is out bright
It's even staying out longer
before it turns night
(don't get us started on the human time change thing yet)
But the best thing about Spring, according to me...
Just two weeks before exploring Route 66,
in our new friend RC!!
Show us your nature! It can be flowers, your current weather, a scene out of your window, or maybe a picture from a vacation, walk or other journey! Any kind of nature picture will do! If you don't see a link below, click HERE to go to our Hoppity Page.
When Mama was looking through her list of wacky holidays, she saw that today is National Journey Day. We couldn't think of a better day to say how thankful we are that we get to travel and see new things!
As you can see on my map (thanks to Bailie, Olivia and Nelson at My GBGV Life for helping us find the map) I, Rosy, have visited lots of states.
I have too Rosy!! I have even been to some that YOU haven't been to...
Mama: Now girls, don't argue. Remember, neither one of you is even close to as visiting as many states as Angels Dory and Arty!
Whatevs Mama...back to US!
This year, we won't be visiting any additional states, but every month from March until June, we will be taking a weekend to explore our State of New Mexico in R.C. and we'll even be returning to Colorado for one trip.
We are so very thankful we get to go on so many adventures!!
Remember back when we took our trip to see that silly beaver at
Buc-Ees? Well, on the way home we were happy to stop and walk around the Route 66 Slug Bug Ranch!
The original Slug Bug Ranch was built by the Crutchfield family and was located in Conway, Texas(about 30 miles west of Amarillo). In 1967, the Crutchfields opened the Longhorn Ranch. The Ranch had a service station, a curio shop and they even added a Rattlesnake Ranch to attract people from the highway.
The business did pretty well for awhile, even as the population of Conway dwindled(it is a ghost town now). BUT, in 2002 they opened a Love's Travel Stop near the same exit as the Longhorn Ranch.
The Love's Travel center was bad news for the Longhorn Ranch, and they struggled to think of something that would stand out and help bring tourists to their little business.
The Cadillac Ranch(about 20 East of Conway) was attracting bunches of tourists at the time. The Crutchfields decided Volkswagons, buried in the sand, might do the same for their business!
Unfortunately, the VWs didn't hold the same appeal as the Caddies, and the Longhorn and Rattlesnake Ranch closed for good in 2003.
Luckily, in 2024, the Big Texan RV Ranch aquired and reburied the original 5 Volkswagons. They buried 10 more Volkswagons, along with 7 Cadillac Limousines(as you can see in the above pictures).
Here's a fun fact....the first vehicle Mama drove was a Green 1967 VW Van!
But that's a story for another day....
After our visit to the Slug Bug Ranch, the pawrents informed us that it was time to head home. The picture above was our reaction to facing 6 more hours in JeeJee, the Jeep!!
Thanks for joining us for our visit to the Slug Bug Ranch.
What's the craziest Roadside Attraction you have visited??
Welcome to Nature Friday, where we get to meet new friends and share a picture or two of what nature looks like around Blogville. Back in December, when visiting the Botanical Garden for their River of Lights, Mama discovered a new part of the park she didn't know was there....the Sasebo Japanese Garden!
Mama came home gushing about how pretty the Garden was, even in the Winter. I let her know it would be a great garden for us to watch during the year and record the changes she sees. So here is our Winter look at this pretty part of the ABQ Botanic Garden.
When you walk into this section of the gardens, you are greeted by these sculptured hedges
To the right of the shrubbery is this beautiful bell tower
The biggest feature of the Japanese Garden is a beautiful waterfall and koi pond.
Mama didn't see any koi, but she did spy this lovely bridge
I don't know about you Rosy, but I can't wait to see this part of the garden in the Spring!!
Me neither Sunny, if it's this pretty in the Winter....I bet it is breathtaking with all the trees blooming!
Can you see the iceburgs on either side of the bottom left and right of the waterfall, how cool is that!
Mama walked along the trail next to the falls and saw this beautiful stone pagoda!
From the sun playing on the Winter leaves of Japanese Maple
...to the Bamboo lining the path back to the main park,
we can't wait to see how the seasons unfold an the Sasebo Japanese Garden!
Mama made a little video so you could see(and hear) how beautiful this part of the park is!
As always, feel free to visit our YouTube Channel HERE
We hope all our friends get to get out and see some nature this weekend!!
Show us your nature! It can be flowers, your current weather, a scene out of your window, or maybe a picture from a vacation, walk or other journey! Any kind of nature picture will do! If you don't see a link below, click HERE to go to our Hoppity Page.
For the past couple of years we have had a cute little bird that looks a bit like someone's Grampy who has hung out in our yard. His technical name is a Curved Bill Thrasher. TC has captured some fun footage of him lately.
As always, feel free to visit our YouTube Channel HERE
Is it just us, or does our Curved Bill Thrasher act a bit like a Grumpy Grampy? BOL
We are joining Comedy Plus for the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop! Thanks to Sandee for hosting!
A couple of Saturdays ago, Mama and Daddy woke us up early for a big adventure! It's funny how, on the first warmer day of the year, the pawrents get antsy to get out and about!
After our morning routine, they put us in JeeJee the Jeep....
....and we headed out on a road trip!!!
We hit the road going east on Route 66 for a day of fun!
Mama said we were going to see the furry guy in this Billboard. The pawrents saw him back in the olden days, before he got popular in Texas, but Sunny and I had never visited a Buc-Ee's.
We stopped for a few nice walkies along the way.
...and saw a few trains too!
Finally, we crossed the Texas border. I, Rosy, have been to Texas back when I was just a wee pup.
This is a new state for Sunny though. Daddy says she definitely has a Texas attitude and wears her pink cowboy hat with pride!
Before long, we arrived at Buc-Ee's!!!
(For those of you who may not have heard of Buc-Ee's,
it is a travel center/gas station chain that originated near Austin, Texas and has expanded to stores throughout South and Southeast United States.)
We took another long walk around the building, and then took a nap while the pawrents went in to look around and get some lunch!
Mama took WAY too many photos to post, so she put together a video:
(As always, feel free to visit our YouTube Channel HERE)
I am glad we stopped at the Amarillo Buc-Ees, it was over 1,000 miles to the next one BOL!!!
Sunny is still having a hard time with the whole
"We traveled a total of 8 hours and all we got was a stuffed BEAVER?"
thing.....
It's all about the journey, Sunny...not the destination!
