Category Archives: New Mexico

by | May 14, 2021 · 7:18 am

On the Way to Portland, Oregon by way of South Dakota

FIRST LEG:  KARTCHNER TO NEW MEXICO

LAST DAYS AT KARTCHNER

Everything worked out for us and this year instead of heading through California and taking our usual route to the Portland, Oregon area, we are taking a thousand-mile detour to South Dakota first.  We got our COVID vaccines, finished our doctor and dentist appointments and then decided that it is time for some enjoyable travel.

Last year on our trip from Arizona to Portland we hardly left the RV.  Just pulled into sites and holed up until we got on the road again.  The joy of traveling in an RV is that you sleep in your own bed, use your own linens, brush your teeth in your own sink, and use your own shower and toilet.  And we cook our own food which we eat at our own table.  When we pull into a rest stop, we turn off the engine and stay in air conditioned or heated comfort.  It is the perfect way to travel during a global pandemic.  Except that pulling into new campgrounds, seeing people ignoring masking mandates and social distancing is unpleasant and scary.  So, last year we would just un-hitch and go right back into our sanctuary.

The safety and convenience of RV travel has become way too popular.  It gets harder and more expensive to find campground sites.  Even in the best of places, seeing unmasked folks coming out of campground laundries kept me washing clothes by hand this entire last year.  Finding ways to dry them without being able to hang clothes outside was a bit of a struggle but better than rubbing elbows in a hot humid crowded laundry room with unmasked people.

Last year’s trip to Portland and the return trip back through the same campgrounds was not fun.  This winter at Kartchner Caverns was great but we look forward to a little extra scenery for our summer season.  We began planning early and decided to take care of some business in our home state of South Dakota.  That made it easy to plan our trek through New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska – then the Black Hills of South Dakota – swinging west to Wyoming, Montana, and Washington and finally to the Portland area.

We did have some concerns for a short time at our jobs in the Caves.  The AZ Governor eliminated the mask mandate, and the director of AZ Parks issued a directive that we could not require masks in the Caves.  It was obvious that neither of those two understood the atmosphere in the Cave.  And we became very worried about entering the Cave with strangers who would possibly be unmasked.  The Cave has a great oxygen level due to its size of about 2.5 miles.  But that air comes in through a grapefruit-size hole.  The air exchanges about once every 3 to 5 days or something like that.  That means the air in the Cave is still – no breeze – and aerosols just hang in that humid environment for hours.  Understanding this made us, and other volunteers, reconsider what we had thought was sufficient safety conditions.  We stopped going into the Cave for a while.  We did other jobs that didn’t expose ourselves so much until we were two weeks passed our second vaccine.  We also observed that most people took the staff’s recommendation to wear a mask and only a few people went through the Cave without one.  Once we felt better about our safety, we resumed our usual tasks.

By then other volunteers had left for the season so we picked up lots of extra hours.  Our lives got busy, but we love our jobs, so it was fun.  I am now a Lead Guide for both the Rotunda/Throne Room tour and the Big Room tour.  Doug loves driving the tram and we both enjoy trailing other tours.  We continued our extra duty of Opening the Cave a day or two a week and occasionally a shift at the Gatehouse. Doug and I put some Earth Day bat crafts together and although the participation was minimal, we felt good about promoting Earth-friendly crafts on Earth Day.

My work with the Adopt A Bat program has been simplified with Doug’s expertise at automating it but subscriptions still keep me checking at least twice a day.  We did a little extra social media posts for Earth Day and wound up with 54 subscriptions over a 4-day period.  I’ll maintain the program remotely over the summer and see what happens when we get back to Kartchner in the Fall.

We also continued our weekly Flamingo gatherings of volunteers and sometimes Rangers.  Those weekly get togethers cemented our friendships during this difficult year when we all needed companionship.  So, the final weeks flew by and we left on Friday, May 7th after a wonderful last Flamingo.

LORDSBURG, LAS CRUCES – HATCH!

After working so much, we immediately felt like we are on vacation!

