Hi kids. Did you have a good Thanksgiving? Are you still slim and trim? I’m not, but once the avalanche of food left the system, it’s now back to my usual boring nuts and seeds diet. We drove 6 hours up to Colorado to my sister’s house. She’s a fantastic cook and gave us 4 days of amazing breakfasts followed by interesting afternoon nibbles followed by fun cocktails followed by wonderful dinners with dessert. She outdid herself - for sure. I’m quite the opposite because I never really play hostess and am more of a “go help yourself” kind of anti-socializer. Ironically, she says she hates to cook but at least, she’s good at it. Besides eating, we went out and about and saw deer, wild turkeys, hawks, horses, mules, and cattle. No bears or bobcats or elk, but they do wander around their neighborhood every now and then.
The nearby Sandstone Ranch Open Space was in a big valley, outside of Larkspur Colorado and surrounded by the Front Range mountains…the easternmost park of the Rockies. To be (annoyingly) exact. It was a very pretty walk.
We didn’t see the buffalo herds that live around Daniel’s Park but still, it was a nice, late-in-the-day stop on the way home. The Flatirons and Boulder are off to the right and Pike’s Peak is straight ahead, way off in the far distance.
Coming home to New Mexico, we drove through twisty mountain passes until it gets flatter and more agricultural. Cabins to adobes. This was the last stretch of highway out of Colorado, driving though 17 miles of open grazing land until we got to border. The Sangre de Christos are up ahead which are (I think), the southernmost part of the Rockies. They're "only" 13,000 feet high...younger sibs.
We made an overnight pit stop in Taos and went out the next morning to say hello to the Orilla Verde. This is part of the Rio Grande River Gorge, surrounded by the same mountains, and sometimes you’ll see a herd of mountain goats. But not on this (frigid) morning. This road hairpins down and into the bottom of the gorge. But we just park and walk out to the west rim and stand and look and always take way too many pictures.
This view is looking left and above the Dead Cholla Rock Climbing Wall.
This view is looking right into the sun and where you can see the Rio Grande below.
God, do I love this spot (!!!) Did you know that this is where my ashes are going? It says so in my will. I’ll be blown way off course eventually, but at least I'm starting there. AND I suppose, ending there. Its my home sweet home....
Great housewarming gift!
. Today we have at least 6”-8” of snow on the ground last I looked. I ran out around 9:00 AM to grab a few items for breakfast and dinner. As I drove home the snow was coming down at more than 1”-2” an hour. So since then I’m going nowhere. I’m sitting in my cozy room in a comfy chair listening to music and reading. Tomorrow we have friends over for our Thanksgiving meal.
