Aug. 25 & 26

Sunday - we went in to Capitan for 8:30 Mass.  A small parish, but very friendly. Six different people invited us to join them for coffee & cake, so we went and visited.  Then we went to the ranch to the motorhome to get the Peppers & Shells recipe and to Ruidoso to get the groceries.  Back to Ginger's house, took naps, then sat on the front porch and visited.  Ginger took Gary behind their home where there is a cemetery.  Some of the grave stones were for Civil War soldiers, the 1st Mexican Calvary..  Ginger gave me the tour of their home, a beautiful adobe style with 5 bedrooms, great kitchen and more.  She is a fabulous decorator!  Gary started cooking and we all enjoyed watching him and enjoying good wine.  Gary shared his Grappa, found another follower - Winston liked it.

Ginger & Winston's home

View from their front patio

Monday - Going sightseeing today.  Had breakfast at the ranch in the motorhome.  Beautiful scenery there too.  Drove south to Ruidoso, then took #244 through the reservation UP to Cloudcroft.  A quiet road with gorgeous meadows and mountains.  We went way up in elevation on windy mountain roads.  Then back down to Alamagordo to the Museum of Space History.  Did I ever tell you I married an astronaut want to be?  He loved it and knew all the names of the astronauts and spaceships displayed there.   Saw a real roadrunner in the parking lot that day.
Then we drove up to Tularosa and found the Tularosa Winery.  They grow Mission grapes there to make wine, these grapes were brought over by the Spaniards and grown by the monasteries.  Their Mission red wine is very nice.  We visited with the owner who had been stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base and retired from there in 1976, moved to Tularosa and started making wine.  Then back to the house, Winston and Ginger made us their specialty, Red Chili Enchiladas - yum.

Meadow on Hwy # 244

Looking down at Alamagordo, White Sands Nat'l Park is the yellow in the background.

Aug. 23 & 24

Friday AM - pull the slides in, hook up the car and leave Santa Fe.  We headed southwest on Hwy 285, destination Lincoln, NM to visit my cousin Ginger and her husband, Winston.  Ginger advised us to fill up with gas at Corona, then we drove on to Carrizozo, where we unhooked the car before heading up the mountain grades to reach the ranch.  As we drove through Nogal it started raining hard.  Winston met us and led us on the 3 miles of gravel/dirt roads to the ranch, where we were parking the motorhome.  They were solid roads & luckily not slippery from the rain.  They have a hookup pad at the ranch for motorhomes/campers.
Their lovely home is about 20 miles from the ranch, so we packed overnight bags so we could stay with them for a couple days.  (Night driving is challenging there with the deer & elk crossings).  We had a great evening together getting caught up.   The mountain ranges are beautiful here.

Saturday - a cloudy day with more rain predicted.  We all slept in and then headed to Ruidoso for the day.  The skies opened up and it rained hard, somewhat flooding the streets there.  Destination, Ruidoso Downs for the horse races.  I had never been to them, so another first in my world.  It kept raining, I felt sorry for the horses & their jockeys.  We did see several times when the horses slipped & bumped each other, luckily no accidents.  Gary & I were lucky betting several times and walked out a little ahead, that was a nice change. We had a great time and a lot of laughs.  We stopped for supper at the Cattleman's Steakhouse, then went back to the house for more wine & fun.

Aug. 22, Thursday

Our last full day in Santa Fe!  Ran some laundry and started packing up for traveling mode.  We went downtown for lunch to join my cousin, Ginger and her friend Jo.  Ben joined us for a short time, he had to be out at the opera for his exit interview and house audition (to possibly be chosen for next year's program).  We stopped by St. Miguel Church, the oldest church building in the US, then ran a few more pre-departure errands for supplies.
Ben, Lacey and Samantha joined us at the motorhome for Happy Hour before their evening commitments.  Ben stayed for supper (we grilled our last package of walleye) and then stayed to play a rousing game of Progressive Rummy!  Just like the good old days, once again the Queen of the house was victorious.    Santa Fe has been Awesome!

Aug. 20 & 21

Tuesday - a slower day.  I went to the dentist to find out why my new crown is sensitive and then some shopping errands.  Gary worked on projects and experienced the heavy rain storm that came through.

