Adios Santa Fe

We are leaving Santa Fe this morning and moving down to Albuquerque, actually Bernalillo a suburb north of the city for a week or so.  We will be able to visit with Nancy and CT, Viv, and will see our niece Megan and her family, also two of Jan's cousins, Susan and Mary Beth are coming to visit from PA.  It will be a fun week.  

We got our flu shots while here.  And then we were absolutely rained in for a day.  We were quite surprised with the weather, I guess we're just naive, it absolutely poured, blew, thundered and lightninged, hailed all day long!  And it was hovering around 40 degrees throughout, a great day for staying in and watching a movie on Netflix.  We didn't think it ever did that here in the SW.  It covered the mountains with snow.

We found a great new place to eat, just a food truck, but awesome!  Bang Bite Fueling Station.  It was fairly easy to find and there was a line as we pulled up and parked, always a good sign.  Jan had a Gobble Wobble, a turkey burger with avocado, roasted peppers and goat cheese, and I had a monster, the OMG burger, beef patty with pulled pork, green chile BBQ, and pepper jack cheese.  They were enormous, juicy, delicious, and came with very good fries although we didn't eat much of them.

The "Gobble Wobble" turkey burger

The "OMG" burger, yummy!

We had another great opportunity to do something we had never done, go to a rodeo, and best of all see our nephew, Walker ride a bronc!  The only catch was it was in Los Lunas, NM about 80 miles away.  It was a beautiful day and off we went, met Nancy and CT for lunch along the way.  We got there just as it was starting and actually it was an exhibition for the most part, very small and not at all crowded, perfect for us two rodeo newbies.  We watched a couple saddle bronc rides, a couple bareback rides, several bull riders, some women's calf roping, barrel racing, and then it came to Walker's turn with a saddle bronc.  It was very exciting although his ride wasn't as long as he would have liked.  He had an exuberant horse to say the least and unfortunately lost a stirrup early on.

Here comes Walker!

The horse gets serious immediately

Did I say exuberant?

Oh yeah!

We stopped at Nancy and CT's on the way back for an excellent dinner and some excellent wine to go with the excellent company.

Then there was one more thing to do on Jan and my list and that was to go back to Tent Rocks National Monument for a hike up the slot canyon.  We had done it several years ago and it damned near killed me, but a lot has changed since then:)  So off we went on another gorgeous day and much cooler than it was when we did it previously.  It is a 1.5 mile one way slot canyon trail with a 630' climb to the overlook, so combined with the 1.2 mile cave loop trail we did about 3.65 miles.  It was great!

Even saw a snake

If you ever get a chance to visit, the hike is well worth it.  It is a lot of fun scrambling over the rocks and slipping up the canyon, it is a bit of a real climb to the top, but oh so worth it!

A bit quiet, plans changed, couple visits, and a Happy Birthday!

We've mostly just been quiet puttering around enjoying the weather and surroundings.  In other words we haven't been doing too much:)  We love poking around trying to find new little holes in the wall to eat at, and as we drove down from Taos we passed this little kind of decrepit looking place, Sugar's BBQ that looked pretty interesting.

  
When we got back we did a google search and wow, Gourmet Magazine picked it in its top 10 roadside drive-ins, and Yelp and TripAdvisor gave it high marks, so that meant we would have to try it!  Now during this time Jan's sister, Karen, is in Taos while we were in Santa Fe.  She is usually interested in experimenting so we said how bout meeting us at Sugar's on Tues?  Now just to put it in perspective it would be a 55 mile drive for us and about 30 or so for Karen.  So about 20 miles out I asked Jan what she was going to have, so she went online to see the menu and found out they were only open Thurs-Sun!  Ooooopppsss.  We got ahold of Karen and she hadn't left yet so we rescheduled for Thurs. New plan. 

In the meantime Jan and I decided to go up to Ski Santa Fe as it was a beautiful day, and the aspens weren't quite done.  It was a very pretty ride up with great views.  The ski resort is at 10,350'.

Santa Fe in the distance

Still fairly bright

Nice day!

