Category: New Mexico

Categories
New Mexico

Kashe-Katuwe Tent Rocks

This is a post from New Mexico that somehow got left out.

20170424_150625

Our campground is not far from the Kashe-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument so we went over there yesterday afternoon. It was a lot more interesting than I expected! The weird rock formations are the result of explosive volcanic eruptions 6-7 million years ago. We hiked a little bit up on trail and then drove 3.5 miles of bad road to get to a nice overlook.

20170424_154557

I just loved the curliques on this agave (?) plant. It had blooms in three different stages on the same plant!

Thanks again for using my Amazon Associates link when you order goodies from Amazon.  https://www.amazon.com/?tag=litbitliv01-20

Advertisement
Categories
New Mexico

Good Luck and Good Ice Cream

This morning we went to the San Felipe Hollywood Casino for their breakfast buffet, which the camp hosts here told us about. It’s a nice small casino and wasn’t even too smoky! We signed up for their Players Club and got $20 in free play plus an additional $10 because it was Seniors Day! And we also got a $1 discount on the $7.95 buffet. By the time we got there they also had the lunch buffet going too, so we could have any of it! I can’t say it was a memorable buffet; I’m not a big fan of buffet food except maybe for Golden Corral.  But we ate our breakfast (with dessert!) and then went to get rid of that $30 in free play. Joanne and I were thinking about just cashing in and getting the $30 but it didn’t work that way; they kept winnings and promotional credit separate. So every time I won more than a dollar, I’d cash out and stick the ticket in my pocket. That was I was sure to not spend any of MY money, just the Promotional money. When I had run through that $30 in free play I went to find J & J and explained my plan; turns out they were playing on their own money by then. So they cashed out too and I ended up with $27.25, and they each got $20-21!! I credit those turquoise door photos we took at Taos Pueblo for our good luck….best casino ever! I usually go in with a very tiny amount of money and lose it all in about 5 minutes.

We wanted to be sure and get some real ice cream today, since it’s my last day here. But we were still too full from breakfast so we went back home and then went back out in the afternoon. We went to La Lecheria in Santa Fe. They make their own ice cream and have cool flavors like Lemon Goat Cheese, Ceylon Cinnamon, Chocolate Sea Salt, Green Chile and Earl Grey. Good, really really good.

Categories
New Mexico

Bandelier National Monument

Jeanne, Joanne, the dogs and I set out for Bandelier National Monument on Sunday. We did not realize it was one of the free entrance days….what a crowd! There were hardly any parking places open and people were everywhere. Plenty of beautiful scenery on the way there, and inside the park. The “good stuff” is only seen by hiking at least 1/2 mile, which I was unable to do, so some of the photos are courtesy of Joanne Jarrett.

IMG_1541

Dogs are not allowed on the trails so we tried to leave them in the car so I could TRY to do part of the hike, but Roxie just won’t shut up in someone else’s car (and Lord knows, there’s no room in my car for passengers!). We had a windshield foil thing up, windows part way down and it was NOT a hot day, but with her barking her head off, people were muttering about the poor dog in a hot car so I sat in the car and waited for J&J to do the 1.2 mile hike, so Miss Mouth would be quiet.

When they returned we were really hungry so we went to the tiny snack bar in the gift shop. They had a soft-serve ice cream machine but it seemed there was only one person working the whole gift shop, so Jeanne applied her Dairy Queen experience and got us all cones, and when she went to pay for them, she got yelled at for doing it. We didn’t care.

DSCN7128

DSCN7129

DSCN7131

On the way home we stopped at Red Lobster for an early dinner…yum! Again we put the foil in the windshield and rolled the windows down quite a bit. It was even cooler by then but someone complained to the management about the poor doggie in the hot car. They think just because she’s barking, it means she’s too hot. So when we stopped at Wal-Mart, I didn’t even bother to try and go in the store, I just stayed in the car with the dogs.  I really hate that my life is controlled by a less-then-ten-pound-dog!

I started taking antibiotics for my toothache and it’s feeling much better.

 

 

Categories
New Mexico

Santa Fe and Taos

On the 19th I met up with my NC camping friend Jeanne and her sister Joanne. We are camped at Tetilla Peak Campground in the Cochiti Lake Rec. Area, about 25 miles SW of Santa Fe. It’s only $10 a night with the Geezer Pass, and has electricity and water. We can see the lake but we’re not really close to it.