Wednesday - we went to the 9:00 AM opera house tour given by volunteers at the opera. santafeopera.org. Very informative, we would recommend it if you have any interest in what goes on back stage for the performers, costumers, set movements, tech people, etc.  They also told us the history of the Opera House & the area.  Then we went downtown and toured the Loretta Chapel. Very interesting.  lorettochapel.com/history.html.   Had lunch on the deck of the Marble Brewing company, which overlooks the square.  Great pizza!
Then we came across The Big 5 Sporting Goods store.  Score!  We each found shoes for our Amazon job, a hydration bag, walking stick and water bottle.  Great prices too.  Home for a nap, (we can do that now) and then enjoyed a nice evening on the patio.

Another beautiful evening!

Aug. 18 & 19

Sunday - picked up Ben & Kelsey.  A sad day, Kelsey has to go home.  Took her to ABQ to the airport, her flight was at noon.  We drove back to Santa Fe on the "Turquoise Trail" Hwy 14, a scenic drive.   Went to the motorhome and had lunch.  Ben taught us how to play cribbage, it will be a good game for the two of us.  Gary took Ben home & stopped for supplies for setting up the computer desk.  We went to 5:30 Mass at Santa Maria de la Paz.  It was the youth led Mass and another great homily by the priest there.  Came home, Face Timed with the grandsons and saw another beautiful sunset.

Monday - picked Ben up early & headed to the Kasha-Katuew Tent Rocks National Monument for a hike.  We did the Canyon Trail, a 1.5 mile one way hike through narrow rock openings on the way to the top.  Amazing rock formations, many with "tent-like" tops.   It was warm and a climb with increasing altitude - the boys were fine but I struggled a little with my breathing and racing heart.  But, I made it!   Again, amazing beauty.   As we started down we ran into several groups of junior high kids headed up and before we were halfway down some of them were jumping & running back down.  There were a lot of places with slippery footing on the rocks, but they just jumped and slid as they RAN down.  Oh to be young and fearless.  We took a lot of pictures, every turn was fascinating.  We highly recommend it.
There were storm clouds rolling in, so we finished the hike and headed to town.   Ate lunch at Los Amigos with Ben and then took him home to prepare for the evening opera.  
That night we headed to the Opera House again.  We weren't sure we would get to tailgate, there were rain clouds filling the sky.  When we arrived, we could see it had rained there already, but was ending with a few sprinkles.  We tailgated again in the car and watched the many groups of experienced tailgaters.  The opera this evening was La Dona del Lago with Joyce DiDonato leading.  She and the other principals did an outstanding job, we knew we had experienced a true professional opera and enjoyed every minute. Ben had many appearances in the chorus, wearing kilts with armour and blood.  We went back stage to see him and congratulate them all.  We saw Miss DiDonato and he said we had missed seeing Robert Redford - darn!

Aug. 17, Saturday

Up early to clean my house, company is coming!  The Arizona family arrived, Dan & Connie, Deb & Joe.  We sat outside & enjoyed the cool breeze on our patio and enjoyed our view of the mountains and machinery.  For lunch we met Ben & Kelsey at the Second Street Brewery.  Sat outside on the patio (we love eating outside so often) and had a great visit.  We all went downtown for the "Indian Market", the largest event in Santa Fe every year.  Native American artists and jewelers only can bring their products to sell and to win the best of show awards.  Thousands of booths and people, we saw beautiful art, jewelry, pottery, sculptures and more.
Ben & Kelsey went to join friends and the 3 brothers and we "outlaws" headed out of town to explore.      We were all able to fit in our car so we had time to visit and a lot of laughs.
First stop (after a few loops trying to find the entrance), the Don Quixote Winery & Distillery.  They make wines, vodka, port, brandy & Grappa!  We were joined at the tasting bar by girls having a bachelorette party - they had started at 10:00 am!  Gary was thrilled to find a new bottle of Grappa.
Next stop the Estrella Winery,  very picturesque place.  They had some great wines, their signature was "Holy Mole"' a nice red wine.  We took some fun pictures there.  Then on to Chimayo again, unfortunately we got there just as they closed for the day, but we walked around the grounds to see the outdoor shrines & exhibits.  Joe left his "Live like Mike" wristband on one of the crosses, special prayers for Mike and all of us.
Then we went to the opera grounds to pick up Kelsey.  Ben was performing that night, so she was able to join us for supper.  We took the group to the Tesuque Market we had discovered earlier in the week.  We had a great dinner sitting outside on the deck, a beautiful night.  We dropped Kelsey back off at the opera to join Ben & then took our guests home to their hotel.  They were going to get up early for 7:30 Mass & then head home, so we said our goodbyes, until we see them for Dan & Connie's wedding in October.

