Cienega Springs & Armijo Trail

I'm a little behind on my posts, so this was actually from early September.  This was a hike that we tried to do earlier in the summer but it was closed due to forest fires, so luckily this time we found the gates open!  There actually was a spring involved, although not too impressive, but enough for Bailey to wade around in and cool off a little so she was happy :)  They do a lot of selective clearing within forests in this part of the country, apparently to control/prevent fires.  Some of the workers started making these cone things several decades ago when they do the clearing, so there's a bunch of these cute little tee-pees along this particular trail.



This trail was a nice combination of sun and shade, hills and flat, and woods vs open views.







And we found a Georgia Tech caterpillar, so it was a good day :)

Taos

On our way home from Breckenridge, Josh and I decided to stop and check out Taos.  Josh is excited to do some skiing/snowboarding there this winter but neither of us had been, so we wanted to look around and figure out what we would be getting into.  We found a great German restaurant above the ski village called The Bavarian and had some brats for lunch.  They also have some rooms for rent in the top of the cabin, so it might be a fun place to stay sometime!





We wandered around the ski village for a while but almost everything was closed for the summer.  The mountain looks a little intimidating to me as a novice at snow sports, but I think it will be a fun place to visit this winter!  Then we drove another 25 minutes to the town of Taos and wandered around.  There are a lot of cute shops and restaurants and we had a nice dinner at Taos Mesa Brewing.  We were eager to get home to see our puppies after our week in Breckenridge without them, so we headed home pretty early and were treated to some beautiful wildflowers on the side of the road.

Breckenridge with the Sterns (Part 3)

For our final hike we went up the mountain from our condo to Boreas Pass at the Continental Divide.  It was another beautiful day and this hike climbed about 800 feet over 5 miles.







Another successful hike with beautiful views and wildflowers the whole time!







There was even still some snow at the top!



Apparently the railroad ran across the Continental Divide here from ~1870's to around the 1930's, when it was eventually abandoned.  Some of the cabins used by the rail workers are still there and can be rented for overnight escapades and back country skiing in the winter.









The aspens were beautiful and the colors were already starting to change for fall.



A few more random gems from the trip... A mountain goat in the parking lot of the condo:



And a rainbow over town after a morning rain:



Overall, it was a fun time with family in a beautiful place and a great way to spend an extended Labor Day weekend!

Breckenridge with the Sterns (Part 2)

On day 3 the "kids" decided to go kayaking in Frisco, which is about 30 minutes outside of Breckenridge.  It was a beautiful day as we set out on the reservoir and luckily the sun stayed out, but the winds picked up and made for a very challenging trip back across the lake. Apparently we were the last kayaks that made it back before they had to start going out to rescue people!









Once we made it back we had a nice picnic with my parents and enjoyed a much deserved drink while taking in the lake views.  The following day Aaron, Josh, and I rented bikes and attempted to conquer Baldy Peak.  We had a great time and survived unscathed, but I think it was a little more challenging than any of us anticipated!  I'd say it was worth it for the beautiful scenery though, not to mention we all looked pretty good in the helmets :)







Later that day we enjoyed dinner and relaxing at the condo while savoring a gorgeous Colorado sunset.





Part 3 coming soon...

Breckenridge with the Sterns (Part 1)

Labor day weekend and the following week we drove up to Breckenridge, CO to meet my parents and Aaron and Ashley for a family vacation!  It was a beautiful drive up and only took about 7 hours with stops.



Even though we've gotten used to 5000 feet of altitude in Albuquerque and hiking at around 7000 feet, it was a little tough getting used to the 10-11000 feet in Breckenridge, especially for my parents coming from ~1500 feet and Aaron and Ashley coming from ~150 :)  So the first day we did a relatively easy hike up to a nice little lake at Hoosier Pass/Crystal Lake.  There were some beautiful wildflowers along the way too.





The next day we did a little bit more challenging hike called Burro Trail.  It started right at the base of Peak 9 of the skiing area.



The hike followed a creek for a while and then continued up into some beautiful forests and crazy trees.  Leighton's little pony, Florina Tart, came along for an adventure too and took some pictures for Leighton to help her get excited about her first skiing trip in February :)











Later that day we enjoyed some dinner and beautiful views downtown.

Camping at Navajo Lake

A few weekends ago we went camping at a lake in northern New Mexico with some new friends!  Megan is a nurse practitioner at my office and we went with her boyfriend Rami, their neighbors Mike and Susannah, and their daughter Elanor.  Plus dogs.... lots of dogs (five total).  Here's a pic of the whole crew huddling up after the rain:



We were excited to go to a real lake since natural water features are something we have definitely been missing since moving here.  The lake is about 3 hours away from Albuquerque, but Megan and Rami found a camping spot a little farther out that was gorgeous.  It was right on the water with only a few other people nearby so we could have the dogs off leash to run around and play.  Here's an action shot of Bailey and her friend Biscuit in the water:



We got set up with our tents and Rami's super fancy pop-up tent on top of his car.





We got a little rain the first day, but luckily we had a good tarp set up to wait it out without getting too wet.  It ended up leading to a gorgeous sunset and we even had a little bear sighting!





The next morning we got to do some swimming and paddle boarding.  Maybe next time I'll get the "stand up" part of paddle boarding down, but for now Bailey and I are content to just sit.





Mike tried to do some fishing too but had a few too many "helpers" to be very successful.



It was a great camping trip and we can't wait to go back next summer when it's a little warmer!





Bailey was sad when the weekend was over (and also maybe a little car sick)...