On to Santa Fe

August 19-23

It is a fairly short drive from Alamogordo to Santa Fe, so we did not rush to get going in the morning. We arrived in the early afternoon and found our campsite and set up.  It was a very nice camp ground with lots of trees and grass and located about 4 miles from the main part of Santa Fe.  However, traffic is really heavy and it took a long time getting anywhere. In addition, the roads are crooked, change names and are very confusing, particularly in the old section of town where all the action is. 

Our campsite even had a lawn where we could set up our Clam, a portable screened-in enclosure. However, mosquitoes where not a problem and the lawn area had a sprinkler system which gave it a shower every morning so we took it down. It also turned out that we were rarely at our campsite the entire week due to wedding duties.

After setup we had to head to Albuquerque to pick up Megan and Lucy, plus 4 suitcases of stuff for the wedding.  We got Megan back to Santa Fe and setup in the nice apartment she rented. The apartment was near the main plaza which is the heart of Santa Fe. Megan's apartment became flower central as she was responsible for flower arrangements at Kevin and Cina's wedding thing.

Kevin and Cina flew into NM on Tuesday AM and we met them at the Santa Fe Sam's Club to buy wine and things for the ceremony.  We also met Cina's mom, Martha, for the first time. We went to dinner that evening with them at Cina's favorite Mexican restaurant. There are literally hundreds of Mexican restaurants to choose from and by the end of the week we no longer wanted Mexican food, we found a steak place.

New Mexico is touted as the chili capital of the world. There lots of them for sale all over Santa Fe. Almost every food item in restaurants has green chilies in them. There is even a green chili beer we found.  Santa Fe is also in the mountains and sits at 7000 feet so it was not quite as hot as lower elevations. It is also very dry so staying hydrated is important. There is a ski area nearby and the better known Taos area is only an hour away.

On Wednesday, we took a tour of Santa Fe. It has over 80 art galleries and they are everywhere. It also is the site of a historic basilica and the miraculous staircase at the Loretto chapel. This chapel had a choir loft and the nuns would not use a ladder, as was common in that time. They needed a staircase so they prayed and a man showed up and built a two turn spiral staircase that does not have a center support post nor is it attached to the wall. He built it with simple hand tools and then disappeared without payment after completion.  It did not have a hand rail and the nuns were afraid to use it so they later contracted another carpenter to add an outer and inner hand rail. It is a thing of beauty.

The Basilica of Santa Fe

The miraculous staircase. The support was added later.

Santa Fe was also the check-in point for scientists enlisted for the Manhattan project which took place at Los Alamos, about an hour northwest of Santa Fe. There is a plaque on the wall in what is now a pottery shop commemorating this. Our guide said that scientists went in the front door and where not seen again as they were secretly escorted out the back door to Los Alamos. 

Besides helping Megan get her flowers together, I did get to play golf twice, on Thursday and Friday morning. Thursday, Elliott and I played Black Mesa, a beautiful, tough course about 25 miles north of Santa Fe set in the mesa and canyons. A local said to always take an iron into the rough as you might encounter a snake. Yikes. On Friday, Elliott, Andy, and Tom Etzkorn, a old friend in town for the wedding, and I played the Santa Fe CC. A bit flatter and friendlier course for a hacker like me.

A signature par 3 up into a canyon at Black Mesa

The greens and fairways were excellent. Off the course is trouble

One of two ponds on the course.

Beautiful vistas on almost every hole.

Alamogordo and White Sands

It has been a while since we have posted.  We were busy with family, the wedding, and plagued with poor WIFI. So, there will be a series of updates to cover our travels to Santa Fe and return.

August 16-19

After visiting the International UFO Museum, we headed to Alamogordo, NM where we plan to meet up with Keri, Elliott and kids.  The trip is up and over some mountains where we landed in the KOA.  Keri and fam arrived Saturday afternoon and we had a small party going in our spot. As the weather was very hot, there were not a lot of campers.

Chilling at our campsite.

 

Prior to their arrival, we visited Cloudcroft for lunch on Saturday. Cloudcroft is 15 miles on the road but 4000 feet higher in elevation.  It is also 20 degrees cooler.  It is a totally different climate and ecology than Alamogordo.  It has lots of trees and even a ski resort.

A tunnel on the way to Cloudcroft. On the other side it is much greener, more trees, etc.

At the tunnel stop. There are climbers going up the rock wall

Downtown Cloudcroft

Main drag. It was crowed up here.

On Sunday, we visited White Sands to show the kids the white dunes and let them saucer in the sand. The KOA was nice enough to loan us two saucers which we would have had to rent at the dunes.  While the saucer does go down the sand, it is not nearly as fast as snow. 

We left dunes at lunch time and decided to avoid the heat by returning to Cloudcroft for lunch. There is a fairly new brewery there with a neat patio, great pizza and good brews.  We also stopped on the way up to view the restored railroad trestle that was used in the late 1800's and 1900's to move passengers up to Cloudcroft to escape the heat. Cloudcroft was resort destination for people from as far as El Paso. The train was the only way up and it was a major endeavor just to build the railway.  This trestle is only one of many that had to be built.  In addition, the train had do a switchback, where it stopped, went in reverse up a ramp, and then forward up an another track to permit making the grade.  It was multi-hour grueling trip on the train just to get there. 

Restored trestle that let the train get to Cloudcroft.

We also visited a Pistachio farm. For some reason, this is big growing area for these nuts.

World's largest pistachio, so they claim

At all other times we were at the pool, cooling off.  The kids and we really enjoyed our time together at the campground. Keaton slept in the trailer with Keri, while Elly slept with her dad in a tent.  Fortunately, it cooled off enough at night so they could get some sleep. 
Tomorrow is Monday so it will be on to Santa Fe. Keri and Elliott are heading to Albuquerque to swap out rental cars. (They flew into El Paso and needed to get rid of their more expensive one way rental. )