At Chimayo

The "Outlaws"

3 Handsome Men

Aug. 15 & 16

Thursday - massages!  Boy did they feel good, we promised ourselves one as we packed up, emptied the apartment & finished our jobs in July.  We picked up Ben & Kelsey and went downtown to the Basilica for the noon Assumption Mass.  St. Francis of Assisi, is a beautiful church.  Later we packed up chairs, table, wine & munchies for our opera tailgating party.  Kelsey & Lacey joined us & then we enjoyed the opera, "The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein".   Ben was a soldier and got to march, dance and exercise as part of the chorus - in wool uniforms!  This opera was more like musical theater in French.  Another great show!

Friday - picked up Ben & Kelsey and headed to Taos for the day.  Our first stop was in Chimayo, to the El Santuariò de Chimayó in New Mexico which is a place of pilgrimages and is called “the Lourdes of America” (after the famous French healing shrine).  A very beautiful, holy place.  We saw their priest, Fr. Roca.  He is 95 years old & celebrated his 70th anniversary of priesthood on Assumption Thursday.  On to Taos, had lunch at the Eske's Brewery.  We visited the Taos Pueblo and learned about the people still living there without electricity or running water.  It was a Hot day, but felt 10 degrees cooler every time we walked in to one of the adobe homes.  Also went to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  It is 600 feet deep under the bridge out in the middle of the flat desert.  
That night Ben's host Mom had us over for supper.  Lois made Texas Brisket (to die for!), Ben made Zingerman's Mac & Cheese, and Samantha & Lacey made salad.  Lois spoiled us further with a chocolate dessert.  A fun evening.

Aug. 13 & 14

Tuesday - stayed put to get caught up on paperwork & projects.  We had found an opening at the bottom of the shower wall that needed to be caulked.  We wanted to go boating, but the rain clouds moved in again. Mid afternoon we received the email from Amazon giving us a location for the drug test they require to work for them.  An HOUR away!  We were going to call & try to get somewhere closer arranged, but then decided to just get it over with.  We hopped in the car & drove to Las Vegas, NM to the clinic and got it done.  We drove downtown to historic Las Vegas and looked around some shops.  I ended up buying boots, cowgirl? boots!  I still can't believe it!  But, they were comfortable the minute I put them on and still are.  Had a great sandwich at a local pizza shop and then drove back on the Santa Fe trail.
Wednesday -  we drove southwest through Coralles, found a nice winery & then headed north into the Jemez Mountains to the Ponderosa Winery.   Great wines and the owner was fun to visit with.  Continued north on Hwy 4, saw beautiful red cliffs and scenery, stopped at the Valles Caldera, a 12 mile wide crater formed by the volcano many years ago.  As we left we watched two young badgers cross the road in front of us, chasing prairie dogs.  To return to Hwy #84, we had to go through the Los Alamos checkpoint.  He checked our driver's license, asked our business there & told us to drive straight through, no stopping & no pictures.  Still a very high security area for the Dept of Interior.
For Happy Hour & supper, we stopped at the Tesuque Market, a rustic bar/restaurant in the small town of Tesuque very near the opera location.  Very Good food!  A great way to end our fun day.

