New Mexico In Review

Now in the western portion of our country,  we quickly realized how different this section of the journey would be as we drove our longest stretch yet- 12 hours from Houston, TX to Roswell New Mexico.  Why Roswell?!?   It was a question I asked over & over, but for some reason Jim has always had a desire to see the place, so to Roswell we went!  From the first creepy little alien greeting us at our new campground... we could tell this place was a bit "out there".

And walking through town was no different- aliens were absolutely everywhere... painted on buildings,  plastered on souvenirs, glowing on lamp posts, even welcoming guests at KFC!

We couldn't resist stopping at the UFO Museum- a small building full of exhibits that documented the "Roswell Incident", the military's supposed recovery and cover-up of extraterrestrial debris from a local ranch in 1947.  Police reports, artwork of aliens, documented reports from "abductees" & "sighters", and photos that would squelch anyone's doubts (that is, until you see similar images whose "UFO's" are actually reflections of light through glass, suspended hubcaps, etc).  Funny place.  Funny town.  

From Roswell we drove 3 hours north toward Sante Fe.  We've been quite determined to find a treasure in every state, but after visiting Roswell and then driving through the desolate, dry, dirty (literally... no grass anywhere, just sage brush & redish-orange dirt everywhere you look) southern portion of the state, we were feeling quite doubtful.  I suppose it shouldn't have surprised us when we pulled in to our new campground and found that we were surrounded by... dirt!  By this time Jim (who cringes at just the thought of dirt) was ready to leave New Mexico altogether, but thankfully we had friends to meet- so we continued our travels here and found New Mexico's treasure before we knew it!

We had dinner at Tripple D approved Harry's Roadhouse down the street from our campground in Sante Fe

We left our little home here in Santa Fe and packed our suitcases for the next portion of our NM travels.    Dear friends from Kansas were flying out to spend time with us in Taos, so we decided to stay in a hotel there with them.  Natalie was especially excited as one of the visitors was her close friend from school, Alexandra.  Jim was looking forward to guy time with Chris as well!  We met up with Chris & Aleix west of Santa Fe in Pueblo De Cochiti to hike the Kasha-Katuwe ("white cliffs") Tent Rocks together before driving up to Taos.  It was such a beautiful area and perfect 70* day... though I'm not sure that Natalie even noticed- she was so busy catching up on girl talk!

Alayna found perfect foot-holes for some climbing

The breathtaking view overlooked the Sangre de Cristo, Jemez, and Sandia mountains and the Rio Grande Valley

We then caravanned to Taos where we met Jeff & Maddie, friends from Texas.  First on the agenda?  Quickly finding Alayna a new ski outfit... we realized when packing (just days before) that her ski pants were now capris!    Before night's end, we'd rented our ski equipment and found a cute outfit- even enjoyed a fancy dinner out!  Our hotel was situated right between Taos & Angel Fire ski resorts, so we decided to tackle each.  But the best thing about our hotel was the hearty breakfast each morning-  a nice way to gather our big group together each morning.

For our first day, we chose to ski the family-friendly Angel Fire.  With only 2 main lifts, the "big girls" loved the freedom of getting to ski a bit on their own.  Our warm-ups on the greens didn't last long... while I had fun showing Maddie some pointers, the girls were soon on to the blue runs and Alayna joined the boys on the blacks!  That girl is full of surprises:)

Natalie, Maddie, Aleix & Alayna

Not much better than good pizza after a hard day on the slopes!  Taos Outback had some of the best combinations we've tried... though the service was horribly strange:(

Day #2 we hit the Taos slopes.  Our weekend was spectacular- sunny & in the 60's!   Aside from the warmth causing extremely muddy parking lots, it was fabulous ski weather.  As far as the runs here... fewer greens, way more blacks.  And the big girls rose to the challenge as they gathered their courage to ski some black runs with their dads.  Having conquered them without a single broken bone, they were beaming the rest of the day:)  

The whole gang!

After skiing we drove 10 miles northwest of Taos to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  Looming 650 feet above the river, it is the nation's fifth highest bridge.  Native Americans lined up with their crafts & jewelry at the entry which made for fun browsing.

