Jun 10, 2013 - Santa Fe, NM.

Probably should have titled this "FUN VALLEY, CO"! Fun Valley is located high in the Rockies, 14 miles east of the continental divide. It sits on the Rio Grande River and is surrounded by national forest. It is 50 miles west of Alamosa, and 100 miles east of Durango on US Highway 160. Besides camping and RV's there is a motel, restaurant and cabins. There is fishing, horseback riding miniature golf, paddle boats, square dancing and many other activities to keep families entertained. The kids were so excited when we pulled in. The boys had...

May 24, 2013 - Santa Fe ...mythique

Jour 16, jeudi 23 mai En route vers Santa fe Tôt ce matin nous avons quitté Amarillo, on a repris l'interstate 40 qui est un long ruban bien droit vers l'ouest. Environ une heure après notre départ nous quittions le paysage plat du Texas pour un paysage légèrement accidenté. Le sol change de couleur et prend une teinte rougeâtre, la végétation est moins rabougrie. Nous avons passé un autre parc d'éoliennes (des centaines ...) et oui, même le Texas semble vouloir diversifier son mode de production énergétique . Nous avons aussi vu d'immenses...

May 23, 2013 - Getting Ready to Leave

Up early catching up on paper work. Have been in touch with our friends Moe and Linda Rosenberg in San Diego arranging a visit. Moe reminded us that other friends from our youth, Dave and Jane Raimondo, lived in Prescott, Arizona and we found that Prescott is close to our route so we are looking at visiting them. This is the day that we have to wrap up our visit to Santa Fe so decided to go out for breakfast at the first restaurant that we visited on our arrival, Tune Up Cafe. Had Heuvos Rancheros for breakfast. Ate on the patio again....

May 22, 2013 - A Day in Taos

Drove to Taos today. Another beautiful morning. Days have been warm, sometimes even hot, 85 F, but it always cools down at night into the 40's and 50's (10 C). Great for sleeping. The problem is that we have to start with a light blanket and then about 4:00 AM get up and put the duvet on. You can guess which one of us gets up and no it's not the DW. There are two roads to Taos. The high road through the mountains, small villages, Carson National Forest and the newer road that by-passes most towns. Decided to go there on the high road and...

May 21, 2013 - Georgia O'Keefe Museum

The nights here a cool. 5-10 C. Great for sleeping. Days are around 23 C. Went to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum this morning. Took a tour and learned all about her life and work. Beautiful pieces. Our guide, Jerry, was great. Finished our visit to the gallery with a short video about O'Keefe. It was fascinating to hear her interviewed. Lunch time!!!!!!!!!!!! My favourite part of the day. Tecolote Cafe, another DDD spot. More guacamole for Marilyn to taste. Again, excellent. Shared a Tostada Compuesta . Tortillas piled high with pinto beans,...

May 20, 2013 - Canyon Road Galleries

Saw the news last night about the tornadoes on Oklahoma. Just south of where we were about a week ago. The DW is still nervous. Canyon Road area of Santa Fe this morning. Over 250 art galleries. Saw some amazing stuff including some wind sculpture. Unfortunately the small pieces started at $700 or I would have bought. The pictures don”t do the justice. They move even in the lightest breeze. The Artist is Lyman Whitaker if you feel like Googling. I thought things were over priced until we found out that after New York and Los Angeles, Santa...

May 19, 2013 - Last day in Santa Fe

Today we had lunch at the Mexican Buffet at La Fonda hotel on the Plaza. La Fonda is currently undergoing renovations inside and out, but is still open. The buffet was quite good although different from the Tex-Mex we have in Dallas. After lunch on the advice of our friends David and Kathleen (whom we consider experts on Santa Fe) we ventured into a couple of shops and purchased some turquoise. I still feel out of my element trying to negotiate prices and we probably overpaid, but I'm basically happy with what we got. Stan has decided the...

May 19, 2013 - We Discover Sopapillas

Headed to The Old Town of Santa Fe this morning. Thank goodness for the GPS. Santa Fe is a confusing town. Parked on the street and headed to Santa Fe Plaza. The size of a small city block. All the buildings are adobe but only 5% are true adobe the rest are cinder block covered with a thin layer of brown cement. True adobe is made of adobe bricks( dirt, water and straw) the covered with more adobe on the outside to seal the bricks. The Indians sit down one side of the plaza selling jewelery. Mostly turquoise and silver. The DW went straight...

May 18, 2013 - Visiting with friends

On Saturday we had a late breakfast on the Plaza and continued to shop. The weather continued to be mild and we enjoyed our time outdoors. In the early afternoon we visited our friends Mack Diltz and his wife Liza. Mack was in the Mustang Band with Stan at SMU. They moved to Santa Fe almost two years ago where they own Liza Williams Gallery on Old Santa Fe Trail. Unfortunately before we arrived, their 90 year old building had developed a plumbing problem and they were in the midst of supervising the repairs and cleaning up. Although our...

May 18, 2013 - Time to do Some Housework, Etc.

A very quiet morning. Marilyn did laundry and cleaned the fifth wheel while I worked on the blog. Everything is now clean and up-to-date. Went into Santa Fe after lunch to do some grocery shopping and get the lay of the land. Marilyn liked the $2.99 wine at Trader Joe's. Me I preferred the meat counter at Whole Foods Market. Thought about eating out but things were very busy so we picked up some stuff for dinner and headed home. While grocery shopping we saw some fiddleheads and got all excited until we saw the price $20/lb. Too expensive,...

May 17, 2013 - Halfway Across Route 66

Today was a long drive. Amarillo to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I-40 almost all the way and the truck had to work extra hard as we battled headwinds and a 4000' rise in elevation. Just west of Amarillo we saw a piece of art work called Cadillac Ranch. Ten Cadillacs had been buried nose first in the ground in a row. Over the years people have spray painted all sorts of graffiti on the cars (with permission). We also saw a cattle feedlot that held 28,000 cattle. Huge. 90% of the cattle in Texas pass through Amarillo. This is 25% of the cattle in...

May 17, 2013 - Jackalope and the Indian Market

Our first full day we decided to do a little shopping. We stopped at Jackalope where we had previously purchased several things for the house. This market houses several artisans in different buildings and sells everything from pottery and fountains to knick knacks, to clothing, hats, to art, to furniture...it's really impossible to describe. So much to see. Last time we saw so much we wanted, we had a hard time deciding what we couldn't live without. This time, unfortunately, there just wasn't anything so we came away empty-handed. From...