Aug.12, Monday

Woke up to cool weather.  Wore jeans & jackets as we headed to downtown Santa Fe.  We toured the St. Francis of Assisi Basilica & then had coffee in the park square.  Watched the people & birds.  Interesting assortment.  Ended up bringing home a western straw hat for me, a long sleeve t-shirt for him & a variety pack of sea salts from the olive oil shop.  Everyone we visited with knew something about the Opera, when we answered their questions as to where we were from & why we were visiting here.
We walked through many shops & then enjoyed a glass of Fess Parker Chardonnay @ the La Casa Sena outdoor courtyard restaurant.  A great way to spend a retirement Monday!  Home for a nap, a quick supper & then headed to the opera again for the evening performance of "Oscar".  The opera house is about 20 minutes north of Santa Fe.
Every night before the opera they have prelude talks at 6:00 & 7:00 about the opera being performed that day.  We went to the first one (which really helped us enjoy the story being portrayed later) & then joined the other folks tailgating in the parking lot.  Yes, tailgating!   Many people had tables & chairs, some had white tablecloths with crystal wine glasses, flower bouquets, and other frills.  The opera house has picnic tables along the sides of the parking lot also, these allow the diners to enjoy incredible landscape scenery while they are dining.  The best we could put together for that night was beer & chips.  But we did sit on the tailgate of our car!
Then, in to the opera house.  In "Oscar", Ben was cast in several roles & so was on stage many times during the production.  WE thought he was outstanding and he received accolades from many others as well.  It was a powerful story about the late part of Oscar Wilde's life through prison & after his release.  After the performance, we went backstage to see Ben and got to meet many of the alumni from Michigan that had created the opera.  Bravo!

Aug. 11, Sunday.

Slept in.  (Heard coyotes again during the night, have heard them every night on the trip, except the windy one). Picked Ben & Kelsey up for 11:30 Mass at Santa Maria de la Paz.  They were having a Fiesta for the Parish after the Mass, so there was a special group singing for Mass, with guitars & a trumpet.  Also a group of men & four ladies in traditional costumes.  A very vibrant Priest, gave a great homily.
We had surprise visitors from Sioux Falls, Brenda & Terry Schmidt!  They were in Santa Fe on business and pleasure and tracked us down on their way to the airport.  What a treat for us!
Also, my Mom had flown down to Santa Fe & was staying with her childhood friend, Dorothy @ Cochiti Lake, near Santa Fe.  She & Dorothy met us at the RV park & then we all went downtown to meet Ben & Kelsey at the Rooftop Pizzaria for supper.  We then drove together out to the Santa Fe Opera for the Apprentice Showcase Scenes which Ben was performing in.  Ben was outstanding in his performance as Don Pasquale!  The opera house is a very unique building, but built perfectly for the performances.  There is a roof, but the sides are open with amazing views & sunsets.
After congratulating Ben, we took Mom & Dorothy back to our RV and they went home from there.  It was a beautiful evening, we sat out in the dark & watched the stars and saw 4 meteors!

Aug. 10, Saturday

Up & walking again.  Headed for Albuquerque @ 9:00, first stop, The Camping World store for "necessities".   Camping world is like a hardware store & candy store all in one for RVers.  One of our missions there was to buy a Passport America membership, Camping World had the best deal we had found.
Next stop was the Albuquerque airport to pick up Kelsey & Lacey.   We delivered them to the place where Ben & Lacey's friend, Sam are living this summer.  We met Lois, their hostess and then took Ben & Kelsey out with us for supper to the Blue Corn Cafe & Brew.  Very good Mexican menu & craft beer.  It rained again hard as we ran them to Target & Sam's Club.  The rain continued until 11:00 PM, the people of Santa Fe were very happy, it had been hot & dry there.

Aug. 9, Friday

Woke up earlier and went for a walk right away.  Need to get conditioned for our job this fall.  Back for breakfast and then settled down to get financial and paper work caught up.  Before lunch time, we walked up the road to the C-store for hamburger buns, it was getting warm by then.  Ben joined us for lunch, we grilled burgers & had a great visit.  It rained about 3:00 so we tackled more paperwork.  Sat outside for happy hour and enjoyed the sun.  (It is so great to sit outside, with No Mosquitos!)
During the night, it rained again & the wind blew & was gusty, I thought one of our slide awnings had blown loose, but it was just the way the wind was hitting it.  A new sound, guess there will be more of them.