We then worked our way down the mountain on a rough little dirt road and wound our way back to the campground.

Now back to Sugar's.  We met on Thursday and had a delicious meal, I had a beef brisket burrito with green chilis and pico de gallo, Karen had the taco special with beef, and beans, and Jan got the Sugar burger that was awesome, green chili cheeseburger with all the trimmings.  It was a great find!  After our lunch and a long visit, Jan and I headed back down the High Road to Taos, a scenic byway.  It was an beautiful ride.

We snuck out Sunday morning for our obligatory Heuvos Rancheros at the Pantry.   Fantastic!

Then Monday, the 19th is a special day, it is our son Jason's birthday, Happy Birthday!, and also Jan's mom, Viv's 93rd birthday!  We, Jan and I, Karen came down from Taos, and Nancy and CT all took Viv out for her birthday lunch in Albuquerque.  It was great.  Too much chatting so I only got this one picture of Viv which I hope doesn't displease her:)

Happy 93rd Birthday!!

After lunch Jan, Karen, and I headed back to Santa Fe to discuss Karen's new plans.  She had planned to move down to our campground in Santa Fe for a few days, then all of us were moving down to Albuquerque for a week or so to visit with family, even some of Jan's, Nancy's, and Karen's cousins, Susan and Mary Beth are coming in for a visit, but she was stymied with some new developments.  First she couldn't get into our campground as we are full up, and then some personal issues came up that caused her to head home to KY early.  We were all disappointed that she had to head home, but understood her obligations.

Jan and I went up to Taos to see Karen yesterday and get some things she forgot before she headed out today.  We decided to take a road up through the Rio Grande Gorge on our way that she had talked about.  It was very cool.  The Rio Grande has really cut quite a gorge on its way from the Colorado border on past the Taos area, up to 800' deep.  The road we took starts at the river, follows it for a few miles then climbs up the gorge side to get on top of the mesa, then winds back across the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, the 7th highest bridge in the US.

The beginning of the road

The mighty Rio Grande, pretty and placid

The beavers had discovered this tree!

The rangers have added a wire cage to try to deter them, doesn't
look like it works very well:)

The gorge is awesome

The road is a bit challenging

But very worth it

We had another last visit with Karen including a delicious lunch at Gutiz.  While we were there she set up some future plans to meet us in Atlanta and Florida!

After, Jan and I again hit the High Road back so we could say we had driven all of it, and what did we find on the way?  The first snow of the season on Truchas Peak, the 2nd highest peak in NM at 13,029!

Getting time to leave?????

Quick post from Santa Fe

We had yet another surprise when we arrived at the campground in Santa Fe.  We were able to reserve a particular site so to prevent driving all the way in and turning around I stopped just inside the gate and unhooked the truck while Jan went inside to check in.  Figured something was up since she didn't come back by the time I had finished, so I walked up and was greeted with, "You aren't going to be happy." from Jan.  Huh?  Jan had had some uneasiness about our reservation for some reason, she said it just didn't feel right, and sure enough, right in the midst of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta with every campground within a 100 miles packed full, we were told we were expected the day previous to our arrival and they had cancelled our entire 3 week reservation when we didn't show up!!!!

Now we really like this campground, Santa Fe Skies, and have been staying there off and on since they opened more than 15 years ago.  They realized that they had probably messed it up, but their records showed us late.  The lady at the counter struggled to fix it, but they just didn't have any spot for us other than a rarely used overflow spot inside the gated patio behind the clubhouse.  She said we'd have to stay there 4 nights and then would be able to move over to our original reserved site.  Well, okay, saved.  We looked over the patio, knew it would be really tight and moved the motorhome into position to back inside, at that very moment the owner saw what we were doing as she drove in, stopped us before we got all the way in, realizing we were NOT going to fit.  We talked to her for a bit, filled her in with what was happening, and she said, give me a minute, and I'll see what I can do, cause with your size you are never going to fit in there.

