Coronado State Monument

Today we headed toward Albuquerque (how would you like to type that several times each day) with the intent of staying tonight at Kirkland AFB, but on the way I saw a sign for the Coronado State Monument, so decided we had time to stop by.

It turned out that there was a nice RV Park at the monument, so we decided to stay here for the night.

We spent a good part of the day taking a ranger guided tour of the Coronado State Monument.  It was a great follow-up to our trip to the Mesa Verde National Park.  That visit helped us better understand the culture and history of this site.

The Coronado State Monument is the site of the Kuanu Pueblo on the banks of the Rio Grande River, which was settled in 1300 and abandoned toward the end of the 16th century.

The Kuanu ruins were excavated in the 1930's at which time they discover mural in a square kiva (ceremonial meeting place).  We went into the reconstructed Kiva as part of a tour that was conducted by a very informative Park Ranger.

We stayed on the trail!!!

Inside the Kiva, which is mostly underground.

The remains of the pueblo village.  These remains were reconstructed in the 1930's and are rapidly deteriorating because they are made of dirt.

The insides of a pueblo

The remains of the pueblo.

Tomorrow we are off to the Balloon Festival.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Monday, October 3,  2011

This morning we left Taos.  An interesting place.

We took one of the state designated scenic highways toward Santa Fe.  I must say, it is the first time we've been even slightly disappointed in a scenic highway, which we have tried to travel all that are convenient.  It wound around some mountain areas, but generally went through what appeared to be small, very poor communities. 

We did stumble across an interesting business in the middle of nowhere (or at least it seemed like that to us).  It seemed to be an import business for Mexican goods.  It must be a distributor.  I can't imagine many tourists drive to this part of New Mexico.  They had some of everything.

We arrived at Los Campos Campground which is near downtown Santa Fe and set up for the evening.

Tuesday, Oct 4

This morning we took a bus from the campground to the Historic District of downtown Santa Fe, a shopping mecca for anyone looking for handcrafted jewelry and arts.

Clara managed to find some "must have" jewelry.

Shopping in the Native American Market.  An interesting set up.  All the sellers have there wares on a blanket about 6 feet long and all are sitting behind their space.  Only Native Americans allowed in this block and the seller must have created what they sell.

The Native Americans lined up selling their wares.  Clara must have visited and talked to everyone of them at least twice.

Clara found her "must have" hand woven wearable art by Tammy Ferrill - Medvedic.  She weaves all of her wares in her shop, then does the sewing and selling right there.  Happy Birthday Clara!

After we took the bus back to the RV park, it started raining.  It is the VERY first time since we left Beaufort that we've seen this much rain. It has rained quite a lot, which for this area that only gets 10 inches a year must be a big deal.

Taos, New Mexico

Saturday, October 1

We finally left Durango after a week.  Durango is a wonderful place and I'm sure we will return.  Besides being a great place, Chuck and Cheryl made it very special for us.

The drive to Taos is about 4.5 hours, and it's across the high plains and desert.  After having spent time looking at the mountains in Colorado, it's hard to get excited about "just mountains", but it was a pretty drive.  And desolate country!

We arrived late afternoon in Taos, and immediately proceeded to get thoroughly confused.  We ended up winding through some residential areas before finally finding the Visitors Center.  From there we proceeded to their recommended RV park (We had not had Internet service all day, so I had not had a chance to do any planning). 

We went to the recommended site and they were full.  We eventually ended up in a not so desirable park.  We just parked, had a drink and crashed.  It was a long day.

Sunday morning we drove the RV to the Historic District early so as to be able to find a parking spot for it. 

There were three different events going on in the little town and we enjoyed all three.  The "big event" was the Wool Festival, where everything you can imagine about "sheered animals" was for sale.  It was really interesting to watch the actual sheering of sheep.  It was something we don't see in NC.



Before



After



Alpaca

The Arts and Crafts Show was neat, with some unusual (to us) items and where we did buy a couple of items.

