We arrived home from our vacation on Monday afternoon after driving a little over 4200 miles. It was a great trip overall.
The highest gas price we paid for unleaded was at the Costco in Fountain Valley, CA at 4.39. The lowest price we paid was just outside Las Cruces, NM at 3.73. This last was probably our best timed deal because just two minutes after I filled our car the price went up .06 per gallon. Altogether we spent just a little over $1000 for gasoline.
We made several unplanned stops and excursions since the my prior vacation post. If you are ever in the area of Thermopolis, WY I recommend staying at the Best Western there. It is located on the grounds of the Mineral Hot Springs state park. The staff were extremely friendly and their spa is filled by the warm water of the mineral hot springs. The water was a warm 105 degrees when we were there.
Another unplanned even was a ride on the cog railway to the top of Pike’s Peak. It is about a 3.5 hour round trip with 30 minutes at the top. The views are spectacular. From the train we saw a heard of 10 big horn sheep, a couple of elk and numerous marmots.
Carlsbad Caverns are still as spectacular as I remember them from 1972. We entered through the natural cave opening (you could take an elevator down 750 feet to the main room) which adds about 1.5 miles to the tour. We spent almost 3 hours down in the cave. The only disappointment was that after waiting about an hour in the rain to see the bats fly (there are millions and they can take more than an hour to leave the cave) the rangers made us leave due to the dangers of lightening strikes. We were told the next day that the bats flew within 5 minutes after we left. Maybe I’ll get back in another 36 years. 
When we got to Scottsdale, AZ we were invited to take a side trip to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. You may know it as Rocky Point. My wife’s sister and husband own a condo there on the beach. We left before noon on Saturday and left Mexico about 2:30 on Sunday. As short as the stay was it was still pretty relaxing and enjoyable. The gulf water was warm, the pool water was warmer and the beer was cold.
That’s probably enough about the vacation. I could write quite a bit more but you’ve no doubt read enough.