Doug planned two short driving days to make sure our motorhome, Meriwether, and our towed vehicle, Lewis, were on their best behavior.  We spent our first night at the Lordsburg KOA in New Mexico.  It was a quiet night with almost no one else in the campground.  Doug took care of a few things and relaxed.  I painted some rocks to leave along our trip stops.  (I never take or leave a rock at any State or National Parks or Natural Recreation sites, etc.)  It’s just fun for me to paint something pretty and put an inspirational quote on a rock.  I like to think of them as bringing a smile to someone and don’t we all need that in our lives?

The scenery into New Mexico is iconic desert.  We stopped seeing saguaros and started seeing yuccas dotting the desert landscape.  As we drove past my favorite rocky scenery in Texas Canyon in Cochise County, I vowed once again to put The Amerind Museum in Dragoon back on my list of must-dos in the Fall.

During that part of the trip – less than an hour from our starting place – I started to crave a Green Chile Cheeseburger.  My mouth knew we were on the way to Hatch, New Mexico!

We traveled along I-10 and passed a sign for the biggest Pistachio, which we had seen in Alamogordo.  The signs along the road point out that there might be “zero possibility”.  That means you might not be able to see anything due to dust storms.  We were lucky and the wind wasn’t too bad.

After a relaxing afternoon and evening, we took our time leaving Saturday morning.  Can’t get to the next campground too early!  Our second day of driving was also short.  We got into Las Cruces KOA, ate a quick lunch, unhitched our car and took an afternoon drive right to Hatch.  We didn’t want to delay getting our roasted green chiles.

The road from Las Cruces to Hatch is picturesque – lots of farms and pecan groves.  Then you see the mountains.  South of Las Cruces are the Tortugas and the Organ Mountains, which were in the distance.  We traveled through the Picacho Peak area (same name as a favorite park near Tucson).  Getting closer to Hatch we went through beautiful mountain peaks on all sides of us.

We found a place to purchase frozen roasted green chiles and bought 10 pounds of them.  I’ll pack them into portion-size bags and re-freeze them.  That should last for a while.  We also bought a new ristra – our old one from Hatch was dusty and faded.  And we got some Mexican oregano – we make sure it’s properly labeled because it really does look suspicious in its little baggie.

This time I got my Green Chile Cheeseburger at Sparky’s – supposed to be the best.  There were lines at the window and lots of folks at socially distant picnic tables in the large blocked off parking lot.  Everyone was masked and polite.  I ordered the burger with wedge fries and a side of green chile queso.

Interesting art at Sparky’s

It was painful to ride home with that delicious burger and its incredible smells, but I did it.  I quickly made a vegetarian turkey-style cutlet for Doug which I covered in green chiles, of course.  I shared the potatoes and queso (perfectly hot and spicy!)  I heated up my burger and yum, yum, it was worth the wait!  I’m writing this just an hour or so later while my tummy is still smiling with satisfaction.  It was certainly worth the 35 miles each way we drove for this amazing New Mexico treat.

We once again visited the little western town of Mesilla where Billy the Kid went to jail. The town plaza seemed familiar and we quickly realized we had been there 4 years ago. We strolled around the craft market at the plaza and went in a few of the stores.

BERNALILLO

Traveling the way we do, often on two-lane highways, we get to know the land better than shooting down the bigger highways.  Neither of us is good at figuring out what is sprouting from the ground on the farmed land.  We take wild guesses – and we will never know if that stuff is kale or onions.  We do recognize pecan trees and we saw many of these well-tended orchards.  We like to play music and sometimes the perfect song comes on in the perfect place.  But on our trip from Las Cruces to Bernalillo that didn’t happen.  At one point, Elvis was singing In the Ghetto as we drove through miles of uninhabited desert.

We did get to see lots of mountains.  Some of them had the familiar limestone striations and even the balso quartzsite ridges like our Muffintop in the Whetstones.  Some of these mountains are sandstone and you can see the different erosion patterns.  Near Las Cruces, the Rio Grande was a large expanse of sand.  It is used in that area for ATV driving.  No water at all – just miles of tire tracks in the dry sand.  But then as we drove along the Sacramento Mountains, the Rio Grande became the Grand River it should be. 

