1) Bandelier National Monument
We parked the camper at the campground at Bandelier for the first three and a half weeks. Bandelier National Monument is a fairly large park that consists of a nice visitor center, several abandoned dwellings of the Pueblo people, and a network of hiking trails. The history here is fascinating, and the area very well kept. The area around Los Alamos is interesting because not only are there remnants of the Pueblo people in the park, but everywhere you look. Driving down the highway you can see more cliff dwellings on the sides of the canyons and while hiking it is common to find bits of broken pottery or arrowheads. I came across 3 arrowheads while hiking during our summer.
2) New Mexican Food
New Mexican's know how to cook. They pride themselves on a special ingredient - green chiles from Hatch, New Mexico. We had several favorite restaurants in the area, including De Colores in Los Alamos. We also enjoyed eating green chile at Pizza Hut - green chile and sausage pizza, and McDonalds - green chile double cheeseburgers. New Mexican's love putting green chile's on whatever they are eating. I once had a salad with a delicious green chile vinegarette. And for dessert there are always plentious sopapillas...mmmmm.
3) Pecos Baldy Hike
Our hike to Pecos Baldy Lake with our friends Rorke and Leatha was very enjoyable. That is, the memories from the trip got better as the soreness in our legs diminished. I should say that I speak only for myself, as I think I was the weakest and slowest of the bunch, as well as carrying the least weight in my pack. This hike was our first experience 'backpacking'. The hike was planned to be a 2 night excursion: We would hike in a few miles, camp, hike up to the lake, camp, and hike back to the car the third day. Unfortunately (or forunately, I'm not sure) when we arrived at Pecos Baldy Lake the second day, Leatha started talking about Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. It didn't take very long for us to get enough ambition to ditch the 3rd day plan and head for the car. The hike itself was gorgeous. We even saw some mountain sheep. But in the end, ice cream had never tasted so good.
4) Gold Hill Hike
Another great hike. We started out from the parking lot of the famous Taos Ski Area near Taos, NM. The views were spectacular. The hike was exausting - we went in May, and part of the trail was covered in about 2 and a half feet of snow that was extremely hard to walk through.
5) Juarez, Mexico
I only have a few comments on this weekend trip.
1)It is scary to tour a place in another country with a guide that is both clueless and paranoid.
2)It is even scarier to attempt to go through a border crossing that is closed. (disclosure: this was not my idea)
Perhaps I will elaborate on this trip in a later post.
6) Four Months in a Camper
After we camped at Bandelier, we moved the trailer to a campground on the Pajarito Ski Area. The primitive campground is situated above the ski area's parking lot/ski lodge. We were told where we were is part of a ski run in the winter. It's elevation is about 9000 feet, which is pretty impressive for us low-landers. We had no electricity, water, or bathrooms. There was a porta-potty about 1/4 mile away. We liked staying in the camper. Overall it went really well. We got used to not having a refridgerator and shower. Our biggest challenge came near the end of the summer when mice got into the camper. After being away for the weekend, we came back at night and snuggled into bed. Before we could fall asleep, we heard the unmistakable sounds of mice scampering across the floor. I do not like mice, and immediately told Wayne I was going to sleep in the car. Wayne was going to stay in the camper, he said he could deal with a mouse or two. So I went to the car and tryed to sleep. About fifteen minutes later, Wayne came to the car and told me he drew the line when he could feel a mouse crawling on top of his sleeping bag. So we spent the night in the car. The next day, we purchased mouse traps and set them up in the camper. We relaxed outside for a bit, then decided we would check the traps before retiring to the car for another night's sleep. To our suprise, all three of the traps had mice in them. Wayne reset the traps and we went to bed. Over the next day or two, we trapped 18 mice! No wonder we couldn't sleep.
Websites:
Bandelier National Monument
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