Taos

Sept 30     Cochiti Lake - Orilla Verde Recreation Area     88 miles       2 hours

We drove north to Orilla Verde Recreation Area. This is located just south of Taos. There's a few campgrounds in this area but only 2 offer water/electric. All sites are first come, first serve so we were lucky to grab a site with water/electric in Pilar Campground. It's $15 per night and looks kind of dumpy but it's actually in a good location to do some hiking along the Rio Grande Gorge.

Beautiful sunsets

The campground is very dark at night and the sky is full of stars.

Oct 2   Orilla Verde Recreation Area - Taos       15 miles     30 minutes

We did a hike this morning on the Verde Vista Trail. This is an awesome hike in the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. The trail runs through a plain high above the Rio Grande River and the canyon walls tower several hundred feet above us on either side.

This is the only hike we did in this area because Joe had a gout attack that lasted a couple of days. He's finally feeling better so we could do this hike before moving on.













After the hike we packed up and moved a few miles north to Taos Valley RV Park. We'll be here for 2 nights, $50.05 per night. Nothing fancy but good location.

We took a ride to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. Amazing! There's a rest stop there so we parked and walked around.

At 650 feet above the Rio Grande, it is the fifth highest bridge in the U.S.

Can walk on the bridge but I'm such a chicken, only went about 1/3 way.

Oct 3

We had a lot of plans to take the RV and spend some time driving the Enchanted Circle. A spectacular drive 85 miles to complete. It's the most popular drive in the area. This was the highlight of our trip. We were suppose to leave tomorrow but found that there's a lot of rain coming. Then after the rain passes the temperature in that area will drop to 25 degrees. This is too cold for us. So we decided to stay here for 2 more nights to wait out the rain. Then hopefully, Saturday we can drive the Enchanted Circle with the Kia and just do a day trip. Such a bummer....I guess we need to come back.

Oct 5    Enchanted Circle

We got to drive the Enchanted Circle today. The most popular drive in the area, this National Forest Byway circles Wheeler Peak, the highest in New Mexico at 13,161 feet.

One of the best drives ever. We really enjoyed this 85 mile on the Enchanted Circle. The fall foliage with the brilliant yellow of the aspens was truly spectacular.

We drove up through Questa and continued to Cerro and entered the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument on the north side. We did the south side a few days ago. The north side is just as amazing. You drive along the gorge with breath taking views.

La Junta Overlook

We made a stop at La Junta Point Overlook.

La Junta, which means "meeting or joining" in Spanish, two rivers converge. To the left is the Red River, beginning in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at the highest point in New Mexico, Wheeler Peak, 13,161 feet. To the right is the Rio Grande, beginning in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado and running for 1885 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. La Junta marks the widest and deepest part of the Rio Grande Gorge, at three-quarters of a mile wide and a steep 800 feet deep.

We continued on to Columbine Canyon Campground and started a hike into the canyon. It was pretty chilly when we started the hike, about 50 degrees. This hike can go for about 9 miles one way. We did 2 miles and then turned around. This is one of best hikes we've been on. Great trail with lots of scenery. The fall colors were stunning! I didn't know where to look, everything was so pretty.

Crossing the stream

Colorful leaves

We loved hearing the creek for most of the hike. The trail crosses over the creek several times on beautifully designed foot bridges which were really cute. This hike is through a canyon so seeing the cliffs high above on both sides of us was pretty awesome.

Pretty leaves

Xmas trees all over

Next stop was at Red River. Cute little ski town. We had lunch at Yesterday's Diner. Was really, really good. After lunch we walked a little ways and stopped to have a chocolate malt at The Dairy Bar.  It was kind of chilly walking around but we had to...sooo good!


We continued our drive around the Enchanted Cirle and drove through Eagle Nest. The Eagle Nest Lake is the big attraction here. Looks like plenty of water activities.

We made a stop at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Angel Fire. Displays on the grounds and in the Visitor Center pay tribute to the Vietnam veterans. The Blue Star Garden and Medal of Honor and Veteran bricks that line the walkways are constant reminders of the service to our country.

Then we drove through Angel Fire. Another cute ski town. At this point, we were getting tired so we just drove around then headed back to Taos.

Amazing scenery 

Cochiti Lakes

Sept 26     Albuquerque - Cochiti Lakes      75 miles     2 hours

We left Albuquerque this morning and made a couple of stops. Filled propane and ended up buying a Dish receiver box from the shop. The guy actually hooked up everything for us. Joe just had to call Dish and pay. So now we can catch all kinds of channels.