DSCN7104

The photo above is the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge on the way to Taos. You’re supposed to park at the rest area at one end and walk halfway out on the bridge to see the river far below. (We didn’t. )

Our most memorable experience in Taos was the pizza at Mondo Italiano. We ordered the large pizza for $14, and ordered 4 toppings. It was pretty good though the sauce was very spicy and the cheese was scanty, we enjoyed it. Then we got the bill…$29!!!  None of us noticed that there were any topping prices on the menu, but each veg. topping cost $2.50 extra, and each meat topping was $4!  Yikes!  Next time we’ll look for the small print, or ask.

We went to Taos Pueblo, where around 1000 people still live the “old way”…no electricity, they dip all their water from the stream, and they farm and hunt for their food. I took a few photos of the turquoise doors, as that’s supposed to bring good luck.

DSCN7110DSCN7111

DSCN7124DSCN7118

We then went up up up into the forest to Eagle Nest and Angel Fire, cute little towns up around 8400′. Angel Fire is a ski resort town.

In Santa Fe, we visited the Loretto Chapel, the church with the “miraculous staircase”. The story is that the architect for the chapel died, and once the chapel was built they realized there was no stairway to get to the choir loft. Many churches back then just had ladders, but the nuns were afraid their long habits would be dangerous on a ladder. So they prayed to St. Joseph for nine days, and then a drifter appeared. He said he would build them a stairway but he needed total privacy, ane he locked himself in the chapel for three months. The staircase is built totally of non-native wood, using a few primitive tools. It has no central post and was not attached to any walls. It really is pretty amazing. The handrail was added later. As soon as the staircase was finished, he disappeared and no one knows his name.

 

At the Visitor Center we asked about a good restaurant that was NOT Mexican and she told us the Plaza Cafe. So we went there and the only non-Mexican dishes they had was breakfast, so I had bacon & eggs for lunch! I’m just not a big fan of Mexican food. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with a tooth so it was really hard to eat.  After the waiter took our orders, he said “How about some chips and salsa and guacamole?” And Jeanne said “Yeah!”. Well those chips she thought were free, cost $12.95!! It’s OK, Joanne was paying, LOL.

Thank you for using my Amazon Associates link when you order goodies from Amazon! And a HUGE thanks to whoever ordered the $1000 Brake Buddy!!!  Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/?tag=litbitliv01-20   Even small purchases help to increase the percentage I get, as it’s based on number of items shipped. The cost to you is the same.

Categories
New Mexico

El Malpais National Rec Area

Well I guess I was confused. I didn’t realize there was an El Malpais National Monument and an El Malpais National Recreation Area. Turns out they are both kind of at the same place, not far from Grants, NM. So I arrived at the Visitor Center at the Nat. Monument after several hours of driving and was upset to hear I had gone way out of route to get to the Joe Steen Campground, and still had to go another 30 miles to reach it!  I finally rolled in around 3:30 and the folks I’d “met” in the A-Frame Facebook group were waiting for me, and had even saved me a site! Linda McPhee was waving madly as I drove up….I don’t know how long she’d been sitting there. waiting! We hit it off right away and had a nice chat. Her hubby Gary greased my 7-way electric plug for me; it had gotten almost impossible to plug in and out, and that day I never got a good enough connection for the right taillite to work. But that grease fixed everything right up; thank you Gary! Here’s a photo of their Chalet A-Frame camper….it’s 6′ longer than mine plus has the nice dormer which means they can actually stand up and cook!

DSCN7078

They left the next morning and I went sightseeing around the park. New Mexico’s largest natural arch is only 1/4 mile walk from the parking area. I tried but I couldn’t make it the whole way so this photo is the best I could do……it sort of “suggests” there’s an arch up ahead somewhere, will that do?

DSCN7089

It was really nice to be among pinnacles again and I really enjoyed the drive around the park. There’s a sandstone overlook that I went to and along the way a woman hiker stopped me and asked which way the campground was. She’d gotten separted from her boyfriend but didn’t want to take the long way back via the road. So I told her the direction to take and she set out across the desert. I worried so much about her after that….that I should have made her take the water I had, and should have made her take my compass, and maybe some granola bars. Gosh I may as well be someone’s mother!!  Anyway I guess she made it back just fine because I didn’t notice hordes of police and park rangers in the campground, and they would have been if she’d gotten lost.

 

This huge solar array in the campground was to provide 50 amp service for the Camp Hosts!

DSCN7097

Here are more photos from El Malpais. I really liked it there…..it’s worth driving the 11 miles off I-40! (Just be sure to get off at the correct exit for the Rec Area and not the Nat. Monument!)