Wandering Around: May 2012

From our site at Storrie Lake State Park, NM

A restored 1930s Pontaic parked in front of the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, NM

We left Storrie Lake Park, near Las Vegas, NM for Cochiti Recreation Area, about 30 miles south of Santa Fe, so that we could hike the Tent Rocks Trail in Tent Rocks National Monument:

Tent Rocks was a great hike, but we needed air conditioning most of the time at Cochiti Lake Campground, so we headed north to Eagle Nest Lake State Park, about an hour north of Taos, NM. It’s at 8300 ft, so is much cooler than Storrie Lake of Cochiti Lake. We like it that way—but the wind!! We often need to bring in the slide to avoid damage to the slide topper awning. But that’s OK; the views are spectacular and the campground fairly empty. And with our annual NM state park pass, we can stay 21 days...for free! Can’t beat that.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Here's our first blog post of 2012, with words first, pictures last:

We left Barrie on April 15th, I think, and made reasonable time--Goodwill stops aside (just kidding)--until we got to Tulsa, OK, where we had major problems with the motor home, Fixing it took a week, and we became well acquainted with Tulsa and Sapulpa, OK. The highlight was the Gilcrease Museum, a collection of art of all kinds from the American West--apparently the largest in the world--created in 1949 by oilman Thomas Gilcrease, and now run by the University of Tulsa. It's well worth a visit if you ever happen to be in Tulsa. Of course, we had plenty of time to visit thrift stores, and thanks to google and Clara (our Garmin GPS), we scoured most of them (overall verdict: mixed-to-good). By the time we left Tulsa, we were fairly impressed with the city: it was very green, with plenty of good restaurants, and most things, including gas, were inexpensive. On the other hand, it was also quite hot and humid, and it seems that both Jazzy and I were bitten by ticks, though we didn't discover this until 2 days after the bites, in Weatherford, OK. Mine was removed by a doctor at a local clinic. Given that I hadn't walked in the woods or rolled in the grass--or even worn shorts, I expressed surprise that I'd been bitten, but the doctor laughed and said, "You could have gotten this bite by just walking on a sidewalk in a park. That's how bad a year we're having for ticks." Anyway, now I'm on 21 days of antibiotics. I feel great, though. Oh...and I removed three ticks from Jazzy--even though she was on flea and tick preventive medicine.

Here at Storrie Lake park, we are camped 50 feet from the lake, with sweeping views of low mountains on 3 sides. The park is at 6500 ft, just 4 miles from Las Vegas, NM, a small town with a rich past and a struggling present. The town is full of eclectic architecture--900 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of those buildings are described individually in a small booklet we consult as we drive around gawking at the wide variety of architectural styles. Mostly sunny weather (highs in the upper 60s, lows in the 40s) has allowed us to spend lots of time outside, including one 2-hour hike up the first few miles of the Hermit Peak trail. We'll do the whole thing once we become acclimatized to the altitude. Another highlight is the set of hot springs just outside the town. It's free and includes 5 or 6 different pools, all at different temperatures. We spent a couple of hours there, soaking and chatting with the manager of the cafeteria at the local Armand Hammer United World College, a post-secondary school created by Armand Hammer to encourage international peace by bringing young students from many countries together to be educated. The idea is that by rubbing elbows and living together, they'll become more tolerant. Unfortunately, I forgot to remove my smartphone from my pocket when I sat down in the hot springs, with predictable results. Leah said that, if the phone was really so smart, it would have yelled, "I'm drowning!"

Interestingly, even though the phone was soaking in a hot spring for at least 15 minutes, once I dried it out for 48 hours covered in uncooked rice (thanks, Levi and Mark for the tip), it fired right up. I could see all my data and pictures, and it could play videos and take pictures...but it can't make phone calls! The speaker seems to be shot. Oh well...guess I'll put it back in the rice.

Now for the photos: Our campsite at Storrie Lake, in New Mexico: