29 May Dave, let’s buy an Alpaca. Please :
What a long drive we had leaving Vegas. Well, for us a long drive. When we google map our next destination, whatever it may be, and it tells us 5 hours, we need to add at the very least two hours. There are gas stops every 200+ miles, there are bathroom breaks, there are lunch requirements, leg and back stretching moments and something new to Dave, driving at or below the speed limit. So today, when google maps told us 5 hours, we plan for 7. A highlight for Dave was taking a quick ride on Route 66. So we can say we did. That’s all.
This long drive led us to Holbrook Arizona and a super camping spot at the Crystal Forest Gift Shop, about 1/4 mile from the Petrified Forest National Park entrance. Super not so much in accommodations, but because at this site we were able to purchase electric for our stay. Even though we are finding we can boondock well with our generator and solar panel, having electric is a welcome luxury sometimes taken for granted. Electricity equals an easy cup of coffee in the am. So for the price of a Starbucks or two we have electricity and that puts a smile on my face.
Once we were set up we took a quick drive in to Petrified Forest National Park just to get a glimpse. We really liked what we saw and decided that the next day being Easter Sunday instead of hunting for a church (where local means at the very least 30 minutes away), we would have church outside taking a hike and seeing the glory of creation.
Woke up to soak up a most wonderful sun rise for Easter 2018. My focus this early morning was gratitude. How grateful we both are to be fulfilling a dream we have talked about for so long. We are humbled for sure. Before we met our hike leaders at 1:30, we took a 28 mile drive along the park’s main road taking us from one end of the park to the other. Stopping at the Painted Desert Inn on our way back which was built originally by Herbert David Lore in 1924. A mix of petrified wood and later adobe portions added once the CCC took over ownership a few years later. A gem in the midst of amazing petrified wood.
We met our husband and wife hike leaders along with fifteen other hikers and set off for a hike of the Jasper Forest within the park. Because I didn’t really know what petrified wood was made of before our hike, I am assuming most of you as well don’t know. So, petrified wood is basically fossilized wood that has had it’s organic matter replaced by stone, bit by bit, as it decomposes. The wood structure is maintained, but the wood fibers are slowly changed into stone. Sometimes a jasper, quartz, pyrite or even opal can be found fossilized in wood. This is about 225 million years in the making. Guess that explains why the cost of anything we saw petrified in the gift shop was by no means cheap. As we hiked we were amazed by the colors of this wood turned fossil. Blues, yellows, greens, red’s that were magnificent. This National Park for me turned out to be one of my favorites. If you really can have a favorite. I mean, they all have something that takes your breathe away at some point. Perhaps the fact that it wasn’t crowded with too many other park geeks, made it very sweet for me.
The challenge that evening was what Easter dinner was going to consist of. Thought we might grill some chicken, but wouldn’t you guess, the wind picked up later in the day and grilling outside wasn’t going to happen. So a lovely pressure cooker chicken dinner for dinner worked out just fine.
Our fifty fourth day of travel took us through Albuquerque NM where we made a quick stop at a store recommended to us by our Verizon Saleswoman Meghan back in February when we were in Louisiana. She had grown up and worked in the area and told us that the items sold at Skip Maisel’s are made by local Native American artisans who are treated very well by the owner of this establishment. We did leave with some beautiful items and could not have been treated any better. Thank’s Meghan for the contact.
Our stop for the next two days was by far one of my favorites and now I can’t stop dreaming of owning my very own Alpaca Farm. This Harvest Host husband and wife, Bob and Louise, moved here from FL awhile back and opened Blue Mesa Alpaca Farm (www.bluemesaalpacas.com) outside of Santa Fe New Mexico. Their ten acres are complete with over sixty alpacas, three of the most beautiful Great Pyrenees dogs that are night time guardians for these splendid creatures, and a smattering of rescued horses and mini mules too. Once we set up CR on their property, we just stood and watched these gentle creatures and smiled. Bob shared how in addition to the shearing of their wool, people sometimes buy alpacas as therapy animals. I for one felt my spirit at an all time state of happy bliss, just watching them.
Shhh. Wind is howling which encouraged us to have dinner out at a local restaurant called La Plancha De Eldorado. Seriously folks, some of the most amazing authentic Mexican Food we have ever had. Thank you wind. Back to CR to take in the stars and listen to the coyotes howling and the guardian dogs protecting the alpacas all night. I could seriously listen to this every night.
After time with my new obsession the next morning (the alpacas 🙂 and purchasing some wool from an Alpaca named Silver Quest, for what I hope to be an awesome project for me to make one day (promise), we headed into Santa Fe to explore. The remnants of the flu had really taken its toll on Dave, so our usual long days of exploring new areas have been somewhat shorter than usual for us. Santa Fe is beautiful and we enjoyed strolling around. But, I wasn’t sad to leave so we could get back to Blue Mesa and hang out at the farm. Resting and then a bite to eat at this amazing authentic Mexican place. Yep….we went back night two because it was that good. Don’t judge.
If I had my way I some how would have wrangled a third day with my new friends. And I’m sure that I would just sit around and watch them and explore nothing! So we left. Hit the road and made our way to Bandelier National Monument in Los Alamos New Mexico. Typically with our size RV we aren’t able to stay inside a national park, but this one wasn’t crazy busy and we found the only spot that seemed to fit us. The camp host spot. 🙂 The hosts hadn’t arrived for the season so the spot was available to use. The camp host sign is a permanent one. So, we became “unofficial” camp hosts for the time we were there. No less than five people each day would come up and begin to ask a “camp” question. To which Dave would stop them and say “we aren’t the hosts, but maybe we can help answer your question”. With a big ol smile on his face, he answered every one. It was good practice for sure if we ever decide to really be camp hosts.
The Ancestral Pueblo people lived in Bandelier from approximately 1150 AD to 1550 AD. They built homes carved from the volcanic tuff and planted crops in mesatop fields. So interesting to be able to hike around and climb ladders and crawl inside some of the cave dwellings.
As “camp hosts” we were concerned about leaving our site incase there was a need to answer more questions, but we decided the folk there would be ok. So we took a ride to the Manhattan Project National Historic Park. This is where the making of the atomic bomb took place during WW2. Dave and I had enjoyed watching a series a year or so back called the Manhattan Project. Being able to learn more of the facts from this national site was kind of full circle for me.
We debated and ultimately made the decision to take a ride to check Taos New Mexico off our bucket list. It was about one and a half hours from our campsite. Gray days don’t often make for good impressions. So our impression on this gray day was ehhh. The outskirts of Taos have so many rundown areas and the main square felt a bit tourist trap like to us. We grabbed some lunch and checked out a little of Taos, but were not awe struck. A quick walk over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge where a first ever height fear grabbed me for a moment, not Dave, and then a two hour drive back to camp. One of those towns that we have thought about for a long time. I’m not thinking of it anymore. And really no need to return. Happy to get back to our unofficial post and enjoy a fire and some dinner.
A much necessary day at a local library that allowed us to use a conference room to make calls and use WiFi the next day helped us to plan our next week. That pretty much was the extent of our final day in Bandelier. Attempted to get a good nights rest for our long day the following day, but it was a rough night of little sleep before a crazy next day of driving…..
For Us, It’s Not Abad Day 🙂