And that's no bull

Ok, so where was I? Oh yes, so we decided to go to Sitting Bull Falls. I packed up the lunch, we filled up the tank with gas, and off we went.

The scenic drive to the falls was approximately 40 miles from the campground. The road winds through small mountains dotted with prickly pear and Santa Rita cacti, along with century plants and cholla cactus.




It is all open range country, so cattle can roam free. That means BEWARE. BEEF - It's what for dinner if you're not careful!






I had to stop several times for photo ops of the cattle - one old gal chewing her cud like there was no tomorrow.




One cow caught my eye because she had one horn growing up and one horn growing down. That poor thing. She was probably ostracized from the group. You know how bitchy females can be!

As a matter of fact, the only other cow standing near her was another defected cow - this one only had ONE horn!


So the two misfits were standing together.








There is a $5.00 fee to enter into the Sitting Bull Recreational Area. If you have the aforementioned "Old Man Pass" or "Interagency Pass" they will accept it.

Jim and I ate lunch in a stone shelter at the foot of a tall hill. There were only a couple other groups of people there in the park. After lunch, we followed the pathway to Sitting Bull Falls. It's not too long of a walk, only about 800 feet. Then it opens up and overlooks a small oasis. To the right is the tall cliff and waterfall that runs down, at the bottom are pools of bright green water where the water falls into. There are some large, flat rocks and barren trees. It was very quiet except for the wind blowing through the area. It was gorgeous and peaceful.



















We drove back through the desert in the setting sun and headed towards town. I wanted to take a picture of the local tattoo parlor because I thought it had a cool name. The big gentleman in the doorway waved me in as I was taking this picture. Noooo thanks!




It was near dinner time and Jim and I were both getting hungry. We decided to try out a barbecue restaurant that the campground owners had recommended. We were very disappointed to see that it was closed. We drove to this restaurant:




Only to see that it, too, was closed. It seems that a lot of places rolled up the carpet on Sunday evenings in the town of Carlsbad. We stumbled upon another barbecue restaurant that turned out to be pretty good. There were a lot of people there; we weren't sure at first if it was because it was one of the few restaurants open on a Sunday night, or if it really was because of their food!

I noticed this couple sitting a few tables away from us who looked awfully familiar to me. I thought maybe I knew them from our hometown, or something like that. It was driving me crazy. Finally I said to Jim that I was going over to speak to them.

I walked over to the couple and introduced myself. We chatted for awhile and Jim came and joined us. Their names were Richard and Mary Ann and they were from Seattle. He had worked for the FBI for over 30 years as an agent. When he retired, he got a job doing drug testing for the NFL. He loved his job and was disappointed when they hired a different company to do the work. Richard and Mary Ann sold their home, and are exploring the country in a POP UP!! No more complaining for me!! I have all the luxuries I could ask for and this woman has to shower in a public bathroom every day! I couldn't imagine getting up in the middle of the night and walking down to the bathroom to pee! Been there, done that when we had a pop up, but we weren't FULL-TIMING it! Jim kind of had a smug look on his face like, "See? She can do it without any complaints, why can't YOU?"

We sat with Richard and Mary Ann for about a half hour, comparing notes as to where we've been and recommendations for where to go. Then we bid our goodbyes. Oh yeah, you want to know why they looked familiar? They were staying at the same campground as us! I probably saw them walking around there!