The best part about road trips is unexpected discoveries.  When my mother and I travel, we loosely plan our itinerary.  We make hotel reservations in advance and time our stays to be able to take in sights that are on our ‘list’ but leave a lot of time for exploration. On the first day of a vacation to  New Mexico we stayed overnight in Tucumcari, NM, so we could drive through the mountains to Taos early the next morning, catching the fresh morning light.

We arrived in Tucumcari a little earlier than we expected and while we were settling into our room, we noticed a brochure for a local dinosaur museum, so thought we would check it out.  It was wonderful…there were fossils, bones, and skeletons on display, along with man-made figures of dinosaurs that roamed the area long ago.  There were also geological exhibits and a few hands-on learning tools.  This museum was a hidden treasure, and we were thrilled to have stumbled upon it.

If you pass by Tucumcari ( on I-40) and have a couple hours to spare, it’s worth stopping for. 

a bird in the hand

 We had a little fun with it, too!

and I thought I had big feet!