New Mexico: The Land of Enchantment3

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When we left The Ranch Escapees Park we weren’t sure where we were going to end up – Las Cruces or Truth or Consequences. We wanted to visit Deb & Jerry in T or C if they were home, but would go on to Las Cruces if they weren’t.

On our way we stopped at Oliver Lee State Park outside Alamogordo to get our Sunset fix

And to revisit the White Sands National Park




We made it to T or C and spent some delightful time with Deb & Jer!
The Chile Tour
While the fellas’ tried to find out if the squealing brakes on the Motor Home were a problem, Deb and I went on a Chile Discovery Tour.
The first thing I learned was that Chile is spelled with an ‘e’ not an ‘i’ – huh – imagine that!
Hatch, New Mexico, the Chile Capital of the World is close to T or C – so off we went.
You can see the fields from the road and small growers dry their chiles on sheets on the ground, on metal roofs or car roofs but we wanted to get up close and personal and see what they do with them after they leave the field.
The gal at the local service station directed us to a couple of Chile processing plants just up the road.




At the first plant we were greeted at the door by a fellow covered with chile dust who suggested we go around to the office and someone would show us around. AA Chile Company is a fairly sophisticated operation. We noticed that most workers wore gloves; breathing masks; and nets over their hair and beards.

Once the chiles are trucked to the plant from the fields, they are washed with a special solution to sterilize them; put onto trays that are on tracks to travel through the drying tunnels that reach 150 degree F.



Most of AA’s chiles crushed and sold wholesale to food companies. Paprika is one product they produce from those specialized chiles.





The second plant (MBJ Packing) is family run and our tour was with two of the brothers (Angel and Manuel). They not only dry chiles, they produce salsa and do custom packing. Their mother was working in the area where they make the salsa and do the customized packing. Angel does the marketing in El Paso but he was at the plant because they were busy and needed his help.
Their process is different because they pack some of the chiles whole – dried but supple so the chiles can be packed into boxes without damaging them.

We discovered that the long string of chiles that are sold all over are called Ristras. The Ristras are mostly decoration now but originally they were a way to dry the chiles to use later.

So Deb and I decided to try our hand at stringing the chiles. After we finished, we found directions on how to do it. Yes, they did fall apart but that was okay – we just put them into the freezer until we get the courage up to try to cook with them.

New Mexico: The Land of Enchantment 2

There is something about the camaraderie in a traditional Escapees RV Park and The Ranch is one of the few that follow that tradition. A welcoming bell rings each time visitors come in. Folks seem to come out of nowhere to welcome the new visitors. Hugs are the greeting for many and others just welcome the newcomers with a smile, a nod or a handshake. The only drawback of The Ranch is that it sits in the middle of nowhere between Roswell and Carlsbad but the folks could not have been more welcoming and congenial. We reconnected with people we had met before and connected with others we will probably meet again in our travels as we explored the area.

Carlsbad Caverns
The first caverns we toured were the Mitchell Caverns in the Mohave Desert over 10 years ago. They felt small and intimate as the walls seemed to close in. The strongest memory is the sense of darkness. Without the guide’s light, it was impossible to even see your hand in front of you.

In contrast, the Carlsbad Caverns are humongous!
We toured the Big Room. that is supposed to take about one and a half hours – Huh! After over two hours, we were all pooped out but it is spectacular.
The first thought through my mind was “it seemed a lot like the Grande Canyon “ – just that huge! Then I discovered that Will Rogers described it as the Grand Canyon with a roof on it - I understand why (except you are 750 ft. underground).
When I Googled the Big Room in the Carlsbad Caverns it came up with the funniest explanation of the size that I have ever read so I decided to include it.
The Atlas of Great Caves of the World by Courbon, Chabert, and Bosted & Lindsley published in 1989 states that the floor area of the Big Room in Carlsbad Cavern is 33,210 square meters. 33,210 sq. meters equals approximately 357,480 sq. ft. A football field is 360 feet long (including the end zones) by 160 feet wide or equal to 57,600 sq. ft. By dividing 57,600 sq. ft. into 357,480 sq. ft., you roughly get that 6.2 football fields would fit into the Big Room. In acres, one acre is equal to 4,840 sq. yards or 43,560 sq. feet. Divide 43,560 sq. ft into 357,480 sq. ft. and we find that the Big Room is 8.2 acres in size (more or less).