We're at Cochiti Lake Recreation Area. This place gets very busy so I made reservations for this place online. $20 per night for electric and water. They also have a dump station.

Cochiti Lake is located on the Rio Grande about 50 miles upstream from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Cochiti is one of the ten largest earthfill dams in the United States. It stretches 5.5 miles and rises 251 feet to impound the waters of the Rio Grande and Santa Fe River.

Sept 27     Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument to protect its geologic, scenic, and cultural values. 

The cone-shaped tent rock formations are the products of volcanic eruptions that occurred 6 to 7 million years ago and left pumice, ash, and tuff deposits over 1,000 feet thick. Precariously perched on many of the tapering hoodoos are boulder caps that protect the softer pumice and tuff below. Some tents have lost their hard, resistant caprocks and are disintegrating. 

We got there when they opened at 8:00am. We started on the Cave Loop Trail and continued onto the Slot Canyon Trail. Absolutely stunning rock formations. The natural geologic formation are so unusual and the hike up the slot canyon was absolutely amazing. We kept going because around every corner there was something amazing to see. Parts of the slot canyon are quite narrow and part of the climb is pretty much a rock scramble. It got to be a little difficult for us so we finally turned around. We ended up hiking a little over 3 miles. 

A squirrel sunning himself

Sept 28     Jemez Scenic Byway

We drove on the Jemez Scenic Byway today. 

Traveling on Highway 4, our first stop was the Walatowa Visitor Center. Across from the visitor center is Red Rocks, stunning natural scenery everywhere.  

Inside the church

The Jemez Historic Site was our next stop. It's one of the most beautiful prehistoric and historic sites in the Southwest. It includes the ruins of a 500 year old Giusewa Village and the San Jose de los Jemez church which was constructed in 1621.

A fantastic geologic wonder, Soda Dam is a natural dam that formed from a hot mineral water flow which deposited travertine and calcium carbonate. It is believed that the process began about 7,000 years ago. 

Jemez Falls

We had lunch at the picnic area at Jemez Falls. Then we started our hike to the falls. Much of the trail is surrounded by beautiful trees and rock formations. Then we see it, a 70-foot plunge through a narrow gap in the granite rocks. Such a beautiful site with the fall leaves surrounding us. It was a short hike but felt good to stretch our legs from our long car ride.

Beautiful fall colors

This drive was very scenic and a nice way to spend the day.

We went over 100  miles in the Kia. 

Albuquerque

Sept 19     Winslow, AZ - Albuquerque, NM        265 miles     5 hours

We arrived at Route 66 RV Resort today. The Route 66 Casino is right next door. The rate is $50 per day, Good Sam rate $45 but if you stay 7 days the rate drops to $40 per day. We paid for a week.

Very nice park with wide open sites, swimming pool, and pickleball courts. We plan to kick back and relax and just enjoy ourselves...

Our site for the week

Sept 20

Today we went to Myer's RV in Albuquerque. We're supposed to be window shopping and just looking to see what's out there. Well we found one that we really like. An Allegro Red that's just the right size and everything we want. They gave us a pretty decent price and we were really tempted to go for it but we talked ourselves out of it. We're just not ready....yet.

Sept 21

This morning when we went outside there was a hot air balloon right in the back of us. We must be in Albuquerque because this area is known for all the hot air balloons. In fact in just a couple of weeks its going to be the International Balloon Festival in Albuquerque. This is a very, very big event with hundreds of hot air balloons from all over the world in attendance. We went to this festival a few years back.

We went to the local farmers market. It was very crowded with lots of vendors. We enjoy going to farmers markets when we travel. It's very interesting to see the different produce, crafts, and foods that are sold.

Artesian Cucumbers

Sept 23

We went hiking at Elena Gallegos Picnic Area. We did part of the Pino Trail and continued on another one, about 3 miles. This is a scenic trail at the foothills of the Sandias. The trails are well marked and nicely maintained. Very nice hike with unusual rock formations, wildflowers, and magnificent views of the Sandia Mountains and the city of Albuquerque.

We worked up an appetite, lunch was at Cracker Barrel.

Beautiful wildflowers

Sept 25

This past week has been very relaxing for us. We explored Albuquerque, gambled at the casino next door, ate at a few different places, and just relaxed at this RV park. The amenities are great. Besides spending a lot of time at the pool, they have hot and iced coffee and hot chocolate available all day. The showers and laundry facilities are very clean and cost $1.50 to wash and $1.00 to dry.