We pulled into the Bernalillo KOA and stepped back in time to 1997.  We spent time here in our pop-up trailer with Amy and Julie.  It was our trip from New Jersey to the Southwest and back again.  Bernalillo was the turning point for me.  It literally was where we turned to head home, and it was where I officially fell in love with the Southwest.  My last moments in this campground on that memorable trip were spent with our video camera taking pictures of the clouds as my voice broke narrating how much I didn’t want to go home.

It has been an enduring love for me.  The Southwest holds my heart and I never tire of the brown rock-exposed mountains, the clear blue sky and the fresh hot air.  This New Jersey girl really set her roots down on this part of the continent.

The campground seems about the same, but different owners.  The sites are close, but we have a patio site.  This upgrade is simply a square of artificial grass just big enough for a small picnic table with a little room for our chairs.  We have a short pine tree which litters the ground with little round pinecones.  I think it’s a Pinon Pine.  There are lots of shedding cottonwoods here too.  The temperatures are much cooler here – mornings in the 50’s and midday in the 70’s (maybe the low 80’s).  There is a new addition to this campground. On the other side of the wall there is a ramshackle beer brewery, the Kaktus Brewery, that also serves some food.  It wasn’t open our first night, but I will keep checking.  The menu is intriguing: German pretzels; Curry Wurst, Affogato (sea salt and caramel gelato) and a selection of pizzas with some really unusual toppings.  Looking forward to tasting something different.

ALBUQUERQUE

We did make a quick trip to Old Town Albuquerque on Wednesday, May 12th.  But the day started out at Stewart and Stevenson’s transmission repair facility.  Doug thought he found a transmission fluid leak and this place was nice enough to get us in to check it out.  We had to be there by 7:30 am.  I followed Doug in the car, got lost on the crazy interchanges in ABQ but finally got to the facility.  We were entertained by another couple who are on the road too. They told us stories of camphosting, Viking Cruises and tornadoes in Missouri. The time in the waiting room passed quickly and we weren’t there long – the news was good – no problem.  So, we hitched up, drove back to our campsite on the other side of ABQ, had a quick lunch, watched a really bad (good?) Godzilla movie and then headed to ABQ for an afternoon in Old Town.  We stopped in a few of our favorite stores, checked out a few new ones and sat on a bench.  Doug has not been feeling great – a bit of a stomach problem.  We decided it had gone on too long, so we stopped at Urgent Care.  Then to a lab for tests.  Hopefully we will get this under control.

We got home and Doug thinks there is a propane leak – not in the tank but in the hose.  We have to leave tomorrow morning – we will just not use the stove until we get that checked out.  It will be a quiet night of rest and hydration for Doug.  At least we have a microwave so we will not starve.

The Kaktus Brewery with the cool pizzas doesn’t open until Thursday so we will miss out on their gourmet pizzas.  I am consoling myself with the thought of all the calories I didn’t eat these last two days – no German pretzels, no Mexican food in ABQ, no yummy pizza.  Oh well, I’m sure we will find something fun to eat when Doug feels better!

On to Raton.  Pronounced “Rat Tone”. 

RATON

Just one night in Raton.  The ride was a little longer today – over 200 miles.  No more desert.  It was at first mountains covered in Rocky Mountain junipers and pinon pine trees with an occasional Blue Spruce in the Sante Fe Forest.  We saw the flat tops of mesas mixed with more pointy peaks.  Then we hit a very long expanse of grazing lands.  Not many cattle to be seen but miles of yellow-green flat pastures.  We stopped for a quick lunch at a rest stop.

The Raton KOA is an oldish style KOA undergoing some building construction.  The sites are much larger than the newer KOA’s where you practically touch your neighbor.  These sites are also very long.  Not much to comment on – dusty gravel but level sites with sparsely placed tiny trees.  But nice owners and a perfectly fine stop for our one night stay.  We didn’t unhitch – just hooked up electric and water and pushed the slides out.  We are set.

