Only have a night in London? Don't worry, you can still check out many of the major tourist attractions at night. The plus side? No crowds and a different view that what you typically see!

I was in London briefly for a conference and only had a few free hours after dark to go sightseeing. Below are the places I visited.

1. Buckingham Palace
Although you won't get to see the changing of the guards, the palace is well-light and looks lovely at night.

2. Big Ben
It was difficult to capture in photographs, but the illuminated faces of Big Ben are a very nice sight.

3. Palace of Westminster

4. Westminster Abbey

5. Wander the Streets
I did a lot of general wandering between tourist attractions. So many of the buildings look spectacular at night.

6. Red Telephone Box
While wandering the streets, you are sure to come across an iconic red telephone box. I feel like no trip to London is complete without a photo with one.

7. Platform 9 3/4 -- King's Cross
If you are a Harry Potter fan then you do not want to miss a visit to Platform 9 3/4, located inside King's Cross Station. The station is open until the last train. I stopped by a little after midnight. During the day there is typically a long line to get your photo taken. On this night, there were two other people besides myself.

There are many other attractions, such as Tower Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral, which I would have loved to see if I had more time.

Colorado Bend State Park consists of 5,328.3-acres of land. It is located west of Lampasas in San Saba county. The park has 32 miles of trails that are perfect for casual hiking and biking.

The park is also home to Gorman Falls, a 60-foot-high waterfall that cascades down travertine formations covered in lush vegetation. 

The falls' travertine formations and associated lush vegetation are very scenic. The formations and habitat are extremely fragile, therefore there is no swimming, wading, climbing or fishing allowed in the falls area.  For swimming, there is a spring fed swimming hole located on the opposite end of the park, as well as the river that runs through the park.

In addition to the falls, there are numerous caves throughout the park. Tours of these caves are available at the ranger station. 

When I visited, I went on the shortest cave tour, which lasted about 30 minutes and was not physically demanding. There are more strenuous tours available which require repelling down the side of a cliff in order to reach the cave.

Today I would like to share a brief overview of my road trip across New Mexico and into Colorado. We camped along the way, which helped keep the cost of the trip extremely low.

Day 1:
Quick stop at the Heritage Walkway in Artesia, NM

Camping and hiking in Lincoln National Forest

Day 2:
White Sands National Monument.
We camped overnight  and it was an amazing experience.

Day 3:
The National Solar Observatory
White Sands National Monument

Day 4:
Ojo Caliente Hot Springs
Camping in Carson National Forest

Day 5:
Camping in San Isabel National Forest

Day 6:
Fossil Beds
Camping in Pike's National Forest

Day 7:
Brunch at the Broadmoore
Garden of the Gods
Manitou Springs

Last year, my roommate and I drove over an incredibly beautiful mountain pass. We were departing from Monarch, CO to drive to Aspen, CO. The road was very popular among bicyclists.

As we followed the GPS, we had no idea we would be going over this magnificent pass. And it just so happened to be Independence Day. How much of a perfect coincidence was that?!

At the top of the pass is a parking lot and hiking trails.

The trail meanders through alpine tundra speckled with wildflowers. Please stay on the trail, as Alpine plants are fragile and grow slowly. Trampling them can cause damage that takes years to recover.

Barr Trail gains 7,400 vertical feet over 13 miles (one way). Because of afternoon thunderstorms in the summer, it is important to leave early enough in the morning to be back down below treeline by noon.

I arrived at the trailhead in Manitou Springs at 5:30am. Even if you don't plan to hike all the way to the summit, it is still nice to leave early because the first section of the trail is not well shaded and becomes very crowded with runners coming down from the Manitou Incline by 7:00am. I didn't take any pictures for the first portion of the trail.

 The half-way point! My camelback was less than half full and warm, so I was excited to be almost to Barr Camp so that I could refill. At the camp, there is a cold stream nearby and the camp has water filters available to rent. I was too preoccupied with my short break that I didn't get any photos of the camp.

