Santa Fe Skies

Yesterday we enjoyed the short drive north from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, 75 miles in one day is much better than 300 miles - we need to keep that in mind.

It allowed us to enjoy a leisurely second cup before breaking camp and then arrive at our destination early in the afternoon.

We're at Santa Fe Skies RV Park just a little south of Santa Fe proper so we're out in the desert surrounded by mountains and lots of trails to walk the dogs.    Its very quiet and, although our site is at a rather unusual angle, we're happy with its privacy.

Beluga snuggles into our new site

Since we're here for about 9 days we took the time to just hang around the campground and get settled in.   Sometimes its real nice to not hit the ground running.

After lunch today we drove into the historic section of the city, parked and walked around enjoying the lovely day and interesting scenery.

Not too bright

We're just not too bright.

 After a delicious New Mexican lunch we set off for the Albuquerque Bio Park and its wonderful Zoo.   I had been there before with a friend while Dave and her husband went flying or golfing, but he hadn't seen it.  

pay no attention to the youngster twerking in the background

We were lucky enough to find a great parking spot under the shade of some tall trees and when we entered the zoo we were happily surprised at how empty it seemed.    No bus loads of school children, no crowds at the habitats.

extreme heat makes everyone crabby

We practically had the entire place to ourselves!   How could we be so lucky?
Not many animals doing anything interesting, however.    Most were sleeping, or floating very still in their water features.

No big cats lying in the windows, no polar bears frolicking in the water, no birds flying through their enclosures.

even a white fur ruff can't make this lady beautiful

The only creature moving at all was this year old howler monkey swinging around and through the trees, crashing into the bamboo, pestering her mother and new sibling, acting just like any other adolescent.    This is the best picture I could get of her, she was a little hurricane!

Finally Mom and newborn gave up and retreated to a more secure place.   The teenager stayed at the fence to entertain the humans solo.

I hope she doesn't find us in here.....

We continued walking through the park toward the big cats.   They were all sleeping soundly in the shade.

The animals were the smart ones.  They were resting in the deep shade.    We realized that we were a few of the only ones (think - fools) walking around because it was 109 degrees!    We're not too bright.

We didn't stay to see the great Apes, the giraffe's, etc., etc.   We used our map to find the shortest route back to the car and we barely made it.   We were so hot we weren't even sweating.    As I said before..... not too bright.

a good Father's Day for Dave

This RV park offers a free continental breakfast each morning, so today we enjoyed some of their tasty little morsels with our second cup.   By the time we got out chairs situated in the shade of big Beluga it was in the high 80's on its way to over 100 degrees.   The wonderful thing about this dry desert air is that if you can find shade and don't exert yourself,  even 100 degrees is tolerable, almost pleasant.    Lewis exerted himself kicking his ball back and forth in the stones then coming back to his bed in the shade.    Sasha dozed on the soft bed Dave always lays down for her.    He's a good dad.

Around 11 we took Central Avenue into Old Town Albuquerque, parked and walked onto the Plaza.   We were heading for a special Father's Day lunch/brunch at a favorite French (I know, French food in Albuquerque seems wrong somehow) restaurant snugged away down a pretty little alley in Old Town.

As we approached the Plaza we started to hear voices and music.   We rounded the corner and came upon a small car show in progress and the Plaza full of families eating ice cream, looking at the fantastic cars, and some were even dancing to a small band playing in the center gazebo.    A regular slice of Americana.

Dave was a happy man, a wonderful lunch to look forward to, a sunny hot day and dozens of meticulously restored antique cars with a little twist...lots of them were on low rider chassis.

After thoroughly checking all the cars out, we continued our stroll towards La Crepe Michel, enjoying the scenery and the beautiful day.

The restaurant is tiny and was crowded on this special day, but we enjoyed cool glasses of white wine and a delicious lunch in the sun dappled dining room.

Later in the day, when the temperature dropped a bit Dave washed a very dirty Beluga (John, we had to drive in the rain....) and jeep, a job he very much enjoys.

   It was such a beautiful evening we stayed outside til the sun set.

Wimps

Its official.....we've become wimps.  

 Our drive today was about 300 miles and we're exhausted.    Not too long ago, pre retirement, we wouldn't have batted an eye at driving 300 miles in one day.     H ell, 300 miles and we would have just gotten started on a day's drive then.   No More.

So, before we both fall into bed I wanted to check in and say that we're settled at American RV Park in Albuquerque.   The woman checking us in is a dog trainer, moonlighting as camp host.   We got to talking about Lewis and his twin phobias, children and bikes -  I was politely asking for a site far away from the playground.   She suggested I try a few drops of lavender essence inside each ear flap and offered to bottle a small sample for me.    Why not?    I'll get it from her tomorrow and we'll see if it works.....if not, he'll smell divine.

guys, guys...where are we tonight?

BCA

This is quite a nice State Park.   There is an archery range, miles of trails, beautiful views, nicely separated sites and two clear calm lakes.    Oh, and I forgot to mention the nice little 9 hold golf course.

Spanish Peaks across Martin Lake

We planned to play the course today, before it got too hot but found out that there was to be a Father's Day tournament this weekend.   Today was practice day for that tournament and it would have meant squeezing in between some pretty serious golfers for a round of fun play.....not our cup of tea.