New Mexico proved to be the best in mask wearing.  Every store, outside and inside, even just walking through the campgrounds, people wear masks.  The signs say “by order of our governor” and it seems that New Mexicans are proud of that.  We’ll have to see what other states do.  For sure, this is a complete change from Arizona.

Next stop:  Colorado Springs.

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Filed under Arizona, New Mexico

by | November 13, 2017 · 7:49 pm

More of New Mexico

Albuquerque (ABQ)

Our adventures in New Mexico continue.  Our campground –American RV Resort was the first one we’ve been in that served us a continental breakfast.  This campground was an improvement over the last, especially the well maintained roads.  And we always appreciate a good laundry.

We left Santa Fe and arrived in Albuquerque on Thursday, October 19th.  On Saturday we went to the Nuclear Science and History Center right next to Kirtland Air Force Base.  We saw a movie about the early moments in our country’s history of nuclear weaponry.  The exhibits gave us lots more info.  We saw a replica of the Enola Gay and were intrigued by “the Gadget” hanging outside the building.

Little Boy and Fat Man replicas

Petroglyph National Monument

On Sunday we went to Petroglyph National Monument.  I might have mentioned what a poor hiker I am.  So, it’s hard to believe, that without a moment’s hesitation, fortified by my sturdy hiking boots, my trusty hiking poles, a water bottle, a hat to keep the blazing sun off my face, and my strong and reliable Doug by my side, I stupidly climbed the rocky mountain trail.  I wanted to see the petroglyphs!

Going up was hard – I was still panting because of the altitude as well as the exertion.  I went almost all the way up, up the trail – Doug did the last bit alone.

But what goes up, must come down and down was way scarier to me.  The “trail” between the rocks was too narrow for my feet and there was the dreaded loose gravel.  I had to carry my poles because there was no place to put them down.  A few places on the trail totally freaked me out and I just froze.  Crying doesn’t help.  Either does shaky legs and arms – clammy hands – and poor Doug, who tries to help, but there’s not much he can do when I dissolve into that state.  Eventually, I made it down to level ground.  It wasn’t a pretty descent, that’s for sure.  I made a firm resolve NOT to do that again!

BUT, I wanted to see the petroglyphs!  And in spite of my trauma, they were amazing.  Ancient symbols, communications between the travelers, the patiently etched notes made by shepherds.  There was a very old four-pointed star that was perfectly preserved.  The interpretive signs along the trail suggest that we don’t try to interpret the meanings of the symbols – our own cultural biases would probably get in the way of knowing the originator’s intent.  So we looked and marveled at as many as we could find.  An amazing place!  And there were hundreds and hundreds of petroglyphs located conveniently on level paths – so I really didn’t have to risk my life to see them – something to remember next time a rocky mountain trail tempts me.

Petroglyphs along the trail

Petroglyphs along the trail

Old Town Albuquerque

The next day, we visited Old Town Albuquerque.  Another place we’ve been to before and one we love.  We spent a few hours checking out the shops and galleries and looking for the elusive spicy chile-laced chocolate I remembered.

We didn’t take the “Breaking Bad” tour, but we saw the motorhome!

One of the markets near the Old Town Albquerque plaza

We spent a few quiet days doing chores like washing and waxing the RV, laundry, and grocery shopping.  I started baking my holiday stash of biscotti.

Alamogordo and Pistachios

We left ABQ for Alamogordo.  Our new Boot Hill campground was across the highway from McGinn’s Pistachio Farm.  The Giant Pistachio (the world’s largest!) could be seen from our front window.

World’s largest pistachio

Boot Hill was another great place to stay, with the exception of the dust.  Doug had spent 2 days carefully washing and waxing the RV.  Most campgrounds prohibit this because of the water usage, but Boot Hill allowed it with a charge of $20.  It’s a big rig when you take on this task.  But we weren’t meant to have a clean shiny RV.  Boot Hill’s maintenance staff chose to rake the gravel all day after Doug’s efforts.  The red dust the raking kicked up just attached itself to not only the outside but also a fine layer inside.  Oh well!