About 5 minutes later she came out with a new plan, they had moved reservations all around here and there and she was able to offer us another site for the 4 nights, or for the whole time.  She said take your time, get settled in, and just let us know what you want to do.  She could not have been nicer or more accommodating.  We opted to spend 4 nights in the site she found us and then move to our original site and that's what we have done.  It was particularly good as Kelly and our two grandkids were arriving the next night for a couple nights, and the "patio" site did not have sewer:)  So we are all set now.

We had a wonderful visit with Kelly, Christian, and Faith, and best of all they were able to go down to Albuquerque to visit with Jan's soon to be 93 year old mom.  They had a wonderful time and the kids got to see their Great Grandmother.  We sure had nice time with them as well.

Good morning with Grandma and Grandpa

We got the part we needed, the ride height valve, but decided it would be too iffy for us to go under and replace it, so we are hoping it will last until we get down to Florida where we will have Josam's, our go to suspension and alignment place replace all of them.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Other than that Jan and I have just been running around eating mostly:)  We have several favorites here in Santa Fe, Santa Fe Bite, which we have mentioned many other times for the best green chili cheeseburger on the planet,

Oh yeah!

the Pantry, one of our favorite down home places for excellent food including Chili Rellenos and Huevos Rancheros, among other delicious items, and making better and better pizza on the grill as we perfect our methodology.

Home made

Hot off the grill!

We've run a few other errands, and now have a list of a few hikes and outings we want to accomplish before we move south to Albuquerque in a week or so.

A very quick few days in Taos, then on to Santa Fe

We started off our leg to Taos in a not very good way.  I started the coach as we always do to get it up on its air suspension, but it was very slow and you could hear air escaping behind the front wheels.  This can't be good.  We had been doing some troubleshooting with our leveling system while we were in Durango, so I thought, better yet, hoped if we moved it a bit to get propane, it would sort itself out.  After we filled the propane tank I had difficulty getting enough air to get the parking brake off.  See with air brakes, it takes a certain amount of air to release the spring brakes so you can move.  I shut it down and went back outside worried that we wouldn't be able to move it and we were really in the way!  Our new friend and workamper, Brian who had been involved with the trucking industry for years crawled under and said our front ride height valve was leaking badly.  He poked it, and I restarted and was able to move the coach to a more out of the way spot.  This valve like the other two in the rear of the coach let air in and out of the airbags to maintain a level ride.  Brian thought that perhaps if we could spray some WD-40 or PB Blaster into the valve and whack it with a hammer it might fix us up for a bit.  Well, Jan, the diesel mechanic crawled under and sprayed and whacked away but no joy.  Oh man, and it's a Sunday of course.  We inquired and the campground moved things around and said if we needed to stay another night or two we could go back into the same site.  Well, after talking it out and trying to come up with a game plan, we decided we would pull back into our site and crawl under and remove the valve so we would be able to replace it first thing Monday.  Well, Murphy cut us a break and the air didn't leak when I started it up, I guess the whacking and spraying worked, so we decided to take it for a short spin up the road and back and see what we would see.  It worked fine, so off we went to Taos hoping it would be okay.  

All was fine on our drive, so we stopped for lunch on the top of a mountain, over 11,000' to have lunch and were treated to an incredible rainstorm that came roaring in.  We kept our fingers crossed that it wouldn't change to snow as it was already only 42 degrees, it didn't.

Here comes the rain

We had no more trouble and arrived in Taos to be welcomed and treated by Karen and Tom with an Angel's Envy toast to April, and a delicious dinner!  We visited for the next few days, got a great tour of their new land, and Jan and I were able to explore a bit.  We also, I hesitate to say, were "welcomed" by one of my favorite creatures while out for a walk.

Welcome to Taos said the tarantula!

Turns out it is mating season and the males are out courting.  YUCK!

Jan and I took a very enjoyable drive around the Enchanted Circle, a very scenic 83 mile loop from Taos out by several of the ski areas.  It was a beautiful day and we had a good time. As we approached the end of the loop we decided to detour and see a bit of another scenic road through the area known as Valle Vidal, or Valley of Life.