All was not lost, however, because at the last minute I was able to get a coveted appointment with Mr. David's Mobile Dog Grooming/Unisex Hair Salon.   Now we're all spiffed up and ready to hit the road in the morning.    Next stop - Albuquerque.

Great Sand Dunes

After second cup outside, I packed a lunch and we drove about 75 miles west into the Great Sand Dunes National Park.     As has become the norm, the day started sunny and bright but ended with dramatic clouds, Spielbergesque lightning storms over the mountains and strong winds.

view from second cup

The ride through the mountains and over La Veta pass was spectacular.    US 160 wound along the towering Sangre de Cristo Mountain peaks until we turned north on SR 150, through the expansive San Luis Valley and into the Great Sand Dunes National Park.      We could see them for miles ahead of us, they looked like a narrow tan line at the foot of the mountains.    We had no idea of their actual size.

As we entered the Park we could see that they were really quite enormous - 755 ft. high in fact.

It is hard to understand the scale of these dunes until you see people climbing on them or snowboarding down, sandboarding down.

We parked in a paved parking lot full of people in bathing suits, applying sunscreen, carrying sun umbrellas and running through the bushes.   We decided to eat a quick lunch then continue on our drive into the park.   Curiosity got the better of us, however, so we as soon as we finished eating we got out and followed.    We weren't prepared for what was through those mosquito filled bushes.....a fast moving creek!

A shallow, warm, sometimes still and sometimes rushing creek right at the base of these huge tan dunes.  

I don't know why, but every few minutes a tiny  "wall" of water would come rushing towards us, splashing and tumbling over the sand.   For a minute it would be hard to walk through it, the current was so strong and then, as quickly as it came, it went away and we were just walking in a shallow, calm stream.   How fun was that!

Kids were laughing and racing into the oncoming current, throwing themselves down on their bellies as the water flowed over and around them.   We had a ball watching their joy.     If I was .......years younger I would have flopped right down and joined them - What fun!

After awhile we left the stream and started walking toward the dunes, but they were much further away than they looked and the dry sand was HOT so we waded back through the stream and into the parking lot.  

are you sure you want to keep walking?

I'd seen a primitive road on the map and it looked like an interesting drive.
I wanted to see if we could find the stream again in a less populated area so off we went.

Clouds were beginning to build, the road was becoming rougher (soon we'd need to let some air out of the tires to proceed) and it was getting late in the afternoon so we turned around at the Point of No Return parking lot and went back the way we came.

Small, low growing cactus carpeted the sand along the road side, beginning to show their yellow blooms.    I got out to get a picture of them and was almost carried away by swarms of mosquitos!   Mosquitos in the sandy dry back country?

Needless to say, I got no pictures of the pretty yellow blooms....I jumped back into the jeep and didn't get out again until we exited the park.   I did manage a few pictures through my side window!

as seen from inside the jeep!

After dinner tonight we sat in Beluga's front seats and watched an incredible hour long lightning storm moving very slowly across the Spanish Peaks.   Never seen anything like it before.     After the monster pulled away we were treated to another breathtaking sunset.

Yesterday, continued

After lunch yesterday our curiosity got the best of us and we sought out the nearby Manitou Springs Cliff Dwellings. Could we be this lucky?  Cliff Dwellings just around the corner?

  I should have known something wasn't quite kosher when we encountered a ticket taker at the entrance to the parking lot.    Ah well, its only a few bucks.    Should have known when the cliff dwellings were in such pristine shape.    Should have known when we saw people (think children) crawling all over them.   I spent a long time waiting to get a shot without any fluorescent clad tourist in it.

After walking around the museum (think gift shop) we learned that while these dwellings were indeed ancient, they weren't actually placed under this red stone ledge by the Anasazi, by ancient Pueblo peoples.   The stones were taken from a collapsed Anasazi site near Cortez, Colorado and reassembled here, as a tourist attraction.    

We were annoyed, at best,  not knowing this before hand.   We most certainly wouldn't have paid the $8 admission fee if we'd known.   Our bad, we didn't do our homework.    By the time we left, however, we decided that it wasn't completely wasted money after all.   It was interesting to be able to crawl around and in these reproductions, to see the changes in building techniques as they became more sophisticated.    Besides, the setting and the grounds were quite lovely.  

Since it was still early in the day we pointed the jeep west and drove into the mountains in search of the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

After our intensely touristy morning it was so lovely to arrive in the Florissant valley and find very few people at the visitor's center.

We watched the movie, wandered through the exhibits, marveled at the fossils on display then set out on a short self guided hike through the Petrified Forest Loop.  We walked, completely by ourselves, on a trail through what was once a forest of huge redwoods.   Their petrified stumps are all that remain.    Silent except for birdsong and the sound of gentle wind blowing through the trees.   We're so glad this peaceful and thoughtful place was saved from commercial tourism or development.       I can't tell you how much we enjoyed our afternoon there.

fossilized stump of a redwood that lived
about 34 million years ago

close up of the tree's fossilized cells

ground plum

This morning we left Manitou Springs and drove less than 100 miles south to our next stop, Lathrop State Park.   Interesting thunderheads formed and reformed in front of us as we drove south on I-25 through Pueblo.

  We'll be here until Saturday morning.    Its very peaceful and we have a lovely site with views of the Spanish Peaks and distant snow covered mountains.

 No one else in view - I'm a happy camper tonight!