Return to the Gorge; a partial eclipse

We cannot stay away from Taos and its mountains and its trees and its gorge. So we went back there over Memorial Day weekend, this time accompanied by the talented Emily Barbee, and hiked down to the river.

Sam and Emily at the gorge.

The cactus in bloom.

Seriously, that gorge.

And then the sun was eclipsed by the moon. That was pretty cool.

Not your typical shadow behavior right there.

 

 

The neighborhood animals were going pretty crazy at this point.

Sam in the friscalating dusklight.

Truth, Consequences and west Texas

Don't worry, we also had time for some vacations. For our anniversary we made our way through strange and sinister southern New Mexico to Truth or Consequences, home to many hot springs and serious relaxation.

Desolate downtown T or C.

Happily ever after.

 

 

 

 

Dude.

Then, in June, we ventured even further south. Through El Paso and the desolation of west Texas to Marfa, TX, adopted hometown of minimalist sculptor Donald Judd. Marfa is a weird, beautiful place, an oasis of art, great food and great people in the middle of the desert.

Judd's untitled work in mill aluminum, at the Chinati foundation in Marfa. We did not take this photo.

Didn't take this one either. Judd's concrete boxes at the Chinati foundation.

Downtown Marfa.

The view from our patio (that's right) at the Paisano Hotel in Marfa. I covet that van.

At the beer garden in Marfa. In this photo I am looking at a very loud, tailless parrot.

Riding the river, conquering the peak

May was sweet. The nights became balmy and mellow. The notorious windy season started mild and ended early. So Sam and I did what any self-respecting Minnesotans would do in that situation: we floated down a river. Thanks to Leilani and Ranger Dean, we hitched a ride on a raft through the Rio Grande Gorge, north of Taos. The water was too low for rapids, but that just meant we didn't spill our beers. So no problem.

Leilani Dean, backwoods guru of northern New Mexico.

Ranger Dean shows us the way.

 

Yes, please.

Later on, we finally made good on our solemn vow to hike all 7.5 of the La Luz trail to the Sandia crest.

Sandia crest.

Between our visits to La Luz, everything decided to bloom.

Sam at the summit.

La Luz attempt 2, White Sands National Monument, Gila Cliff Dwellings and Tent Rocks

At the beginning of March, we hiked a few miles farther up the La Luz trail to 8,800 feet (this is the first hike we went on in ABQ), but were stopped by all the snow.

We also camped for a night near some volcanic fields.

And then we headed toward White Sands National Monument. If you look closely you can see the ridge of sand at the top of the picture.

Once there you buy a sled, put some wax on it and sled down these cool white sand dunes.

Pretty sweet!

We backpacked into a remote campsite

which was very hot during the day, but cool and gorgeous at night.

They have these poles in the sand as the dunes are constantly shifting and without them, you would be in the Hunger Games essentially. Only without any of those parachutes.

Our friends Candyce and David are always up for adventuring with us.

Amazing!

Django, one of the cutest dogs ever.

Sunrise at the dunes was also incredible.

We do live pretty near the Rio Grande which is a nice place to talk a walk or run.

And we got more visitors. We decided to head down to the Gila Cliff Dwellings.

People built and lived in these dwellings over 700 years ago.

There are a nice place to hide from the New Mexican sun.

Pals.

It wouldn't be a trip to NM without hitting up some hot (well, warm) springs.

But then we hiked a few miles to the sweetest (Turkey Creek) springs. We had these giant pools to ourselves.

But we had to cross the river 15 (or was it 16) times to get there.

Luckily we had fun friends and beautiful landscapes surrounding us

as well as these creepy and pretty ghost trees.

We camped down by the Gila River where we got serious about fire

and about appreciating the amazing canyons

we backpacked through.

This is a bigger view of the Gila National Forest.

And yet more adventurous visitors arrived for a visit! We camped for a night at Bandelier National Monument in the Jemez Mountains after getting turned away by some other campgrounds.

and we went to Tent Rocks for a hike after hitting up a Japanese spa. We can't rough it all the time.

Tent Rocks is filled with these slot canyons. I kept expecting to see James Franco needing some assistance.

Josh was skeptical.  Too much old stuff.

Kyle on the other hand, totally loved it.

The reason they are named Tent Rocks.

We made it to the top. No one was nervous about how high we were.

Ahhhh...New Mexico.