New Mexico in the Winter

Don and I wanted to test out the new Willie in the winter, so we decided to come to New Mexico.

We arrived in Las Vegas, and spent the evening with Betsy and Matthew.  By the next morning however, we had about 6 inches of snow and by the end of the day, we had 8".  Not exactly what we were expecting, but Don managed to keep the pipes from freezing, and by noon on Wednesday, we were ready to get to Santa Fe.  On our drive out, a rock hit the windshield, so Wednesday afternoon, Safelite was able to repair the chip!

Thursday morning, we met Peter and Claudia and went to Nambe and Chimayo.  Having never been to either place, we spent quite of a bit of time driving through Nambe and walking around Chimayo.  We were at Chimayo on the second anniversary of baby Mia's death, so we had an opportunity to purchase a candle and light it in her memory.  It was a rather sobering day, but we were glad we were in Chimayo.

The trip to Chimayo touched our hearts in many ways . . . and our stomachs.  We had not differentiated between regular red chile and Chimayo chile, but after eating it, we tasted the difference.  We are now died-in-the-wool Chimayo chile lovers!

The trip to Albuquerque gave us the opportunity to see Aunt Ruth, who will be 101 in May, and to see my cousin, Mabel.  We had dinner with Bart and Char; saw our friend Merideth Hmura; went to the Albuquerque Museum to see an exhibit with our friend, Anne; and spent some time with our nephew, Joey and his wife, Traci.

Then on our way home, I insisted that we eat at Frankie's and go to the cabin.  It was a beautiful day, despite the nearly 20 inches of snow at the cabin, and the joy of walking through the snow exhilarated me.  A fall on the road did nothing to dissuade me from continuing, and although we only spent a few minutes inside the cabin, it eased the itch.

Then, we were on our way home.  We couldn't make it home in time, so we stopped at a little RV park in Elkhart.  It is a no-frills place, but it certainly works for a short-term stop-over!

All in all, it was a very successful trip, and the new Willie performed admirably in rather challenging conditions.