Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday we headed back to Albuquerque and stopped on the way to see Soda Dam - a natural petrified waterfall that also had a running water
waterfall coming through the rocks. We also stopped at Red Rocks which were quite impressive.
In Albuquerque we went to Petroglyphs National Monument where we did three short trails to see numerous petroglyphs. Afterwards we drove to the
campground where we were expected - due to the fact that we had already reserved and Helen's English accent that the campground owner could do a
very good rendition of!
Helen re-sealed the skylights inside and then climbed onto the roof to do them from outside and Kirsten worked on the computer to give her mom a
CD of all the photos for the last three weeks.
On Tuesday we took Kirsten's mom to the airport and had real problems getting to the parking area. We followed all the signs for parking and then
got into a one-way system and came face to face with a height restricted entrance which we couldn't get through. The "Oversize vehicle" lane was
blocked off by a cone and because it was one way we couldn't turn around and drive back out!
So we parked off to the side and Kirsten went to find someone to ask. She came back and said we could remove the cone and drive through but the
car park was full anyway, so we would have to explain to avoid paying the parking fee.
So Kirsten moved the cone and Helen drove up to the ticket machine. We kept pressing for a ticket but nothing happened and the barrier wouldn't
lift up! So we had to press the intercom button to speak to someone.
Then an airport official came out to us and asked who was the brains behind this great idea!! Helen wanted to know who was the brains behind such
a ridiculous system that traps vehicles over 9ft without any way of getting out!!!
The explanation was, that the ticket machine for oversize vehicles didn't work and we should have driven through one of the other lanes. The man
didn't seem to understand the fact that we were too high to get through!
Anyway, he got the barrier up for us we didn't have to pay any fee and then found a super efficient and cheap parking service that includes a
shuttle bus to the airport. They were so efficient that we had only just parked in our slot when the shuttle pulled up - Kirsten was still on the
toilet and had to really hurry up!!
We managed to get to the airport check-in with plenty of time to spare!! It's a good job we had set out early, because there was even a short
traffic jam on the interstate!
Kirsten's mom got checked in and cried when we said goodbye - and Kirsten ended up crying too!!
We got the shuttle service back to Winnie, did some shopping, searched for a library that we couldn't find and then drove back north towards Santa
Fe where we stopped at San Felipe Casino which has RV hook ups for $10 per night - the cheapest in the area.
We spent the two days sorting out Winnie and writing the website on the computer.
On Thursday we drove back to Tent Rocks National Monument and this time the weather was fine so we drove the 5 miles along the gravel road and then
went for a 3 mile walk through a lovely slot canyon with lots of hoodoos (rock pinnacles) and striated rocks in various colours. It was well worth
the drive out here.
On Friday we did maintenance on Winnie, mainly to top up both batteries and re-fix the back battery because the strap holding it in position had
broken. Then we spent a lot of time hunting for a library, the first one was closed and we couldn't find another so we gave up and drove north out
of Santa Fe.
We found a library in Española and spent almost 2 hours updating the website for the first time in months!! Afterwards we drove out along a scenic
road and stopped for the night at a picnic area right in front of the Red Rocks we had seen photos of. They are striped red and white and looked
wonderful - a great place to stop for the night.
On Friday Kirsten got up early to take photos of the rocks in the best light and after breakfast Helen had had enough of her long hair which was
really getting on her nerves. She had wanted to get it cut for a long time but we never had time to do it and the wind was too strong to cut it
outside.
So finally, Helen told her to shave it all off!! Kirsten took the longest setting on the shaver and simply shaved it all away! But she kept saying
"Oh God, Oh God"!!!! It certainly didn't help and Helen got a bit impatient because Kirsten wanted to stop half way! And then she wanted to leave a
long fringe!! No way!!
After Kirsten kept repeating "You're going to scream when you see it" and generally calming Helen down (!!!!), Helen got her hair short - really
short! She was really surprised to see that there was no grey hair at all!! She was back to her normal colour! She looks a lot younger but her face
gives her age away! Oh well, you can't have everything.
At least Helen still has two ears left, which was doubtful because Kirsten was shaking so much!
After using our solar shower to get clean we drove off to Ghost Ranch which was where Georgia O'Keeffe, the famous local artist, used to live. We
wandered around a couple of museums there and then drove to Echo Amphitheatre, a rock amphitheatre that really does echo.
We continued along the scenic route and went high up into the mountains where we found a free National Forest campground that still had snow! We
went for a 2 mile walk around Hopewell Lake and talked to a woman who used to work in Karstadt, Hamburg (a large department store). We had quite a
laugh with her.
She is american but lived in Germany for a while. She told us that she had to have a medical to get the job at Karstadt and was really surprised
that they asked for a stool sample!! (This was back in the early sixties). She thought that the Germans were "anal"!!!
It was so nice and peaceful at the campground that we decided to stay another night and relax.
