We made it!!

I am so happy that we are home!! After driving for 15 hours on Saturday we made it to the ranch at 12:30 am. Mary and Mel were waiting up for us as we pulled into the driveway. Brian, Abigail, and I slept in our regular ranch bed, and I have never slept better. It was heaven!! We left the ranch around noon today and made it home at 5:00 pm. Since then, it has been non-stop unloading of the RV, and we are exhausted! I can't believe it, but I told Joseph he could have a sleepover in the RV tonight since we have to return it tomorrow. What was I thinking??!! Oh well. I am going to get ready for bed, and then sleep in the RV one last time. And all I want to do is crawl into my soft, cozy, BIG bed!!
Anyway, Brian is going through all of the photos now, and I am sure I will be posting more in the next few days.

We are on our way home!!!

We are leaving Santa Fe this morning, and we are headed home. Yea!! We have had a fun time, but we are ready for all of the comforts (and space!) of home!

2nd Day in Santa Fe

Well, we didn't exactly see the sights of Santa Fe, but we did see the shops. And, I had a fantastic time. We spent several hours around the Plaza and then we went down Canyon Road. We got back just in time to see the sunset at the RV park. New Mexico sure does have beautiful sunsets and wonderful shops!!

1st day in Santa Fe Pics

The pics for this aren't posting at the moment. I'll try again later.

1st Day in Santa Fe

The 1st day in Santa Fe was interesting. Once we made the drive from Taos, filled up with gas and cleaned the bug burial ground off of the windshield, rented yet another car, and got to the RV park, it was 2:30. We were anxious to see Santa Fe, so we let Abigail play in the car while I grabbed a few snacks for the kids. Well, Abigail promptly locked the keys to the car in the glove compartment. We aren't really sure how she did it, but Brian said she was playing with the keys and glove box, and the next thing we know, the keys are gone. We didn't think it would be a big deal. I called Enterprise, and they told me "for liability reasons" they don't keep a spare set in Santa Fe -- the spare set is in Albuquerque. They called a locksmith who was unable to get the glove box open. She then went to try to get a key made, and was also unsuccessful (I don't think she was very experienced). She then called to say she was going to get a spare from the dealer. She finally got back to the RV park at 6:30 pm, and when she opened the glove box, there were the keys. We promptly left and we were able to make our 7:00 pm dinner reservations at Cafe Pasquale. We were unable to see much of Santa Fe, but we had an amazing dinner!!
The pictures are of the drive to Santa Fe from Taos, Brian cleaning the windshield, Abigail, Joseph, and Brian playing in the RV after dinner, and Abigail playing with her new microphone. It wasn't the day we had planned, but it turned out well.

Bug Storm!!

We drove through quite the bug storm, and the RV, unfortunately, claimed many bug lives. It is one of the hazards of life on the road.

Taos

Photo 1 - Abigail and Daddy walking the Plaza of Taos
Photo 2 - Joseph and Abigail playing video games in Taoseno restaurant. It is the best "local" restaurant. It was not for tourists (as we were told), and the food was amazing.
Photo 3 - JoAnne in front of a Wisdom Way street sign.
Photo 4 - The sunset at our RV park in Taos.
Photo 5 - Joseph and the same sunset.

Taos Pueblo

Taos Pueblo was great. I learned that the Pueblo does not have running water, electricity, or telephones, and those living within the Pueblo walls, do without these modern conveniences. I also learned that many of the tribal members do not live within the Pueblo but "down the street", where they have electricity, satellite tv, toilets, etc. I would live down the street too!! We also met many great artists. Joseph was waiting for me outside of a shop while eating some fry bread made in one of the Pueblo houses. I bought several beautiful handmade and handpainted pots from this lady, and I also bought a beautiful stamped bracelet from this gentleman. They were both so talented, and it was all so interesting

Rio Grande Gorge

I can't believe I have lived my entire life without knowing that there is a Rio Grande Gorge. I knew of the Rio Grande River (obviously), but I had no idea about the gorge. It is MASSIVE and VERY impressive. We pulled over and got out to check it out. Joseph took the picture of me and Abigail and that is the Rio Grande River at the bottom of the gorge. It looks really tiny, but that is because the gorge is so humongous!

I knew we should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque.

