Tuesday, October 1, 2013

BEAUTY ON THE ROCKS AND AROUND THEM

Wednesday, October 1 – On Sunday, we attended one of our favorite churches, Legacy Church. It is in an adobe style dome with matching adobe structures for the office, youth center, and porches. A very unique, southwestern but modern building.

Legacy Church

The Balloon Fiesta begins this weekend. On the way to church, we noticed about a dozen balloons in the air.

balloon 

Our good friends, Jane/Joe and Donna/Norm, that we've spent considerable time with in Mission, TX, the last couple winters arrived on Sunday. They are here to volunteer at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Monday morning we all headed to Piedras Marcadas Canyon for a short hike.

Petrogyph NM

Piedras Marcadas Canyon means “canyon of marked rocks.” We were here to see some petroglyphs. Although urban development is quite near, after a short walk, we found ourselves far away from the city…at least mentally. The Canyon is home to the densest concentration of petroglyphs in the valley with an estimated 5,000 or more documented images.

sign

volcanic rock

The flat sandy trail that winds through the canyon is as easy trail over a mile back into the middle canyon. There are many petroglyphs, some even with signs to identify their location. There is a little rock scrambling involved. We all came through with only minor scrapes and bumps.

sign

Petroglyphs

petlographs

Petroglyphs sign

Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs

We enjoyed our hike for several hours with our good friends.

Donna, Norm, Jay, Jane, Marsha, Paulthe group

Beauty around the rocks.
flowers

There is a plant called the Devil's Claw that hasn't bloomed in over nine years. Due to all the rain in this area, we had the wonderful experience to see the "claw" shaped pod on the plant.

Devil's claw

After the hike we returned quickly to “urban life” by stopping at a nearby Costco's for some re-supplying and a quick lunch. It was no hour drive out to this hike.....ha ha!

Later Tuesday evening, we met up with some additional friends, Betty/Jay, Sandy/Tome, and Sandy/Dave, for a lively happy hour at the campground clubhouse. The twelve of us had a good time catching up with each other's travels and remembering old times. A good time was had by all!

Tomorrow we are headed to Lubbock, TX, for an overnight stay at the Elks. We have been there before and really enjoy this Elks park.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!