Along the way in Valle Vidal

Through a rugged gorge 

Beautiful meadows and mountains

Stunning views

So we bid Karen adieu, Tom headed back to work, and we headed down to Santa Fe for a few weeks.  We got a nice surprise to find out Kelly and our grandkids are coming for a visit!

Our last fun filled days in Durango

As I said we even made a list so we would do all the things we wanted to before we left this am for Taos.  And we really fit in a lot!  Of course food first.  We managed another burger at James Ranch when we stopped in to buy some more eggs and meat after we finished our hike at Potato (Spud) Lake.

Fall has arrived

Beautiful aspens

Potato (Spud) Lake

We also had to make it back to Rice Monkeys as we won't see any sushi for months and of course to get their awesome Bun and Pho, we actually went two more times, yeah we like it a lot!

Lemon grass beef rice bowl

Delicious Saigon Noodles

We then decided after talking to a few folks that we would make another run to Silverton to see the mining museum, which we were told was one of the best anywhere.  So off we went on yet another beautiful day.  We were surprised to see the color was fading already, evidently the peak only lasts about a week.

Not quite as bright

We made our way to the museum and wow, it was terrific, can't believe it took this many years for us to go.  It incorporates the old Silverton jail, and shows the actual cells and where the jailor and his wife (cook) lived.  Then there are thousands of square feet of displays about mining, they even have it set up where you feel like you are actually in a mine, with 3 full stories!  Also tons of other displays including drills, equipment, ore cars, and on and on.  It was fascinating.  Then we finally found a good place to eat in Silverton, the Hungry Moose Bar and Grill, and had awesome green chili stew!  Then we headed up to see a couple mines that we hadn't before.  The area we visited was crisscrossed with miles of tramway to move the ore from the mines to the stamping plant that were perched hundreds of feet in the air.  The miners actually used the ore cars to ride up to the mines!  It was an efficient way of moving the ore as it ran almost entirely on gravity, the heavy loaded cars moved down the mountain and the empty cars were pulled back up.

Old mine with the tramway above

Two cars suspended in time

Lots of evidence of mining everywhere you look

After poking around for awhile we headed back down to Durango.  Now understand the road, Hwy 550, or Million Dollar Highway between Durango, Silverton, and Ouray, as I have said, is quite scenic, narrow, here and there, and is perched on the sides of cliffs with huge drop offs, many times with out guard rails.  As we approached Coal Bank Pass, we came upon two wreckers, one with its cable going down over the steep embankment.  We tried to stop and be nosy but were told to move on, so we went over to the viewpoint at Coal Bank Pass and looked across the valley to where they were working.  Much to our dismay, there were pulling a car, or better yet what was left of a car up the embankment!  It was grim.

There were no ambulances or other responders, so we figured no one was hurt?  We went back and looked at the local Durango paper and found out a horrific story.  A lady, 49 years old had been visiting her mother in June, and left in a rental car for Silverton and was never heard from again!!  A hiker found the car and her a few days ago by luck as it was totally hidden down the steep bank and covered with brush.  It was not a place that was frequented by people and it was just chance that he found her and the car.  Awful.  Enough of that.

We enjoyed an awesome sunset another evening.

Then the last thing we wanted to do was go back up to Andrews Lake and hike in farther on the Crater Lake trail.  We planned to do it on Friday, but it was cool and there were 30 mph winds forecast so we did it instead on Saturday.  We had a wonderful time, packed a lunch and had a picnic way out in the wilderness, surrounded by beautiful scenery and dead quiet, it was great.  We managed 4.2 miles all together, not too far but you have to remember this hike starts at over 10,000' and we went up to over 11,000', so it is a bit tough, but so worth it.  Crater Lake is 5.5 miles one way and we hope next year to do the whole thing, we'll see:)

On our way up

Small pond along the way

Our lunch stop

Our lunch view

After our enjoyable hike we drove over to Molas Lake to have coffee before heading back down the mountain.

Nice view

Molas Lake

Now we bid adieu to Durango and head down to Taos to visit with Karen for a few days before moving to Santa Fe.