Mimi & Pappy Visit

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Albuquerque, New Mexico
April 18 – 23, 2018

 

We had a rare treat upon our return to Albuquerque (our second visit, the 2nd time). We had planned to stay in ABQ an entire month, and my parents visit was planned around this itinerary. But when we called the campground, they no longer allowed monthly stays – max stay 2 weeks. So we stayed 2 weeks, left for about 10 days to check out Santa Fe & Raton, and then came back for another 2 week stay.

A short hike through Petroglyph National Monument.
We looked for rock carvings and jack rabbits – there were many of both!

Enchanted Trails RV has about 6 vintage campers that are available for nightly rentals. They don’t promote them very heavily, because they are the owner’s babies & she doesn’t want them filled every single night with people who are not passionate about the RV lifestyle. We only knew about them from staying at this park last year.

Each of the trailers is decorated with antiques, magazines, and art from the era in which they were constructed. The ’74 Silver Bullet “Della” is all teal leather and pink flamingos. The ’63 Winnebago “Dot” is cowboy hats and photos of Old Western stars.

Enjoying dinner in our shared space between Stumbo & Josephine.

My parents reserved “Josephine” the 1969 airstream and we were able to park Stumbo right next door. Our doors opened onto a shared yard area where we were able to share many meals. Sunny & Mimi worked out a system where a certain light turning on in the airstream meant that Mimi was up & around int he morning. Sunny would watch our her bunkroom window for the signal & then hurry over to spend her early mornings with Mimi.

Lots of cozy mornings with Mimi in “Josephine”.
It was so fun to take Mimi to one of our all-time favorite museums.

We used the excuse of having Mimi & Pappy visit to make the trek north to Bandelier National Monument. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains northwest of Santa Fe, past vaguely marked government observatories, to a small valley full of centuries-old cliff dwellings.

We enjoyed a chilly morning exploring the cave cliff dwellings carved out the “tuff” – a rock formed by volcanic ash. It is holey like swiss cheese due to all the air in the rock, so it lends itself easily to creating cave homes.
Enjoying a warm, sunny bench on this cool morning.
Many of the cliff dwellings had ladders to their doors, and you were allowed to explore the insides as well!
It was a beautiful day to explore this National Monument. Mimi & Pappy especially appreciated the ruins of ancient turkey house foundations. (It’s believed that these people kept their live poultry in the basement of some of the circular ruins in the valley below.)
The girls exploring the recesses of this ancient cave dwelling.
We ALMOST got Mimi inside one of the caves…
Mimi & Pappy outside of Bandelier National Monument.
On the way home from Bandelier, we made a quick stop in Santa Fe to show off one of my new favorite places to Mimi & Pappy.
Exploring the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum (for free with our library family passes!).
A real hot air balloon ride wasn’t quite in the budget, but we enjoyed taking a ride in the 3-D Theater at the museum.
My mom & I drove around early one morning to chase the hot air balloons that were floating around above the west side of ABQ, waving at the airborne families as they drifted across the neighborhoods.
As is tradition now with all our Mimi visits, we had a tea party. This one was themed “New Mexico”, complete with hot air balloons, NM flags made from sliced fruit, macaroon tumbleweeds, and roasted pinon nuts.
The girls with Mimi, Pappy, & Josephine.

It was such a treat to tour them around the Albuquerque area, which now feels familiar enough to us that we were comfortable playing hosts. And visiting some areas that were new to all of us was a great adventure as well.

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1 Comment

  1. Shannon Dickerson says: Reply

    Hello Sara:
    As we sit on a site in Genoa, Colorado, almost ghost town it was time to catch up. This is the perfect place to fix the springs on our 5th wheel. It’s like boondocking with full hook-ups and access to a couple of washers and dryers. The owners of the park are awesome. Well enough of where we are at.
    Lesson on plants. Do the girls know what a goat head is? Besides hurting when you step on them with bare feet.
    I scanned over some of your posts. I enjoyed so will be coming back often. I love your bravery to take the challenge of full time traveling with your family. How did the kitty dilemma go?
    Shannon Dickerson

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