Alamogordo (which means big fat cottonwood) will always be synonymous with pistachios to us.  Our camp hosts gave us coupons for the nearby pistachio farms, so, of course, first thing we did was check out the stores.  We liked McGinn’s best for two reasons –  they had a whole salad bar space of free samples of flavored pistachios, pecans and peanut brittle.  I went back for thirds of the chocolate-covered green chile brittle and we tasted enough pistachios to know that the green chile flavored one were just the perfect spicy for us.  And when in New Mexico, green chile is always the best flavor!  Also McGinn’s gave us a big bag of pistachios for our free gift.

Heart of the Desert Pistachio Farm was fancier – no Giant Pistachio but Painted Horses – you had to ask for a specific sample and after we bought a metal flower for outside the RV, we got a very small bag of pistachios as our gift.

White Sands National Monument

After this fun morning of eating and shopping for our favorite nuts, we drove to White Sands National Monument.  The drive there through the mountains and Chihuahua Desert with cloudless blue sky and perfect temperatures was a treat itself.

I was picturing some large sand dune – like the shore without the ocean.  But it is immensely more spectacular than that.  It is 225 miles of glittering white gypsum forming endless moving mountains.

We took the mile long nature trail.  Along this route, fortunately staked with trail markers, you see the fragile foliage that finds ways to survive this harsh environment.  We were lucky to see what was left of the fall yellows and oranges on some of the trees.  We saw children sledding down the dunes on plastic saucers.

View along the Nature Trail

But the remarkable sight is the white!  Huge expanses of white.  So much more than I expected.  After the first beautiful hike up and down and across the dunes, we took a short break and then drove out to the Alkali Flats.  There we saw less foliage and even more pure white mountains of gypsum.  The park wasn’t very crowded (plus it’s so big you hardly have to be near anyone else) so we felt like we were alone in this vast sea of purity and silence.  Once in a while you could see another human crest a distant hill.

Alkali Flats

Trekking through this white vastness is like being on the floor of an ocean – instead of water rippling the sand, it’s the wind that ruffles it.  The gypsum is the remnants of an enormous lake bed so we were sort of walking in on an ocean floor.

We took one more short hike on the Boardwalk Trail where the interpretive signs helped us identify the plants and footprints we were seeing.

More dunes!

We were thrilled to have seen this overwhelmingly beautiful natural wonder and so when we overheard another tourist say she was “underwhelmed”.  We were speechless.  This is a must see sight and one we will no doubt travel back to.

Las Cruces – Hatch and Green Chiles

(Is it “chile” or “chili”?  In New Mexico, chile refers to a capsicum pepper, either red or green, somewhat spicy, and grown locally in New Mexico.  And green chile is the official taste of New Mexico.  Chili refers to any hot pepper –ancho, jalapeno, pasilla, Serrano.  In 1983, Senator Pete Dominici entered the “chile” spelling into the Congressional Records as the official spelling for the New Mexico chile pepper.)

We left Alamogordo on Saturday, October 29th (with lots of good pistachios) and landed in the Las Cruces KOA.  Doug loves green chiles and there is no place better than Hatch, New Mexico to get some.  So our first trip was to Hatch. It was another beautiful drive through mountains and desert.  Hatch is a small (very small) place, surrounded by fields of chile peppers and orchards of pistachios and pecan.  Doug had investigated a few places to eat lunch and we settled on the Pepper Pot (an excellent choice, filled with locals).  There our cravings were fully satisfied – a green chile cheeseburger with homemade potato chips for me and two huge green chile rellenos with rice and beans for Doug.

We had pretty full stomachs but we managed to cross the street to a little shack where we found frozen green chiles.  This was great since first of all it is very convenient to have a neat package of frozen, roasted and cleaned green chiles and also the green chiles were just out of season and the stores only had fresh red chiles.  At this little shack we also bought chili lime seasoning, ground green chile flakes, Mexican oregano, chipotle flakes and a pretty tri-colored ristra.  The prices at this stand were much better than the others we checked out, so on the way back we stopped in for some more items.  Now we are sorry we didn’t buy more of the delicious frozen roasted green chiles!