Needless to say - it is BIG! – And old!
It’s estimated the caves started forming about 25 million years ago. The acid percolating up from below and rainwater and snowmelt draining down from above form small mineral deposits called speleothems. Growths from the roof downward are known as stalactites. Additionally, water on the floor of the caverns can contain carbonic acid and generate mineral deposits by evaporation. Growths from the floor upward are known as stalagmites. Other speleothems have names that reflect their shapes: columns, soda straws, draperies, helictites, and popcorn and formation carry names such as: Bottomless Pit, Giant Dome, Rock of Ages, and Painted Grotto.

Path through the Big Room


Stalagmites

Stalactites

Ladder down to the Bottomless Pit

New Mexico: The Land of Enchantment

Santa Fe

We literally blew into New Mexico and Santa Fe. We set up in an RV Park a few miles outside of the city and decided to explore Santa Fe the next day.

The next day when we left the Park, we wound our way through the hills surrounding Santa Fe and stopped at a couple of the museums hidden in and among all the adobe dwellings.

  

Even with the trusty GPS, we struggled to find our way to the historic old town. Once we were there we spent most of our time in and amongst the plazas, churches, shops and old adobe buildings.

 

Santa Fe is laid out according to the “Laws of the Indies”, town planning rules and ordinances which were established in 1573 by King Philip II – winding streets radiating from a busy central Plaza. Many of the streets are narrow and include small alley-ways. 

It was oh, so difficult to slow down and Santa Fe did not seem to be the place we could do that. It was still very cool and windy. Even though Albuquerque is drenched in historic Spanish influence, Native culture, Museums, and Art Galleries, we were not ready for any more city time so we skipped that leg and headed down towards Roswell and Carlsbad.

No Rain but Oh the Wind!

We hung out an extra day in Lethbridge because of the wind but the wind followed us through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and even into New Mexico.
I’m afraid to say that this route was not the most exciting trip we have ever taken – like if it wasn’t for the wind, would there be anything to talk about?
Montana was the same old – same old  until we found a pull-off on the road just before the huge metropolis of Moore, Montana (population approximately 200). 
The Montana Bale Trail

We called this the FACE TREE.until we found out it is the MEDUSA HAY sculpture

And then there was the WIND-SURFER

The Montana Bale Trail is the route from Hobson to Utica to Windham, Montana. The premier event is the WHAT THE HAY contest: a  display of whimsical, cleverly decorated and sculpted hay along the 22 mile route. http://www.montanabaletrail.com/
The fields are filled with cattle and most of them are black. What ever happened the the brown and white Herefords? We were told that there is no such thing as Black Angus cattle – it is merely a product name - any black cow is considered a Black Angus.
We wandered back and forth between fall and winter – green fields and just harvested hay bales to fields prepared for the impending winter onslaught. 
It's Tuesday, we must be in Wyoming

Wyoming - a place that makes you want to get on a horse and ride to the end of the world: Vast yellow-grey-beige fields with a single black cow eating in the middle of the nowhere field; cliffs that hide ancient dwellings carved into the timeless rock.

And then came Colorado

It was a beautiful day: sunshine and unending blue skies. We travelled on the top of the world – nothing but blue skies above us.
Wooden snow fences stripe the endless rolling fields getting reading for the invasion of snow, wind and cold (long narrow straight boards leaning at 45 degree angles and propped up by rows of triangular supports)
The streaked clouds stretched across the sky forewarning us of the winds to come. At almost 6500 ft elevation the winds started and the big overhead signs spelled out severe wind warnings.
It looked like we were driving into a dust storm – no it was not a dust storm but a huge grass fire extending miles off to the west. The winds were so high that the police stopped traffic from going any further and we found the nearest Rest Stop and rode the wind waves all night waiting for the calm.
We blew into New Mexico on an almost hurricane force wind at 7500 feet elevation.