For our last dinner together, we drove up a curvy, pot-hole filled, 4-wheel-drive-only road to one of Chris' favorite restaurants.  The Bavarian sits at the base of Kachina Peak above the Taos Ski Valley Village at an elevation of over 10,000 feet.  It's rustic, cozy interior was a perfect fit for the mouthwatering German comfort-food.  We tried spatzle (homemade mac-n-cheese-like pasta), wienerschnitzle (veal cutlets lightly breaded & panfried), sauerbraten (elk stew meat marinated in red wine, vinegar, veggies, herbs & spices), nurnburger & debriezener (various sausages with yummy mustards), butternut squash, red cabbage, fresh sauerkraut... every bite was delectable!

As if we needed any more calories, we had to try the apfelstudel (couldn't resist after eyeing it at someone else's table!)  A-mazing.

With the boys being outnumbered 5:3, we were able to sneak in some shopping & art gallery-browsing in the quaint Taos Plaza and nearby historic Ledoux Street.  This area dates to the late 18th century and served for decades as the central meeting place in the valley.

We ended our time together with a great hike back in Santa Fe.  The Atalaya Mountain Trail began as a fairly easy hike, but became increasingly more steep, snowy, and strenuous as we neared the summit at 9,121 feet.  The views overlooking the Rio Grande Valley & city were rewarding and we ended our nearly 5 mile hike just in time to enjoy the beautiful sunset as we said our goodbyes.

We chose the steeper route, thinking it would make the hike a bit shorter, but ooh- how our legs were trembling!

Another mountain conquered!

Oh, how sad we were to say our goodbyes, but so very thankful for our time with them.  We only wish Cindy, Zak & Makenzie could have joined us too:(

Sweet, sweet friends

We had planned to leave right after our visit with friends, but I just couldn't stand the thought of parking our home in Santa Fe for the week, yet not exploring it- so we took an extra day to browse.  And how glad we were that we did!  Beyond enjoying the simple southwestern charm of the town, we browsed through the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, walked along the Palace of Governors (one of the oldest public buildings in the U.S., built in 1610) where local Native Americans sold their beautiful jewelry & crafts, listened to lovely live street music, meandered through unique Plaza shops and fell in love with Canyon Road where art galleries line the street.  

Palace of Governors

Love all the chili peppers!  One of these became our New Mexico Christmas ornament:)

Lunch at the yummy Shed restaurant... burned our mouths on the red chili sauce, but the corn posole was to die for!

We loved, loved, loved this area.  With over 100 art galleries & studios amongst historic adobe architecture,  Santa Fe is the second largest art market in the nation, and has more art galleries than any other city of its size.  Jim & I put this town on our list of "must-returns" for art shopping!

Though we didn't tour the interior, New Mexico's state capitol is the most unique design we've seen yet!

Though it's not our "style", we love looking at the architecture here!

With Roswell, Taos, and Santa Fe explored, we finally felt ready to move on.  Our original plan was to drive to Flagstaff, heading south through Arizona, but with "severe winter storms" in the forecast there, we had to re-route.  Now starting our Arizona journey in the south, we had a 9ish hour drive to Tuscon.  Little did we know that severe weather would still be in our path.  Our new route (25 south to 10 west) was incredibly windy.  Signs warned of the regular gusts as winds whipped our home side to side, sounding as if the awnings and air conditioning units were being torn from our home.  Tumbleweeds & trash flew by us and visibility (due to the blowing dust) worsened by the hour.  And then as soon as we approached Las Cruces, the highway closed!  We lined up with the hundreds of others around the Love's Truckstop and waited.  For 2 hours our home rocked in the gusty wind.  Though we remained closed up, we could taste and smell the dust and could see the film collecting on our countertops and seeping into our windowsills.  Ewww!  You can only imagine how much this bothered Jim.  We promised to never drive through this state again.  Flying into Santa Fe will just have to do:)

Our visibility before the road finally closed

Jim's worst nightmare captured in a photo:)

Thirty-four states now behind us!