It was bound to happen sooner or later -- a major navigation error. Unfortunately it happened in the evening in the mountains of Colorado (my favorite!) Actually, we should have taken a turn (not sure which direction) at Antonito, Colorado although the map showed a perfectly straight line. We had no clue we were getting off track. Antonito is only 5 miles or so from the New Mexico border and 30 miles from Taos (our destination). We had so many signs that we were off course. Joseph, Abigail, and I were patiently waiting for the New Mexico border sign so we could take a picture. 20 minutes later we gave up and figured they didn't put up a sign on this road. The map showed a very straight path to Taos from Antonito and as we were going round and round through the mountains, I kept saying to Brian, this is so weird that the map shows this to be a straight road. Over an hour and a half after we left Antonito, we finally passed the New Mexico sign. I told Brian, they obviously put the sign in the wrong place -- it should have been an hour back. He knew the sign wasn't in the wrong place, and when we saw the sign saying Chama ahead, we realized the error of our ways. We were now 2 1/2 hours from Taos. We found an RV park, but it was full. Just our luck! The Ride the Rockies bike race was camped out in Chama for the night - all 3,000 bicyclists. It was late, and we were tired. Thankfully,the RV park owner took pity on us and made a space for us. We got a great nights sleep and woke up early the next morning and we were in Taos by noon. Yea!!

Self Portrait

Brian's Day Out

On Tuesday, Brian, Abigail, and I woke up extra early so Brian could ride his mountain bike on the Hermosa Creek Trail. Abigail and I dropped Brian off at the start of the trail in Purgatory (where I took the photo with the sign), and 4 1/2 hours later we picked him up at the end of the trail in Hermosa. The 24 mile trail represents all of the beauty of the San Juan National Forest (so says Brian). And, of course, Brian took his camera with him, so he captured some of the beauty. I especially like the photo of the dandelions.

Bachelor-Syracuse Mine Tour

On Monday we drove to Ouray for a mine tour. We went 3,500 hundred feet into the mine. The ride into the mind was very dark and very noisy. I was afraid Abigail would not handle it at all well, but she just sat on my lap until we stopped. We got a brief tour of the mine, and it was really interesting. I don't know how miners did it though. Joseph thought the funniest thing we learned is that miners called the blackness of the cave "natural light".

Colorado roads are not for me

I have never seen anything like these roads in Colorado. They scare the you know what out of me. The roads are carved out of the sides of mountains like it is the most normal thing to do. There are rarely guard rails, and if you go too fast around the many curves, or veer out of your lane even a little bit, that's it, you are off the road and rolling off the side of a mountain. I was sooo scared to drive, but I was more scared not to drive. Although the Colorado scenery is absolutely gorgeous, I don't think I can handle these roads again!!

Happy Father's Day!

Photos taken by Master Photographer Joseph

Joseph loves taking photos, and he is usually a pretty good photographer. These are just some of his funny and cute shots, and photos that I can tell he took. He has been using my camera, and some of my best shots are probably really photos taken by Joseph.

Mesa Verde

After our Thomas adventure we went to Mesa Verde for the afternoon. Abigail and I spent a lot of time walking around and visiting the gift shop and museum, since we weren't able to navigate the trails. Mesa Verde is definitely not for curious toddlers. The steep drop offs, hard stone surfaces, and uneven stone steps are not toddler friendly. Joseph, GJ, and Brian thought Mesa Verde was amazing, fascinating, and not to be missed, while Abigail and I thought it was hot and mountainous.

A Day Out With Thomas the Tank Engine

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Our Ride on Thomas the Tank Engine

Riding Thomas the Train was lots of fun. We went on a 30 minute train ride on the Narrow Guage Railroad along the Animas River, and we heard Thomas blow his whistle over and over again. We even saw Thomas blow steam out of his smokestack. After playing with Thomas trains for so many years, Joseph was so excited to ride on the real thing, and although Abigail was a little overwhelmed at first, she really enjoyed spending the day with Thomas.

Oh No!!

After our fun day at the Animas Forks Ghost Town, we ate a great dinner at the Brown Bear Cafe in Silverton, and then on our way back to Durango at dusk we got a flat tire on our SUV. We were on the Million Dollar Highway which is a scary stretch of road to drive, and even scarier to change a tire on. Thankfully, Brian and Joseph saved the day, changed the tire, and we made it back to the RV safe and sound!!

Day 5 - Animas Forks Ghost Town

Day 4 - Aztec Anasazi Ruins