Trains, Tarantulas & a little bit of Taos

Our adventures continue...since my last post we have experienced lots of Southwestern territory. 

 Canyon de Chelly we took a canyon tour with Beauty Way Tours. 

Chaco Culture Park 

Between Canyon de Chelly and Chaco we relaxed for four days at Navajo Lake State Park NW of Farmington, NM. While there I finished a quilt top of a baby quilt. 

My sewing studio al fresco. 

We traveled onto Bandelier Nat'l Monument...an interesting stop on the way- 

This is Soda Dam - a natural dam of mineral deposits on Jemez Creek. A bystander told us 20 years ago the water flowed over the top, now it has bored a hole through on the far right side. 

The fun thing about visiting Bandelier NM is the trails and ladders. 

And

Always a warning sign: 

Dan is doing great just 6 months post heart surgery. We were at Bandelier during the liner eclipse. Park rangers brought out some big telescopes and it was a fun event. No pictures of that worth sharing.  

I am often entertained by the tiny wildlife we encounter. 

This is a blister beetle about 3/4" long. 

This is a cracker the ants near our campsite ate while we were at Bandelier. At Chaco we saw a 4' bull snake (under the camper) and a herd of elk, again no photos of either. There are lots of ant hills and I keep wondering how big and how old they are. At the museum about the Los Alamos Nat'l Laboratory they had a display about ants at the Trinity bomb site who bring up green glass bits that were created when they tested the first atomic bomb. 

Oh yes I mentioned trains and tarantulas in my title...

We took a fantastic ride on the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad. We stayed at an RV park in Chama, NM. Thursday morning we got on a bus there and took an hour drive to Antonito, Colorado where we boarded our train to ride back to Chama. The scenery was terrific. 

Beautiful aspen

Rugged canyons. I sat with my head out the window most of the day. 

I loved the pace of the whole day. The clickety clack of the wheels and the sound of the whistle....

Rainbow in the vented steam from the engine. 

From Chama we drove over a 10,000' pass. 

This is the Bravos Cliffs, we passed on the way to the Rio Grande Gorge. There is a national monument managed by BLM called Rio Grande del Norte or Wild Rivers National Recreation Area. There are well dispersed camps along the rim of the gorge. If I have my numbers correct. The gorge is about 600' deep and if it weren't filled with silt it would be 6 times deeper than the Grand Canyon! 

The deep canyon was right behind the camper. We were there two nights and we had wild thunder storms both nights. 

This is a view into the canyon where the Red River flows into the Rio Grande. 

Once again I was distracted by the not so tiny wildlife. 

This tarantula was walking through our campsite when we arrived, the coin is a dime for perspective. 

We met another one at the visitor center plus we saw at least 20 crossing the park road.  Another question I am pondering "Why do the tarantulas cross the road?"

This bit of color is some fabric I bought at a quilt shop in Taos. We didn't do anything else there but our travels may take us back through in a few days. 

I apologize for the length of this post...we have been "off grid" without phone or Internet most of the time. So I am going to make this longer and tell you persistent readers a kitchen story or two. 

Since we really live in the camper the majority of the time I mostly do real cooking not just easy camp cooking.  A few days ago we had German pancake. 

 And tonight I made a kale & tuna noodle casserole 

 It was yummy. 

But yesterday morning we had a little disaster... I recreated the event in the next couple pics. I remember the first cooking lesson from my mom was to never leave a pot handle poking out from the stove top. And I am usually very careful. So back to yesterday, I was making "savory sweet cakes" ala my talented son-in-law Dane. I grated sweet potato, added minced green onion, garlic, mushrooms, stirred together with a little flour, egg and seasoning. They were just starting to brown on the griddle and for just a moment, to get them nice and even, I turned the griddle this way:

Then I got warm and was removing my sweatshirt and CRASH!

Breakfast was on the floor! The dark spot you see in front of the griddle is some of the stains that remain. Not a good morning. Ah but, life goes on. Buenas Noches from New Mexico. 

jb