I think we'll be staying here again.

Fall 2019

This is my favorite time of the year to travel, cooler weather and colorful autumn leaves...so exciting. These last few months have been very busy for us, we're ready for some fun and relaxation.

On this 7 1/2 week vacation we plan to explore Northern New Mexico.

Las Vegas

We flew to Las Vegas on September 10 very late in the evening and checked in at Orleans Hotel. We like this hotel and got 2 nights comp so even better. They're hosting the Mr Olympic contest this weekend so a lot of muscle running around. We moved to Sam's Town for 1 night. We haven't stayed here for a while and wanted to take advantage of a comp room. So glad we did, they renovated and the rooms are very nice.

On September 13 we picked up the RV and checked in at Las Vegas RV Resort. We really like it here. It's an adults only park so no kids running around and splashing in the pool. The Good Sam rate is $35.60 per night. We stayed here for 5 nights. Spent the time in Las Vegas getting ready to hit the road. It was hot in Vegas, over 100 degrees so ready for some cooler weather.

Getting our RV cleaned up

Joe hired some guys to come and treat the roof and polish the top ends where he can't reach. It actually needed to be buffed out. Looks real nice....it should, it cost $300.

We ate at Texas Roadhouse on Craig road. They just opened end of last year. Pretty good, we've been to other Texas Roadhouses in other states and this one is just as fun.












Sept 19       Las Vegas - Winslow, AZ     284 miles     5 hours 40 minutes

Leaving at sunrise

We got an early start this morning. Went from desert scenery to forest in a few hours...so awesome! We're staying at Meteor Crater RV Park outside of Winslow, Arizona. We've passed here a few times on I40 and never stopped. Nice park, Good Sam rate $35.60 for water and electric. They have full hookups for $5 more but we're staying only 1 night so don't need it.

We went to check out Meteor Crater 5 miles down the road. $16 each to enter. Neat museum and movie. We wanted to do the rim trail hike but it was closed because it was too windy.

Meteor Crater was formed when a meteor slammed into the Earth. Though dramatic, this event is far from unusual -- collisions and impacts involving meteors and comets have been critical to the formation and development of Earth and the entire solar system.

Today Meteor Crater appears as much as it did when it was formed nearly 50,000 years ago. It remains the worlds best preserved and first proven example of a large impact crater and a valuable laboratory for research into the origins and evolution of our solar system.

View from RV park

Last stop...Las Vegas

Again, I forgot to finish this last entry from our last trip....

Mar 24     Scottsdale, AZ - Las Vegas, NV      292 miles     6 hours

We took a long time trying to decide if we're driving to Vegas today. We have reservations for a flight home on April 3rd. I didn't want to spend 10 days in Vegas, we gamble too much and we find places to eat. So if we lost any weight during our RV adventure, we always gain it back when we go back to Las Vegas.

We finally decided Vegas it is....we got a late start, around 930am and it took us about 6 hours. We took a little break halfway.

On the drive, I called Las Vegas RV Resort to book a week. We always stay at this park, it's a 55+ park with a pool and hot tub which we always make use of. They were booked and couldn't take us until tomorrow. Then I called KOA at Sam's Town. They quoted me $59.99 for a pull thru....crazy! Finally, I booked a regualar hotel room at Sunset Station for $45.00.

It's March Madness so I put in a bet for the last game. Oregon vs Cal Irvine. I went Oregon and over. Oregon made the spread but missed the over. Was 127 1/2 but the total for the game was 127. Can't believe how close!

Dad always travel to Las Vegas during March Madness. Miss him a lot.....

Uncle Mike & Dad at the Cal

Mar 25-31

We're staying at Las Vegas RV Resort for 6 nights. The rate is $32.54 per night with Good Sam. They do not offer a weekly rate. We really like it here. The sites are nothing special but the hot tub and pool area is nice and the laundry is pretty reasonable, $1.50 to wash and $1.25 to dry. I like to wash everything before putting the RV in storage. Plus, it's a 55+ park so no kids splashing around in the pool.

Lunch with Leslie & Winky

The few days here are spent gambling, playing in black jack tournaments, putting in March Madness parlays, a little shopping, getting the RV ready for storage and eating out with friends. Life is good.


April 3

Another great trip coming to a close. We put another 1,086 miles on the RV and 1,285 miles on the Kia. We sure get around!