Northern New Mexico

We left behind Texas' hot desert sand dunes and 7 hours later,
snow welcomed us to the mountains of Santa Fe, New Mexico! What a surprise! 

This one was taken a few days later after the snow had melted and a rainbow appeared.

We planned to stay 5 nights at Cochiti Lake since it's a good location to explore both Santa Fe and Albuquerque. We just happened to pick a site near The Wander Bus, a converted Ohio school bus which houses a fulltime RVing family with three boys. (photos by Our Wandering Family)

They completely redesigned the entire bus on their own and it is ah-mazing! 

You instantly forget that it's a bus once you step foot inside.

We ended up spending lots of time together at the campground, hiking the national parks, and enjoying dinners in town. They even met up with us in Las Vegas a couple weeks later.

I was excited to realize I might have a chance of seeing rosy finches as they come to the feeders in the  Sandia mountains during the winter. Once we reached the top I sat and waited and was finally rewarded with beautiful views of Albuquerque and all THREE species of rosy finches! This was especially cool since they have usually left the area by now and the very next day the feeders were going to be removed!

 Our Wander Bus friends accompanied us to the Explora Science Museum where we all learned thru running experiments and trying new things.

This was our favorite part. Here we designed houses, cars and spaceships, then scanned them into a machine which turned them into 3D objects on the big screen. The spaceships delivered the houses to their spots and dropped the cars onto the track where they would continue driving along.

Another day we went with them to explore Petroglyph National Monument. We spent time hiking thru Piedras Marcadas Canyon and searching for all the images carved into the rock. Archeologists believe most of these were carved 400 to 700 years ago and some may be 2,000 to 3,000 years old.

We found multiple grinding stones where they would crush corn or other items against the flat rock.

As the city has grown, it's been crawling ever so much closer to these precious areas which hold so much important historical significance. However, without protection, builders had begun building right up to the petroglyphs while thieves chiseled and removed them. Restrictions have since been put in place so hopefully this area will remain preserved for future generations to see them for themselves.

Five new Petroglyph NP Junior Rangers!

Journey was disappointed when we told her we were leaving on Easter. She wanted to plan an Easter egg hunt for the other kids. We ended up staying an extra night so they could enjoy their hunt and we could all spend a bit more time with our friends. Inside their eggs were color-changing lizards, puzzle pieces, jelly beans and mustaches!

Later I watched in excitement as an RV pulled in right between us and our friends. I had seen it posted in our Fulltime Families Facebook page about a year ago. It took all my patience to wait til they had settled in a bit before walking over and introducing myself. They built their RV from the trailer frame up for their family of four plus a small horse (ok, he's really a great dane, and he's amazing)! Check out "Learning the Long Way" here.

That night while the dads and kids had a Star Wars movie night in the Wander Bus, the moms enjoyed a quiet evening watching "Mom's Night Out" in our RV. We all had a great time.

Sandhills Revisited

A return visit to one of our all-time favorite campsites was next, Monahans Sandhills in West Texas! Again, the truck hadn't even stopped before the kids asked if they could go run thru the sand. I counted down, "on your mark, get set....GO!" and they jumped out and took off up to the top of the first dune.

We were lucky to get a campsite this time, apparently it's spring break for kids locally and the campground was full. A cancellation came thru while I was on the phone and they gave the site to us! Whew! The next morning I set off to see what birds I might find in this desert. I was absolutely shocked to return after a couple hours having SIX new life birds freshly added to my list! My highlights were my first view of a Pyrrhuloxia (a desert cardinal) and gorgeous views of a scissor-tailed flycatcher.

The kids had a blast jumping off the edge of the dunes.

 After sledding we went for a family walk and watched as scaled quail ran back and forth across the path ahead of us. We followed animal tracks and realized we found jackrabbit urine on the sand. Interesting.

I've been reading, Birding on Borrowed Time, by Phoebe Snetsinger, which details her world travels in search of new birds. A stay-at-home mom who'd reached her mid-30s before being introduced to birding. I could relate. Despite many extremely difficult events including an early cancer diagnosis with only months to live, this resilient and determined woman took it as a challenge to see every bird possible until her last day. She not only lived much longer than the doctors told her she would, she set a record by seeing 8,000 bird species, more than anyone else in the world. I finished the book, sitting on a sand dune watching a gorgeous scissor-tailed flycatcher hunting and resting on a tree next to me. Phoebe would have been pleased.

Before we left, I took advantage of the beautiful surroundings for family photos.

Until next time, Texas.....