After refilling my water, I took a quick detour to go check out Mountain View, which is a small station for the cog wheel rail that is situated on the side of the mountain. If one of the trains passes by while you are there, expect a lot of people hollering encouragement from the train.

After my little detour I continued up the mountain until I reached the A-frame emergency shelter, which is right below treeline. At this point I checked the sky to make sure there were no storms rolling in early. The sky was clear and I decided to keep going.

Past the treeline, you will enter a boulder field. I was lucky enough to briefly gain some company. Besides this lovely buck, I saw lots of marmots dashing around and barking when I ventured to close to their boulders.

Only two miles left to go! I felt exhausted, but at the same time I was thrilled.

As you might notice, it was also around this time that the sky was starting to look ominous. Part of what makes these storms so dangerous is that they can form very quickly. I weighed my options and decided to keep going up since I was less than 2 miles from the summit.

I think it was the most difficult 2 miles I have ever hiked. The winds were strong and cold. Even though it was July, sections of the switchbacks were still covered in snow.

These snow crossings were very slippery and required care when crossing so that you didn't step wrong and fall through the snow and into the water flowing underneath.

As soon as I reached the summit I had to layer up. It was so cold! 

West Indian manatees can be seen in the warmer water of the springs during winter months. Unfortunately, we arrived in early spring and were told by the park ranger that we had missed the manatees by 2 days. Manatees or not, the freshwater spring is beautiful.

There is a cave entrance at the bottom of the spring, making it a popular spot for scuba divers. The water is very clear and numerous fish can be see swimming around, making it a great spot for swimming and snorkeling.

There is a boardwalk through the swamp that leads to a dock on the river. There are benches at the dock and it is a very nice place to sit and relax.

There are also kayaks and standup paddle boards available to rent at the park. You can either pay a little extra and have them shuttle you up the river to put in, or you can just paddle from the springs to get to the river.

While it is not likely to see any alligators in the designated swimming area in the spring, alligators do frequent the nearby river. I saw two sunning themselves on logs while I was kayaking on the river. There were also a lot of turtles and aquatic birds on the river. Other wildlife within the park include armadillos, birds, and frogs.

In addition to the spring and river, there are a few short trails in the park. There is also a maintained campground for tent and RV camping. As someone used to primitive camping, it was an interesting change. The campsite we got didn't have much privacy, but it was clean and had a picnic table and grill.

     

White Sands National Monument has 10 primitive campsites that are accessible by hiking along a backcountry loop trail. In order to camp at White Sands, you must register and get a permit at the visitor center.

      Because it was the Sunday before Memorial Day, we arrived 45 minutes before the visitor center opened to make sure we were able to get a campsite. Advanced reservations are not available, it is first-come-first-served. There was already four other people waiting in line for the doors to open. We took our place in line and chatted with the people in front of us.

      Once we secured our permit, we spent the morning hiking through the glistening sand. During our exploration, we came across these large ant mounds, exposed by the wind and shifting sand. We cooled off in the shade of these mounds and the trees growing on top of them.      

We returned to the car and gathered our camping gear onto our backs. We soon discovered that climbing the gypsum dunes with camping gear strapped to your back is not the easiest task. Our site was one of the farthest spots from the parking lot. Eventually we made it to our site and set up camp.

      In the evening and at night is when the real magic of the dunes happens. We climbed to the top of the nearest dune and watched the sunset. As the sun moved behind the mountains, the wind picked up and the temperature began to cool. That night it was overcast and no stars could be seen.

      Our initial plan was to stay only one night, then continue on our journey. However, we were disappointed we did not get to see the stars, so in the morning we went and reserved our campsite for another night. It was worth it!      

That night, we were treated with the beauty of the light of an almost full moon reflecting off the grains of sand. It was so bright we didn't need flashlights. Once the moon moved below the horizon, the milky way began reaching across the sky.