So Many People!

 When we last left you, we were just getting ready to depart on our great winter vacation. As we were packing the last of our things up Zoey would not leave the door. She just sat there and stared at it as though she thought we were going to leave her behind, never to be seen again.

Our first day took us south and a little west through Lusk Wyoming, down through Cheyenne and into Colorado where we spent the night in the parking lot of the Loveland Colorado Scheel’s store. This is by far the largest Scheel’s store that we have ever been to with parking lots on both sides of the store. They have a parking area for RV’s and vehicles with trailers. We pulled right in and made ourselves at home for the night.

The next day we carried on south through Denver and into Colorado Springs. So many people! Even though it was Sunday there was traffic and construction. We have lived in the country so long that we have become spoiled. Rapid City with its booming population of 76,000 seems too crowded for us. By comparison, the Denver metro area has just over 2.93 million, Over 3x's the population of the entire state of South Dakota! Businesses, houses, condos filling every square foot of land as far as the eye could see. There is a reason we live where we do, we may need to drive over an hour to our nearest Walmart, but it is worth it! I told Barb that if our 63 acres were in a residential development like these and the average lot size was a ¼ acre, would have over 250 houses on our property. Crazy to even think about.

From there we continued south until Barb announced, “Take the next exit”. I followed her directions for the next 15 minutes until we pulled up to this Roadside Attraction. I mean, who could not stop to see the statue of Dizzy, the most famous dog of Palmer Lake Colorado?

She then directed me down another road for 3 miles to take a few pictures of horseshoe art that some guy made for his granddaughter. I stayed in the truck and passed on this amazing exhibit. I need to find out what website she is looking at and block in on her phone.

On our way back to the interstate I saw the lake in which Palmer Lake was named and people were ice fishing on it! My turn to stop and see what is going on. We took the girls for a walk on the ice. Zoey took to it with no problem, Dakota was not a fan.

There were several families out ice fishing. With the town as a backdrop and a train going by it looked like a postcard. I could see myself living there in another life.

Our next stop was unexpected but when we passed the sign, I got off at the next exit, looped around and headed back the other way. Sometimes the unexpected is just what you need. The Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame is located in Colorado Springs. 

We walked the hall looking at the names and memorabilia from the inductees. Most of the names we did not know but several we did. Like these two. Many of you will remember Lane Frost from the movie 8 Seconds portraying his life and his tragic death.  

That movie also featured this inductee. Bodacious, one of the meanest, rankest bulls to ever be on the circuit.

Then there are the Barrel Racers. Barb knew several of them, competed against, attended clinics and even met one or two.

If you are into that sort of thing, it is worth the $9 entry fee.

Continuing our way south, we made our way into New Mexico. Barb had found us a Harvest Host spot to stay the night at in Cold Beer, NM. How can you not stop at a place with that name? It is located between Maxwell and Taos on a lonely and desolate road. I mean this place is out there in the middle of nowhere. Just a bar, alongside the road. 

There were a dozen trucks in the parking lot, we walked in and everybody and I mean everybody stopped what they were doing to see who walked in. But they were welcoming enough, they had decent food, a T.V. where we watched the Vikings lose to the Giants, and of course….cold beer.  

We spent the night in the parking lot. A cold and restless night as it was windy and snowing. This is where we first ran into a problem with our camper. Not a big one but an annoying one nonetheless. We just had a new furnace installed last month and it works fine but when it kicks on it somehow cuts off the propane to the fridge causing it to beep. I turned the fridge off and back on and it seems to light up just fine. Until the heater kicks on again. It does not do it every time the heater kicks on but enough to make it annoying as hell in the middle of the night forcing me to get up and turn it off and on again. Does anyone have any idea what is causing this? The propane tanks were full when we started so that is not the issue.

Leaving Cold Beer we drove towards Taos, through Cimarron Canyon, Angel Fire and a few other snowy but beautiful towns.

We stopped in Taos for a couple hours and walked the town. A cute little town but too artsy for us, just not our thing. We finally arrived in Santa Fe where our first stop was the Santa Fe Brewing Company for a refreshment before we settled in for the night.

We spent the night at a trail head parking lot for LaCieneguilla Petroglyphs. Another cold night but the fridge only cut out twice, so we got a pretty good night’s sleep.

It rained and snowed throughout the night, so we woke up to a sage-covered and white backdrop. With the temps in the low 30’s Barb and I decided to take the 1-mile hike up to the petroglyphs leaving the girls in the camper. The trail is not very well marked, and nothing really tells you where the petroglyphs are, but we hiked up to the most likely looking rock walls and found a few. There was a bit of rock scrambling involved so it was probably a good thing the girls stayed home.

We returned to the camper with wet feet and a bit chilled. After warming up we headed into town to see a few things. It was still cold and rainy, so we looked for a couple of indoor activities. The first stop was a local antique mall. It is always interesting to see what antique stores carry in different regions of the country. Lots and lots of Southwestern Art and Décor. Pretty in its own right but would not fit into our house at all.

We then went to a place recommended to us by another Jim who commented on the blog last week. Now, I have never met this Jim, but he recommended the Sopapillas at Tia Sophia’s in the plaza area of Santa Fe. I had never even heard of a sopapilla before, but I thought what the heck, if Jim recommends it, it must be good.

 So, we go there, find a parking spot (which was not easy with the truck) and went to Tia Sophia’s. I ordered the Chicken Sopapilla while Barb ordered the beef and bean. The waiter then asked “red, green or Christmas?” I had no idea what that meant so I asked him what he recommended. He said, “Christmas since it is snowing outside”. Our food came and it looked delicious, and Christmassy, I guess.

I took my first bit and realized that Jim was trying to kill me! My mouth was on fire, my eyes were watering! The waiter came over to me and asked how we liked it. He took one look at me and said, “Let me get you some water”. After the first few bites the heat diminished (or I lost all sense of feeling) and I ate the whole thing. It was actually very good, and I would get it again, although with the milder sauce.

Barb, who is into all things hot and spicy absolutely loved it. The meal also came with two plain sopapillas that you put honey and cinnamon sugar on. That was even better than the meal. Thanks for the tip, Jim but next time warn me! Remember, I am a Wisconsin boy who thinks pepper is a spice.

We had more adventures planned for Santa Fe but most were outdoor based, and the weather was not cooperating, so we decided to leave a day early and head further south in search of a little less snow and a little more sun. 

Next up Albuquerque!