Aug. 8, Thursday

More laundry, have to grab the chance when it is there!  Left the campground about 10:00 AM, sure am enjoying not having to get up early & get going.  We hooked up the car in Raton after getting gas and headed down I 25 - for the checkered flag destination of Santa Fe.  We saw our first antelope on the trip - it is amazing to us that they stay away from the interstate, have never seen one on the road, what a nice change form the deer.  Refueled in Las Vegas, NM and then unhooked the car about 20 miles out of Santa Fe, because of the constant uphill grades.  Arrived at the Santa Fe Skies campground off exit 276.  The first site they sent us to was occupied, (they were busy that day) so they directed us to another site which had much better views & was cheaper!  (That doesn't happen to us very often!)   We got set up and settled in for our two + week stay.
Ben hoped to join us for supper so Gary went in search of groceries.  Let's just say he is a believer now in using the Garmin, would have made his trip a lot shorter.  By the time he got back, Ben was no longer able to join us &  Gary was ready for a margarita!  We had thawed walleye to have for supper, so grilled and enjoyed a taste of home.  After supper, we took a walk on the trail around the campground.  It turned cold & windy outside, went in for the night.

Aug. 7, Wednesday

Up early, went for a walk over to the reservoir office building.  Another guy walking by told us about two bobcat lairs he had seen with babies in each.  We decided not to go there, we had no protection with us & knew the momma would be protective.  Breaking camp, we discovered water inside the top of the co-pilot window - will need to do a little caulking.  We headed west to La Junta, then south through Trinidad to the top of the Raton Pass.  We camped there at the Cedar Rail campground, #20.  Got set up & then did laundry & ironed while it poured rain outside.  The office told us they had had 12 inches of rain in the last week & pea size hail that covered the ground the day before we arrived.  Glad we missed that!
We drove into Raton for supper, ate at the Icehouse, a real good BBQ place.  Stopped for supplies at Kmart, then home to do more laundry and sit outside.  A double rainbow after another shower, just beautiful!  Then a heavy fog rolled in, we could not see 10 feet ahead, we felt sorry for the truckers and drivers driving over the pass. We made sure not to leave anything outside, they said there had been bears in the campground - we did not see any - darn!

Aug. 6, Tuesday

With the rain done, we were able to get a morning tour of my cousin's place.  This is the same house my Mom grew up in with alot of addition.  We shared many memories of playing there as kids when we would go home to Grandad & Grandma Larges'.  They have a wonderful place there that they enjoy for family & extended family gatherings.
We headed back in to town to pick up the motorhome and continue on our way.  Leaving Imperial, we headed directly south to Kansas.  Stopped in Goodland, KS for gas and lunch.  Our plan was to travel all the way south to the OK border, but found when we checked the weather radar that there was a strong storm cell south of us near Sharon Springs.  So, we changed direction & headed west into Colorado on I 70 to Burlington & then south on #385.  It was a rough highway & we went through some heavy rain.  We turned west at Cheyenne Wells & stopped for the night at a small campground by Hasty, Co.  Lakeside Campground - very rustic & not a lake in sight!   There was a Corp reservoir down the road with a lake and campground, also rustic.  We went for a drive over the John Martin Dam, saw 4 deer - one buck with a huge rack!

Aug. 5, Monday

Day 2 - left Neola, IA about 8:30 AM.  Headed west on I-80.  Stopped in Grand Island for lunch break AND a quick nap for the driver.  Headed south on Hwy 283 at Lexington.  North of Arapahoe a wonderful big truck threw a rock at us and now we have our first windshield chip!  Bummer.  We decided this highway is not good for us, we blew a tire on our little motorhome in Oct. 2000 on the same section of road.  It was 94 degrees when we went through McCook, NE that afternoon & just as warm when we arrived in Imperial.  Took us 7 hours today.
We had supper with my Aunt Iris and Uncle Marvin & Aunt Arlene downtown Imperial.  We could see a storm brewing when we went in.  It did hit hard out at the ranch where we were going to drive to for overnight with my cousin.  We were just going to take the car out there & leave the motorhome in town, the roads can be soft and wash out at times.
Ended up, Sherrie & Cedric came in to get us - the roads were too wet, they have a four-wheel drive vehicle.  We had a great visit and stayed overnight.

August 2013

Aug. 4, Sunday..  Here we go!  After saying farewell to Fr Elias Rinaldo (who is leaving also) after Mass at Cathedral, we secured everything in the motorhome for travel & headed out of Sioux Falls.  Destination, Neola, IA.
Saw many motorcycles headed for the Sturgis Rally as we headed south on I-29.
We arrived at Arrowhead Park, a public campground near Neola.  Then drove to my brother's acreage nearby to visit.  Perry, Barb and Jenna were there and we had a nice visit and supper together.