A brief visit
  • Cimarron Canyon Palisades
    Cimarron Canyon Palisades first light

A full moon followed me as I travelled to Cimarron Canyon State Park (CCSP) in the Sangre De Christo mountains of New Mexico and provided enough light to read by in the dead of night when I reached my destination, or so it seemed. I used to like to go on a ramble in October, after work around the place was less pressing and I was ready for a break. For the last several years (not counting last year), Joyce and I would stay in hotels but prior to that I had car-camped by myself since Joyce had no interest in doing that. I had purchased a tent-like enclosure for the Pathfinder, so that when the rear door was opened, I was able to stretch out in my sleeping bag while still being protected from the elements. As the fall approached, I wondered if I still wanted to do that. The idea appealed but I knew the reality might be different, so I finally settled on CCSP as a not-too-ambitious proof of concept. Thus did I hit the road and set up camp in one of the CCSP camping areas.

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New Mexico
  • La Chiripada

It was a cold, moonless night when we left on our trip. Somewhere a dog barked. Oh, wait, it was a sunny day. But it was dark in Carlsbad Cavern. Because of Covid-19 people weren’t able to take the elevator down into the cavern but when I got our tickets I was offered to use the elevator because I look elderly, I guess. I should have taken them up on that offer. The decent was arduous, to say the least. It sort of put a damper on the tour of the cavern but we managed to tough it out. Back at our hotel in Carlsbad we recouped for a couple of hours before having dinner at Lucy’s Mexican Restaurant. We got there early and there was plenty of seating in spite of restrictions. The atmosphere was nothing special but the service and the food were good. Joyce had their fish tacos, which were unique. The fish was fried cod like one gets with fish and chips, and the sauce was tartar sauce along with lettuce and tomatoes.

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Grand Tetons

Dinner at Orlando’s in Taos Saturday night before we returned on Sunday may have been the highlight of the trip.  There was a full moon rising over the telephone poles as we waited on the patio for a table.  It was cool but comfortable, especially with the little fire they had going there.  On Wednesday we celebrated Joyce’s birthday with dinner at a restaurant called The Bistro, which was in walking distance from the hotel in Jackson.  There we had Kobe beef hamburgers, the cheapest thing on the menu at $21.  Our dinner at Orlando’s was half the price and much tastier.  The Bistro apparently catered to the well-healed crowd visiting Jackson Hole.  Orlando’s is an unpretentious hole in the wall.

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Cruise


It was warm and muggy in the western Caribbean last week, as one might expect, but comfortable for the most part on deck.  Below deck was a different story.  It was cold.  We kept turning the thermostat up in our room till the icicles hanging off our noses finally went away.  Though we were out in the mornings, we did work up a sweat walking around Cozumel and Georgetown but we didn’t stay out long enough in Falmouth to get that hot. Continue reading “Cruise”

Grand Canyon