July 8 – 14
Picasa web album link:We left Durango and headed south into New Mexico. My older sister Terrie, her daughters, husbands and their children live in the Albuquerque area. The plan was to meet up with all of them in Albuquerque. Our first stop was north of Santa Fe at Abiquiu Lake for three days of camping. Terrie actually lives about 15 miles south of this lake, where she also loves to camp. The first day there we hiked and biked around the park and lake. It’s quite beautiful, surrounded by mountains and high desert. The campground is an Army Corps of Engineer project. This campground was very spacious and well planned, with great views of the lake. Just 3 miles north of the lake is a compound called Ghost Ranch. This beautiful property is a desert retreat owned by the Presbyterian Church of the USA. It is used as a retreat, education, meetings, conventions, etc. The Ranch is located back in a box canyon surrounded by amazing mesas and colorful rock formations. This area is also one of the special places loved by the famous artist, Georgia O’Keeffe. One of her homes was on this property and she painted many of the landscapes around the canyon. We decided to go there for a visit, as there are great hiking trails on the property. They welcome visitors and the staff members are very friendly. They provided information on the hiking trails and other amenities on the Ranch. We decided to hike to Chimney Rock. This trail winds up the side of a mesa and ends at a large rock formation resembling a chimney. The views from the top are amazing and the trail was not too difficult. We enjoyed the hike and the exercise. Back at camp, we relaxed and enjoyed the evening and a campfire.
The next day, we decided to go back to Ghost Ranch for a
different hike. The trail is called Kitchen Mesa and is a more difficult hike
up the side of the mesa. The first mile or so is up sloping hillsides and then
the trail continues up the mesa cliff. This was more difficult as there were
narrow single track trails and a lot of rock scrambling. One section was a
narrow slot canyon with large boulders to climb up and over. This was the
hardest part. Once we got to the top of the mesa, the views were amazing and
the climb was worth it. The mesa top is covered with white gypsum soil. The
trail split into several areas around the mesa top. The views included looking
down at the ranch, Lake Abiquiu and also Pederal Mountain south of the lake. It’s
no wonder why O’Keeffe loved this area and got great inspiration from the
natural beauty! Later that evening, Terrie drove up to the lake for a visit and
dinner. Kurt made his wonderful chili and we had a great time together. We
talked about our plans for a family get together the coming weekend at our
campground near Albuquerque.
The next morning we headed south with the RV and setup camp
in a town called Bernalillo at a great city campground called Coronado Campground.
This place is unique in that each campsite has a small casita for the picnic
table and with a roof and partial walls to provide shade. It was perfect for
our family gathering! We drove around the area and went shopping to prepare for
our cookout the next day. All the family was contacted and told of our plans.
They would all be there the next evening.
The next day, Friday, we prepared for our cookout and were
excited to see all the nieces, their husbands and kids. I had not even met some
of the younger ones, so this was a special event for me to see them all at one
time. My sister Terrie arrived first and we began sharing stories and contacted
the nieces to see when they would arrive. Two of the nieces, Stephanie (husband
Jimmy, daughter Abby, son JJ) and Erin (fiancé Rich) all live in Albuquerque.
The third niece, Melissa (husband Gene, daughters Elena, Mary and Jennifer)
were actually leaving Amarillo that day heading back to ABQ. Melissa had just
finished her residency in OB/GYN and just passed her board exams. They had
lived there for four years during her final doctoral studies. They were so
excited to get back to ABQ and be home. She will be starting her new job in
September working with a group practice. It was such a joy to see them all,
especially the great nieces and nephew. The kids all had a great time, eating
and playing and getting to meet their distant Aunt and Uncle. We truly enjoyed
our time together. We hope to go back next June for Erin and Rich’s wedding. It
will be a wonderful family celebration!
On Saturday, Erin and Rich invited everyone to their home
for a cookout. We all met there in the evening and had a great time and great
food. It’s too bad our families live so far away from each other. It would be
so nice to have regular visits with them and watch the children grow up. Hopefully,
we will be able to visit them more often on our trips out west, which we plan
to continue as often as possible.
We decided to stay another day to go mountain biking. There
is a biking trail north of the city called White Mesa Trails. We were told it
was very good with trails for novice to technical riders. We drove about 25
miles north and found the remote gravel road to get to the trailhead. After
arriving and studying the trail map, we decided to start out on an easy double
track, which would take us to the top of the mesa and some more difficult
trails. As we rode around the base of the mesa, the trails continued to get
more difficult to follow, as they were not clearly marked. Kurt headed up to a
difficult trail and I decided to take the easy one back to the trailhead. The
day was getting hotter and I was running out of water, and still had a couple
of miles to get back. Kurt had also turned around and eventually met up with
me, which was a life saver as he had more water and I was getting very over
heated. We slowly made our way back to the truck. I was on the verge of a heat
stroke and was happy to get in some shade and cool down. I must say that this
trail was not fun and could be very dangerous to those who do not know the
trails. We both were ready to get back to camp and relax.
After some dinner, we started preparing to leave the next
day for our official turnaround point to head back home. Our plan was to make
our way toward Oklahoma and stay at one of the beautiful lakes.