April 18, 2008

April 18, 2008

I’m a wanna-be geologist so when I saw our route east passed by Rockhound State Park in New Mexico, I thought that would be a good place to stay. Little did Aimee suspect we were going rock hunting! The park didn’t look like much as we entered, just a barren field up the foothill of a small mountain. But after an hour of decompressing we opened up to its beauty. The craggy hills are unique and the high elevation gives us beautiful views of the surroundings. I had forgotten how nice most state and national parks are to stay at.

After waking to a very chilly high-desert morning, we dress warm and walk to the Visitor center for a brief orientation on the minerals found in the park. After that we were on our own. I brought the hammer from my toolbox along. We hiked a mile long trail up the mountain, with Aimee enjoying nature, and me pounding on volcanic stones trying to free up pretty rocks. Unfortunately there is a reason they say “hard as a rock” and not “hard as a hammer”. The hammer loses. Fortunately I did find a few small pieces of pink Jasper lying around courtesy of Mother Nature and thousands of years of erosion.

The park was a nice place to spend a couple hours but I need a geologist and a jackhammer with me next time. Oh by the way, my golfers elbow is all gone. Yes, it is replaced with miner’s elbow from having my hammer bounce off all the rocks.

We spend the rest of the day driving east thru New Mexico into Texas staying at a private park in Van Horn, TX.