Dripping Springs and Mesilla

We spent our last full day in Las Cruces at Dripping Springs National Monument.  The long road into the monument had a few tarantulas walking across it.  The sight of them was enough to keep me in the car (my biggest phobia!)  So we ate lunch in the car.  Doug took the three mile hike without me while I stayed back and studied our Volunteer Handbook for our upcoming gig.  He enjoyed hiking at his own much faster pace and shared his photos of the old ranch, sanitorium and water dripping from a pipe.

Old Saniitorium at Dripping Springs

View of Las Cruces from Dripping Springs

We finished our afternoon at Old Mesilla – more pretty shops and galleries around a plaza.  Lots of original adobe homes and buildings in this sweet old place.

We spent our last night visiting with Louise and Richard – new friends living the full-time RV lifestyle.  We shared stories of our travels and our lives and found lots of similar interests.  We’re hoping to reconnect with them – hopefully in Tucson in February.

Willcox and Home

Today, November 1st, we left Las Cruces and will arrive soon in Willcox, Arizona.  This will be just a one night stay before we get to Catalina State Park, our home away from home near Tucson.  We are at the Willcox-Cochise KOA, which is brand new KOA, under some construction, but will be a really nice place to stay.

It’s good to be back in Arizona where we will be for the next five months!

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Filed under New Mexico

by | October 19, 2017 · 8:29 pm

New Mexico – Land of Enchantment – Santa Fe, Taos and Bandelier

We left Trinidad, Colorado on October 12th and arrived in New Mexico, our 32nd state!  Living in Tucson, we vacationed in New Mexico a few times and we were happy to visit again.  Our stay in this amazing state included new adventures and revisiting some of our favorite places.  The approach to Santa Fe on I25 is dramatic after the low grass plains we had been seeing.  We drove along the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains (named by the Spanish conquistadors – The Blood of Christ).  The beautiful landscapes around us distracted us from the gusty winds that pummeled us.

As you get close to Santa Fe, the overpasses are decorated with ancient symbols and are labeled in the language of the Tewa people:  K’uuyemugeh – deer (depicted with a line seemingly outlining its digestive system – prompting someone to call it the “digestive deer”.  Po’suwaegeh – blue corn.  The Nambe (meaning “rounded”) Owingeh pueblo still exists along this road and has been inhabited since the 14h century.

Our first stop was at the Rancheros de Santa Fe Campground.  This was a convenient place to stay but there were a few things we felt could be improved.  The campground roads were rutted and needed major repairs – we experienced some scary bumps and dips as we tried to get in.  The site we were assigned was impossible for us – trees too close to extend our sides; ruts too deep to level our rig.  We moved two sites away and while we were able to put our slides out, we gave up trying to get us level.  After moving around, putting us up on boards, and doing what we could to make us safe and comfortable, we settled in and adjusted to having our last step way too high.  But the staff, the laundry and the campground itself was really a nice place to stay.

*  *  *

Santa Fe

On October 13th, our 21 month anniversary in the RV, we headed out to Old Town Santa Fe.  We loved walking around the familiar plaza in the center of town.  The plaza was hopping with vendors selling food, jewelry, Native American drums and art work.  We sat on a bench and ate our lunch and listened to a talented couple singing, playing a guitar and drums.  Good food, good music and lots of people-watching.  The highlight of our plaza-walking tour included the beautiful old church – St. Francis Cathedral.  We lit a candle, said some prayers for our families and quietly enjoyed the peace and spirit of this ancient sacred spot.

Saint Francis Cathedral

*  *  *

Balloon Fiesta

And then our favorite adventure began!  The Balloon Fiesta!  This was one thing we often talked about but never got around to doing.  So we made sure we did it on this trip.  The Fiesta takes place in Albuquerque and we were 75 miles away in Santa Fe with only 2 more days left of the 9 day festival.  So we got up at 3:30 am on Saturday; dressed in layers, and drove from our campground into the Railroad District of Santa Fe.  There we caught the Rail Runner commuter train to Albuquerque.  This fast, efficient, clean and pleasant train ride took about an hour.  The round trip fare of $25 each included the $10 each admission to the Balloon Fiesta.  It also included the free shuttle from the train depot directly into the fairgrounds.  This shuttle was amazing!  Plenty of school buses were lined up when we got there and they had a special lane on the highway to bypass the thousands of cars trying to get into the fairgrounds.  We felt lucky as we passed by lines and lines of stopped cars – and simply walked off the bus and through the gate.  It was still very dark so we followed the crowds in front of us who seemed to know where they were going.

