Eagle Nest, NM

 

 

This is the nice little cabin we stayed at last night.  When we went to the office and then looked at the cabin, the owner told us the restaurant was only open for another 30 minutes, it was 7:30 after all.  So it was OK with her if we went to eat first and finished checking in after.

When we walked into the bathroom, this is what we found.  I made sure it was OK to take it.  The owner said “That’s why we put it there.”  Never got a rubber ducky before.

Eagle Nest Lake

 

At the restaurant, while we were waiting for dinner, our waitress, of about 15 years old, told us about the ghosts she has seen in the hotel, which used to be a bordello.  She said she was too afraid to take us upstairs to see the rooms.  So the bartender took us up.

She then spent almost an hour telling us her ghost stories. 

The next morning that restaurant was closed so we went to a café down the street.  The restaurant choices were easy to make since they were the only places open. 

A sign on the door said their credit card machine was broken, but we weren’t worried, since we often have some cash.  Well, when we went to pay, we were cash broke.  No problem to them, they let us go back to the motel, pack up, check out and then come back and pay.  Nice small town folks.  The café was so full when we got there, that we joined a couple at their table for breakfast.  They were locals and told us where to stop on our way through the canyon.  When she asked where we were headed and we said Denver, she asked why.  So I told her I was going for some medical tests.  When she and her husband were done eating and were leaving, she came back to the table, made sure she had my name right and said she would have her church pray for me.  Duane and I used a couple of tissues after that.

 Another neat thing about this café was the signage.

       

This says:

10 years ago

We had Johnny Cash

Bob Hope and Steve Jobs

Now we have no Cash

No Hope and No Jobs

PLEASE

Don’t let Kevin Bacon Die !!!!!

 

     

Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park outside Angel Fire, NM

 

On our way toward Colorado, we passed this state park.  A man lost his son to the war and built this chapel on a hill and eventually dedicated it to all soldiers who were injured or lost their lives in Vietnam and donated it to the state of New Mexico

 

    

The little chapel

        

 

New Mexico Folk Music and Dance May 23-26

 

We are headed for a folk dance festival.  Yesterday was our 20th anniversary.  On our honeymoon we went to the second annual New Mexico folk festival outside of Cuba, at a girl scout camp.  We thought it would be romantic to do the same thing again, at their 22nd annual event.

We arrived in Socorro, New Mexico right before 7pm, when dinner was to be over.  We got directions to the campus of New Mexico School of Mines, but did not see any of the landmarks and streets we were supposed to see.  So, just kept following the road we were on, and lo and behold, there was the campus, and they still had dinner available.  So, everything worked out great.

Our dorm room was in the West Hall.  Just your standard 2 bed dorm room.  Oh, did I think this was going to be romantic……well it was in other ways.

During the day there were workshops.  We mostly went to singing workshops.  That surprised us, too.  We thought we came mostly to dance, but we sang a lot.  We learned a lot, too.

We did dance, in the evenings.  The dancing we did is called contra dancing.  Almost all the people there contra dance in there home towns.  We were the exception, since Montrose doesn’t have contra dancing…….yet.

Contra dancing is done in lines with moves like square dancing.  Each couple moves up or down the line, dancing with all the other couples in the line.  It was wonderful fun and we did not mess up too much, and when we did mess up, someone always got us back in place.

The music we danced to was performed live by great bands.  There was a talent show by the attendees.  Surprisingly, there were some teens there.  Sure would like to know how to get teens involved in square dancing in Montrose.

This band was our favorite.  I will post their name when a remember it, or go out to the car, in the thunderstorm, to get the cd’s we bought.

 

Our singing class doing Cecilia at the talent show

The kids were doing the cup song.  We have seen kids and adults with kids doing that many times.  It is being done all over the world.

This is what the dance floor looked like each dance.  You can see how much fun every one is having.

The Very Large Array

 

This array is a large group of telescopes collecting data from outer space.  As you can see, the weather was not conducive to looking any closer. 

 

Had to take this picture, since I can’t remember when I last saw a pay phone.

El Malpais, New Mexico

 

Lava, lava everywhere……..love it.

We hiked the lava falls trail, following cairns, piles of rocks.  Great fun.

Sorry if there are too many lava pictures, but in our opinion, there is no such thing as too many lava pictures.  You should see how many we are not posting.

We did see lizards on our walk, and lots of flowers, which we found surprising.

 

Sandstone cliffs on other side of highway from El Malpais Lava Fields

 

As if the lava was not enough, on the other side of the road are these gorgeous sandstone formations.

 

                                                      

   

                                    

                                     

Our country sure has beautiful landscapes.

Vermillion Cliffs

 

We drove to the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument.  It is a beautiful wall of cliffs.  We loved seeing them, but to be truthful, they were not so much more lovely than other parts of the desert. 

Here are some pictures of the cliffs.