No destination, just curiosity

When our son was younger we used to have adventure weekends. Or adventure days. We'd get up early and pack up the Land Rover with lots of food and tasty treats, and head out. All three of our dogs have learned that Land Rover times are the best times, and the moment the car door …

Continue reading No destination, just curiosity

Even in harsh conditions, we thrive

White Sands National Park Sometimes living in the desert I am struck by how harsh the living conditions are. Just a few miles up the Sandia Mountains on the outskirts of Albuquerque, the landscape is dry and hot, filled with cacti and rattlers. It is not a hike for the faint at heart, or those …

Continue reading Even in harsh conditions, we thrive

Finding the Santa Fe Trail (Part I)

Sometimes things that aren't lost are pretty hard to find. And once you discover them, you realize you've simply got to tell everyone you know because the treasure just might disappear forever if other people don't know about it. This is how we felt about finding Fort Union National Park about thirty miles north of Las …

Continue reading Finding the Santa Fe Trail (Part I)

Sunday morning walk to Petaca Point

A short drive over Taos Junction Bridge and up a steep dirt road with several switchbacks to the West Rim of the Rio Grande Gorge will take you to the trailhead of Petaca Point Trail. Petaca Canyon is an easy four miles, along the rim of the Rio Grande Gorge. Because the trail runs along …

Continue reading Sunday morning walk to Petaca Point

Tent Rocks: someplace you gotta go, and my family thought they looked a little like something else . . .

Yes, they're called tent rocks, but as you wander through the trail to the top of the mesa, it feels like you're wandering through another world.  A bit like Star Wars or a bit phallus depending on your state of mind, but in either case, it is magnificent. The monument is about an hour north …

Continue reading Tent Rocks: someplace you gotta go, and my family thought they looked a little like something else . . .

Hidden spots in Bandelier

It has been warming up around here, and it makes me yearn for summer and weekend hikes. This weekend I've been daydreaming about places we've been and places I'd like to be if it were warm. So my next few posts will be my summer daydreams. Soon enough it will be warm and we'll be …

Continue reading Hidden spots in Bandelier