This year the Fiesta had great weather and the estimate of the crowd on that perfect Saturday was 80,000!  We all gathered on a big field – even in the dark we could see some large shapes around us.  Up in the sky, a few balloons had risen in the Dawn Patrol to check out the winds.  When the balloon pilots opened up the flames the entire balloons would light up.  This is called the Morning Glow.  It was amazing to look up and see these first balloons glowing and gently moving right above us.

  

But then it got really exciting!  As the sun started to rise over the Sandia Mountains and the sky got a little lighter, we watched more and more balloons inflate – then rise – then float.  Incredible!  Hundreds of these beautiful silky shapes were in the sky at the same time.  We were so lucky to be there that day!  It was the perfect weather for the perfect Mass Ascension.  Each balloon was amazing in its own way – some of the older traditional oval and round shapes in bright colors, with local logos were rising along with newer balloons.  The Special Shapes were really fun to watch.  At first you could only guess at the final shape as gases were pumped in.  The balloon crews were adept at filling their balloons and keeping them tethered until the moment of ascent.  And they do this with the crowds so close they are touching the silk as it sits on the ground.  And then, while the crowd cheers, the crew releases the final rope and the balloon rises.  One magnificent creation after another!

The Special Shapes were pretty cool – a giant baby in a stroller, Angry Birds, Penguins, Yoda, an enormous Wells Fargo stagecoach, a winged pig, a pink elephant, Humpty Dumpty, Count Dracula, Smokey the Bear, and an assortment of huge animals,   Our favorites were the family of three bumble bees who started out velcroed together at their hands and then they drifted apart, only to eventually land near each other after executing their graceful dance in the sky.  Many of the balloons were sponsored by local and national companies and organizations.  We cheered the Donate Life, Breast Cancer Awareness, and POW balloons and, of course, the elegant black Dos Equis balloon.

The prettiest site was gazing up as the sun crested the mountain and brightly lit the balloons drifting peacefully above us.  You could take (and we did) a hundred photos and still not quite catch the marvel of this event.  It is the most photographed event in this country.  And yet, how do you film the dance of giant balloons in the bright blue sky?  We were thrilled to be a witness to this event.   And, as it turned out, we picked the best day to be there.  Although this year was a really good weather year, with Mass Ascensions happening every day of the nine days of festival except the last day.  It was disappointing for the huge crowds to be there on that Sunday, when the winds did not cooperate.  We watched on television, as a few balloons inflated in place but were not able to ascend.  Such a contrast from just the day before.

It’s hard to follow an act like a perfect Mass Ascension, but there was still plenty to do and see on the fair grounds.  We saw lots of folks collecting cards and pins from their favorite balloon crews and the surrounding tents sold vintage and collectible pins and other Fiesta memorabilia.  Most of the food vendors did their biggest business selling coffee, donuts and breakfast burritos in the early morning hours.  Pinon Coffee, a New Mexico favorite, seemed to do the most business, warning up the crowd in the early chill of dawn.  But then the vendors switched to tacos and burgers for the lunch crowd.  By 10 am, the sun was bright and the day quickly warmed up, so we went looking for cold lemonade.

We wandered the fairgrounds for a few hours, checking out the tents and listening to a New Mexico Native American group of singers and dancers.  We hung around and then walked to our shuttle pick up point, where we immediately climbed aboard another school bus.  Our luck held (and good planning) and we only waited a few minutes for the Rail Runner back to Santa Fe.  The train ride back was more interesting since we now could see the countryside we were passing.  With just a short ride back to our campground, our amazing day was complete!  We have experienced the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!!