Clara with the artist and her new wooden treasure.

The third show was an Art Show, which we briefly visited.

We had a great lunch at a "genuine" Mexican restaurant.  This was our first taste of genuine Mexican food in an atmosphere that was truly Southwestern.

This is our first introduction to the Mexican influence in architecture and culture. 

A few days relaxing around Durango

Sept 26 -29

Monday morning, we set off early in the RV to follow up some leads Chuck has developed for us to get our bedroom slide fixed (i.e. Not hanging out when we drive down the road).

We found everyone sympathetic and helpful, and by 9:30 had a guy at the NAPA Diesel Repair shop in the RV working on it.  By noon, life was good again and the RV looked right when it went down the road.  I've not experienced the can-do attitude of this place in a long time.  They just said, sure we can do it - and they just did it.  Pretty good for a place that works on big diesel trucks, not RV slide outs.

We've settled in a real nice RV park about 12 miles North of Durango - Durango Riverside RV Park.  It's quiet, has all the amenities and is next to the river.  We weren't sure we'd stay here, but everything has worked out and we like it.

Tuesday, we cleaned up the RV, made a few minor repairs (An RV on the road does have little things break or malfunction).  Then we went to the community recreation center for a nice swim in their first class facility.  THIS IS A CITY OWNED FACILITY.  A first class lap and competition pool, a kiddie pool on the level with a mini Great Wolf Lodge, and a large hot tub.  Plus a first class gym, exercise machines, meeting rooms, walking and bike trails, soccer and baseball fields and the list continues.

I've often read and heard that Colorado is one of the healthiest states in the country.  And I'm told that Durango is one of the healthiest cities in the state.

It is no wonder.  Here and many other communities we have traveled here in Colorado have first class recreation and park facilities - all paid for by taxpayers. 

I cannot imagine a municipality in Carteret County, or a county in NC for that matter, that would invest in the personal health of its citizens like here.  It is a priority among the citizens and the politicians to have healthy citizens and less health care costs.  Wow!  What a novel idea.  And they have relatively low tax rates.

Thursday, we took up the Carson's recommendation to go to Pagosa Springs, about 50 miles east of Durango and visit the hot springs.

We did and we're glad.  What a place.  They have 23 individual, naturally-hot mineral pools, including a full size pool.

I got in another long swim, although the water was a little too warm for swimming very long - 94 degrees.  But we relaxed for the afternoon and had a great time.

Friday, we had a morning of relaxed enjoyment of downtown Durango.  We took a nice tour of the Railroad Museum.

We had planned to go hiking in the afternoon, but the weather looked threatening, so we went back to the RV for a relaxed afternoon.

While downtown, we started following up on Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering that is being held this weekend.  We checked and found that the events start tonight, so we bought tickets to the Cowboy Mystery Theater, which turned out to be a great evening of singing and poetry by some very talented amateurs.  We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Friday, Sept 30

We met Chuck and Cheryl  for a tour of the mountains, and quite a tour it was.  We hit the peak of the aspen and cottonwood trees turning in the high elevations.  We went on a loop that included Telluride, Ouray and Silverton.  We once again traveled the "million dollar highway" that we had done in the RV a few days earlier when all I saw was the yellow centerline of the road.  It was a lot more fun this time.

There were thunderstorms on some of the mountains, which at the higher elevations (13,000 ft +) was producing snow.  Some of the pictures actually do capture the beauty of the mountains and the leaf change.

Downtown Silverton

The "million dollar highway"

And they really mean it!!



Snow on the mountains



Saturday, October 1

We finally are really leaving Durango.  We have really enjoyed 1) Chuck and Cheryl 2) The incredible scenery and experience, and 3) relaxing without moving the RV.  It was wonderful.

But before we left Saturday morning, we stopped in downtown for the largest non-motorized parade in Colorado.  It is part of the Cowboy Poets Festival.  It was all horses and walking.

The Marines

Horse and Buggy (the real thing)

Grandpa and the kids on horseback