PETROGLYPH NATIONAL MONUMENT

Monday, September 27 – We made one of our shortest moves today.....across I-40...a total of 3 miles. We are at Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post. We'll be meeting Betty and Jay Crane plus another couple here before moving to the balloon launch area on Wednesday. This is quite a historic park. It was originally known as Hill Top Trading Post, do to its location of the hill South of Albuquerque on the historic Route 66. The road and sites are gravel.

The Hill Top Trading Post is located in the office area.

Club room

45 year old Wurlitzer organ.

The next two trailers are located at the entrance to the park.

Our very spacious site.

Looking both ways on our road.

 

Our friends, Betty and Jay, plus two other couples that will be working the Balloon Fiesta, pulled in this afternoon. We all gathered for a get-acquainted happy hour. After getting to know one another, we headed to the casino for the $7.99 buffet. It was amazing. Tons of different nationality type foods were available. They had a great sweets bar to boot. Marsha and I aren't big buffet people and once again we came home miserable......ate too much!

Tuesday, September 28 – This morning we headed out with Betty & Jay Crane to visit the Petroglyph National Monument. We chose to hike Rinconada Canyon. It is a 2.5 mile round-trip hike following the base of the volcanic escarpment. Geologist estimate the Albuquerque volcanoes last erupted 150,000 years ago. Basaltic lava seeped from a 5-mile long fissure. As the sand eroded from underneath the lava, boulders tumbled down forming the escarpment on which the petroglyphs are found.

Jay and Betty

Marsha and Paul

What are Petroglyphs? They are rock carvings (rock paintings are called pictographs) made by pecking directly on the rock surface using a stone chisel and a hammerstone. When the "desert varnish" on the surface of the rock was pecked off, the lighter rock underneath was exposed, creating the petroglyph.

Archeologist believe Puebloans made most of the 1200 petroglyphs in Rinconada Canyon four to seven hundred years ago. The images include human-like figures, concentric circles/spirals, animal figures, and geometric designs.

We spent about two hours hiking the circular trail and viewing the many petroglyphs. It was amazing to see so many petroglyphs in one spot.

We also saw many millipedes, beetles, lizards, rabbits and other insects.

Milliped

Collared lizard

There was lots of different plant life along the way.

At one point, another hiker warned us of a rattler just ahead, but we were unable to find it! It was an enjoyable morning hiking among the petroglyphs with friends.

See more of Petroglyph National Monument here.

Tomorrow we will be moving to the Balloon Fiesta parking area. We will be boondocking (no utility hook-ups) for about 12 days. We will be working at the Balloon Fiesta just about everyday. We won’t be updating as often as usual. We hopefully will have some awesome pictures to share with you from the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great day. Hope to see you back real soon.

OLD TOWN ALBUQUERQUE

Friday, September 24 – We pulled out of the SKP Ranch near Carlsbad, NM and headed north toward Albuquerque, NM. It was uphill most of the way. We VERY GRADUALLY climbed from about 3000 feet above sea level at Carlsbad to over 7000 feet near Albuquerque, NM. We traveled NM State Route 285 most of the way. It was a very nice road. Forty miles east of Albuquerque. We then picked up I-40 through town to our campground. We're staying in High Desert RV Park just off I-40.

The change in scenery was amazing. We started out with FLAT desert land.

Eventually we came into some small rolling hills.

Then we were in high desert which was pretty dry land. They must not have received all the rain that they did in lower Carlsbad area. Then into the mountains surrounding Albuquerque.

We really didn't climb many steep grades....it was all gradual over miles and miles of highway. We actually dropped down about 1000 feet into Albuquerque.

High Desert RV Park is pretty nice. Paved streets with gravel sites. The sites have full hook-ups and are pull-through, but you must unhook. There is not enough room for your toad without unhooking. The sites are a nice comfortable size. The park is clean with very clean restrooms and laundry. The clubhouse is very nice with two pool tables that are fairly new. We are in Site #73. This is our home for the next three days.

Looking up and down our street.

We went to the Indian Casino tonight.....Route 66 Casino.

It's a very nice casino with all the usual machines and tables plus 4 bars, a couple restaurants, and a dance band. Unfortunately, the drinks were very expensive, the machine odds didn't seem very user friendly, and the band wasn't very good. We won’t be visiting there in the near future. Also, in New Mexico the liquor license and gambling license are separate. You cannot have a drink while you are playing the slots or tables. You MUST drink alcohol only in one of the “bar” areas. No alcoholic beverages may be taken on the floor. We talked with some locals at the casino and said that New Mexico is usually about five years behind every one else in everything. Very interesting.

Saturday, September 25 – We spent several hours walking around Old Town Albuquerque looking in many of the shops. Didn't buy anything but enjoyed looking. We skipped many of the shops, so we may return there later in the week.

 

Iglesia De San Felipe De Neri was founded in 1706. It is the oldest church in Albuquerque and has continuously served the community without interruption since its beginning. It is a lovely church.

We then took our camera to a repair shop. It appears Paul was a little clumsy and dropped it. The latch that keeps the battery door closed broke. They need to order a part, so we have to return there next week.

We then stopped at a Trader Joe's. We've heard so much about this grocery store chain. Nothing jumped out and said “buy me” so we left empty handed. HEB is still our favorite grocery chain, unfortunately we think they are only in Texas.

Paul dropped Marsha at home and went out to get his hair cut. The barber loved cutting hair, and cutting, and cutting. Paul's nearly bald for awhile.

Sunday, September 25 – Another  beautiful day. We began the day by attending Legacy Church. The church is a nondenominational church.

The orange area is the worship area.

The church has an adobe influence. It was lovely.

It was only minutes from our campground. This is a mega church with 5,000 members. It has a new Monolithic Dome sanctuary that seats 3,000. The church sponsors many ministries for every age group and an elementary school and a bible academy.

They have three Sunday services and a Wednesday evening service.

We visited a mega church in New Caney and did not like the BIGGNESS of it. We both said we didn’t want to experience that again. The Legacy Church did not give us this feeling. We were welcomed by many very friendly people. Pastor Smothermon had a Bible based sermon on the last commandment which hit home for of us. It was a great way to start our day.

Both the girls called today. It was great catching up with what they did this past week.

Most of the day was just enjoying the sunshine and talking with the neighbors.

We move to a new campground on Monday. It is just on the other side of I40 called Enchanted Trails RV Park. We are meeting up Jay and Betty Crane, the couple who got us involved with the Balloon Fiesta. We will be there Monday and Tuesday and then move on to the balloon fairground.

We drove a short way down the road to see the moon rise over the mountains. What a sight!

Looking down on Albuquerque before sundown.

Beautiful clear night. Yes, that is a single star in the sky.

This is our first moon rise. You can see the moon peeking over the mountain to being in full view.

    

    

   

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great day. Hope to see you back real soon.