*  *  *

Taos

Our fun in the Santa Fe area was only just beginning!  On Tuesday, October 17th, we drove the scenic road to Taos along the Rio Grande Gorge.  This drive is dramatic – the muddy brown Rio Grande winding through the Jemez Mountains with the flashy yellow cottonwoods outlining the banks of the river.  This is such a beautiful road to travel.

Taos, like most Spanish-Mexican influenced towns, also has a central plaza.  We found Taos to be more authentic and quaint than the larger cities.  We went in and out of many of the shops and galleries surrounding the plaza.  We saw Kit Carson’s home and museum along Kit Carson Street.  Sweet little town!

Taos Plaza

We spent the afternoon of this pretty day at the Taos Pueblo.  Our guide Lewis walked us around the historic community which has been continually lived in for hundreds of years.  We started in the church, a Catholic church, which is still in everyday use by the approximately 150 current pueblo dwellers.  Then we walked to the ruins of the original church and its graveyard.  Lewis gave us a great overview of the history and culture of his people – the Red Willow people.  Then he invited us to wander through the grounds and visit with the community.  We were encouraged to enter any of the homes that had an open sign by their doors.  It was hot in the dirt covered plaza so we went looking for cold drinks.  A nice man, who was feeding his neighbor a bowl of stew, had a cooler of water and soda for us.  We paid a small amount for this and he suggested we write our names in his guest book so that he could pray for us.  We walked in and out of many of the tiny ancient homes and saw the people living pretty much the same as they had for generations.  I couldn’t resist some fry bread (made in the home’s own horno oven) and Doug had some sugared pecans.  We stayed for a while, enjoying the peacefulness of this community who welcomed us with great hospitality.

Horno ovens

Taos Pueblo

The old mission church at the Taos Pueblo

San Geronimo de Taos

On the way back through Taos, we stopped at another church where we spent a few minutes looking at the painted walls and its simple structure was filled with a quiet, lovely peace.

San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church in Taos

Our ride back to our campground was just as beautiful as the drive to Taos.  The afternoon light made the Rio Grande shimmer alongside the road.  The sun made the yellow leaves of the cottonwoods glow. The mountains’ shadows were deep at this time of day.  We are so glad we took the time and made the long drive to experience Taos.

*  *  *

Bandelier National Monument

We have been to Mesa Verde; we have seen ancient ruins all over Arizona from the White Mountains to Flagstaff; and we have visited the Romero Ruins in Catalina State Park many times.  So we were pretty excited to take a trip to Bandelier National Monument.

We hiked up to see the caves and structures that housed the ancients who resided here.  The trail was steep and I had to take my time to catch my breath and watch where I put my feet.  I am the world’s worst hiker – I lack balance; I have no idea where to put my feet to stay safe; I picture myself falling off the trail and bouncing along the rocks on the cliff; I fear being helicoptered off the trail with a broken leg or hip; I shudder with every loose piece of gravel under my feet; and all this fear makes my knees and hands shake plus I pant heavily as I go up in altitude.  But I love the idea of hiking and I really want to see ancient ruins and experience the history that goes along with these kinds of hikes.  So I tramped up the mountain to get up close to the cave homes.  I didn’t take the chance to enter the holes via ladders.  Doug did that.  It was amazing to be up there!  And with the technical assist of sitting on my butt sometimes, I managed to get down the mountain too!

Ruins of a Kiva at Bandelier National Monument

Cliff home ruins and caves

We keep lucking out with the weather – so we took a few other shorter hikes along the more level paths.  Another wonderful day – hiking in nature, learning some history, absorbing new culture!  We are so grateful to be able to travel this country and live these experiences!

We finished this perfect day with an early dinner at one of our all time favorite restaurants – Gabriel’s.  Every time we have visited Santa Fe/Albuquerque we have stopped at this place.  We first were there in 1997 on our long pop-up trailer trip through the Southwest.  We ordered their table-prepared guacamole and fell in love!  On that trip and others, Amy and Julie were with us and, of course, we all shared that big bowl of guacamole.  This time, it was just me and Doug, and that guacamole was just as good as the first time and this time, we didn’t have to share it with two hungry kids.

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