Santa Fe and a sheltered place to park was most inviting.

Here Comes the Snow

Here it is – the second week in October and over two months since I’ve posted anything. What is it they say? “Time flies when you’re having fun” . Let me see – what have we been doing . . .

The rest of the summer weather did co-operate. So this years we managed to visit my favourite National Park (Waterton/Glacier) a couple of times. First I went up with Diane (a gal I met in the line at a local grocery store last year who used to work in Waterton-another story) then Fred and I went up after the tourist rush was over. By gosh, he takes fantastic photos.

Waterton Lakes looking towards the USA

The Village of Waterton

Prince of Wales Hotel that overlooks the Lake

Waterton was our Go-to place while I was growing up. I went to the YMCA Summer Camp there; many of our friends’ families had cottages there; and we often went cross-country skiing in Red Rock Canyon – so it does have special significance for me. Like everyplace Waterton is far busier than I ever remember it but still offers spectacular scenery.

Cameron Falls is right in the town of Waterton

There is still snow around Cameron Lake in July

With Diane as my guide and teacher,  I managed to get some wonderful photos of the wildflowers and even learn their names. Mind you, Diane knows the scientific names but these were good enough for me and heaven knows how long I’ll remember them anyway. I loved what Sheila said “We can learn them all over again next year. That way, we’re always learning new things.”

I put them into a special BLOG - firstep Wildflowers – with all the wildflower photos from the Yukon and Waterton to keep all together.

And then, of course there was the Stellar Jay begging some of our lunch.

My Buttons are Popping!

My writing has been coming along – and I did get this email from the editor of one of the magazines I write for:

Top ten Snowbirding 101 articles visited in the last 12 months. (Sept 2011-Sept 2012. Time spent on each article in brackets)

1. rving across the border (3:39)
2. feeling down in the dumps (4:29)
3. going solar harnessing the power of the sun (4:25)
4. rv park etiquette (3:26)
5. the ins and outs of rv clubs (3:33)
6. the vast desert marketplace of Quartzsite (3:53)
7. the same only different (3:30)
8. the wonderful world of e-readers (3:50)
9. show me the money (4:08)
10. its time for snowbirds to fly home (3:06)

In total Snowbirding 101 received over 7,000 unique page views last year! That is the highest of all our columns. Well done Lynne.

 

Birds of Prey Refuge Centre

The Centre is about 5 miles east of here and one on those places  I just never got around to visiting, so this year it happened.

The Centre works with injured or abandoned birds. When they’re well or large enough they are release them back into the wild unless they are so badly injured that they would not survive. They do breed burrowing owls because they are an endangered species.

Baby Burrowing Owl

       

These are both Bald Eagles – it can take up to 7 years for the Eagle to develop its while head.

 

The staff work with the birds to demonstrate their power and agility

The Ferruginous Hawk – the largest hawk in the world. This one feed mainly of gophers.

Of course, our next big challenge was to plan our Winter Venture.  Originally we wanted to head down to Louisiana and leave here the first of October. A long trip but places we had never been or have not been for over a dozen years – yeh – that sounds like fun!

Then life got in the way. First there was the hurricane, Isaac, that hit around where we wanted to visit – around Lafayette and the wildlife refuge near Lake Charles - and then Fred had a medical incident that turned out okay but took time. Consequently we put off leaving – that is activating the Medical Travel Insurance – until October 20th and our travel plans keep on changing. The only thing that seems consistent is that we will visit New Mexico but not in time for the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.

Back to work!!

We’ll catch up with you somewhere on the road.