New Mexico

Reagan and I took our first "sans-Matt" trip out to Las Cruces, New Mexico to visit Lori and Nick. Lori and I have been best friends since the summer before our freshman year in high school. We have had some of the raddest times of my life together and every time we get together, its like nothing has changed at all. We love to reminisce as well, about our crazy times. Reagan just took to them right away. After a day or two, she was used to their cute doggies as well. I love Lori's family as well. They treat me like one of their own and make me feel so at home. I have known them for years and it had been a while since I had seen everyone. It was so fun to be with them and to let Reagan get to know them. She had so much fun because everyone was so friendly to her!
The back drop of the town of Las Cruces is the Organ's, which is basically the tail-end of the Rockies, Lori informed me. They were really cool looking and you could see where they got their name...jutting out like keys on an organ.

Lori and Nick's brand new house was gorgeous. And they sure can decorate! Sometime in my life I will own a home and I will hire them to decorate.

We ate at a local pizza place one night and it was fun. I felt like I was with my own family. The pizza was good, too!
Reagan and Kylie, Lori's niece, had so much fun together. On this trip, Reagan learned how to hold hands with people while walking (thanks, Lori!)
On Sunday, we drove to the Carlsbad Caverns, a few hours north of where they live. We got to drive through the town of El Paso, Texas as well. The caverns were really cool, reminding me so much of the Timpanogos caves, but way bigger. And you don't have a tour guide leading you along.

Because of Reagan's obsession with calculators, remotes and phones, she just loved Nick's shirt. Especially when he would say "beep-beep" as she poked at the numbers.
Strolling down the path in the caverns.
I had a hard time getting the feel of the place on camera. I don't have the greatest night vision on it and it was just hard to capture a good photo of the scenes. But if you look closely, you can see the ceiling hanging down all pokey and stuff.

After Carlsbad Caverns, we headed up to Cloudcroft, a little town in the mountains of New Mexico. Lori and Nick reserved a place at the Cloudcroft Lodge. I learned something new...when a place is said to be 'charmed,' that is a fancy way of saying 'haunted.' Halloween spirit really kicked in for us that night, with ghosts on the brain. Click here to read the story about the haunting, but to be basic, a woman named Rebecca haunts the lodge. She was a skanky chambermaid who's boyfriend found her cheating and killed her...or so the legend goes. Now Rebecca haunts the entire hotel. Lori and Nick were so smart and ended up renting a lodge from the same hotel down the road called the Pavilion, which we were assured wasn't haunted. At least, no one had reported anything as of yet.

However, our night could not be complete without a tour of the actual haunted lodge. The guy working there let us see the governors suite, which is the most haunted room there. Here we are in the actual hallway where Rebecca's ghost roams!
The Cloudcroft lodge in the morning, a much less scary time of day.
Road tripping was so much fun with the Moog's. We drove through some teeny towns that we swore to never ever live in and ate a Taco Bell that made Lori lose her appetite due to the dead flies falling into the windowsill by our table. My favorite drink, Starbucks Strawberries and Creme Frappucino, became Reagan's new favorite drink. She got ticked when I took the straw out to have a sip for myself. For those of you wondering...this drink does not contain coffee.

The coolest rest stop I have ever seen.
Our last stop was the White Sands National Monument. Part of Transformers was filmed here (never seen it, but Lori says it is the scene in Iraq). It was really cool. It looks like snow, but it is actually fine, white sand.

Reagan had so much fun, she just loves the sand.

Oh, man, we had so much fun in New Mexico. Lori and Nick totally went out of there way for us and made it an excellent time. We can't wait to go back and I need to bring Matt next time. :)