Fly Fishing the Pecos River

Quilting, quilting and more quilting is what I most enjoy, but, wait, there might be room for something else. That something else, for me, is fly fishing. It is like watching women skaters, something beautiful to behold. And, I think, like bow hunting verses using a gun, it is very hard to bring supper home. Not that ever would, I'm strictly a CPR girl, Catch Photo and Release.

Driving along the Pecos River, more of a mountain stream that runs along a road, you will see many people fishing. I guess that's part of it, driving and finding just the right spot. Our "right spot" came after hiking up the stream and off the road. We found a little grocery store with a bunch of hummingbird feeders. The women told me she fills them twice a day and they start eating them as she carries them out. Bird feeders are wonderful cheap entertainment. We've been traveling so much this year, that I haven't put any out, but, I probably will again. Around here we have so many squirrels and raccoons that the birds sometimes don't get everything.

Anyway, it's just nice to be in nature. Like I said, fly fishing is hard, but, my great white hunter managed to catch a trout. It did flip off before he was able to remove the lure, which is great. On this day, I was not so lucky, no fish for me. I do, however, have the patience of a quilter and am not discouraged. I managed to fall in the water, but, you know the only thing that hurt was my pride. At least my husband got a photo of it.

Sant Fe with our daugher, Chelsea

Bob, my husband, drove 2 days with a trailer full of furniture from Kentucky. Chelsea and I drove 2 days from Menlo Park with all her intern living things, we met "half way" and got her settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Then she ditched us, as children of the older nest variety are want to do.

After giving her a breather from us, she chose to meet up with us in beautiful Santa Fe. Our Rock Girl is interested in meteorites and wouldn't you know there was a rock hound with a shop in town. This is a meteorite that was found by some freinds of the owner of this shop. If you like gems and fossils you will like this place.

Traveling on to Canyon Road, where most of the galleries for the very expensive artwork can be found, of course I was drawn to this particular sculpture, yes, it's been painted with some very durable paint. It's been for sale for 5 years and they want a little under 200k for it.

You can't go to Santa Fe without seeing the Palace of the Governers and the Indians that come to display their wares. Chelsea got the best deal she's wearing the necklace she bought. Bob bought something for me, I'll show it later.

You know when you see Aspens you are really high up and Santa Fe has a skiing area.

Also, I'm always struck by how difficult it must have been to blaze these trails. This is a sculpture of what things were really like when people traveled with a cargo loaded buckboard. You will notice there is no seat for the driver to sit in. He was riding on the last mule and had the reins of all the horses in his hands. This sculpture can be found on Museam Hill in Santa Fe.

Obligitory beautiful words can't say, Spanish Mission.

Santa Fe on our way home

Bringing children to their future homesites has it's perks. That being we get to visit all these areas we pass through. New Mexico is a beautiful state, Albuquerque is lovely but, Santa Fe is one of the crown jewels in the art world. Besides contemporary art works, they do the best job in preserving the history of there architecture and Indian/Mexican heritage.

Chelsea really didn't need us to help her move, but, we thought she did or rather wanted to believe she needed us, cause this nest thing is so hard. We left her in her new home and got a hotel in Santa Fe and explored around there for 3 days. If you can get used to the dryness, it is the most beautiful city.

First of all food. We plan our outings around this guy's recommendations. He's on the Food Channel's Diners Drivins and Dives show. You should watch it, it's very entertaining and when Guy says "that's money", then you know it's something good to eat. He has a map of all the places he's been and we tried out most all of them in New Mexico and weren't disappointed. Our favorite place was Backroad's Pizza. It's all about the green chilly peppers there and this pizza had those and a cornmeal crust that was "money", according to Guy.

Is there anything more beautiful and an old preserved spanish mission? This is one connect to the La Fonda Hotel with a beautiful staircase.

Our Lady of Guadeloupe is everywhere and this quilt was beautiful. Pictures never capture the true beauty of a quilt and I was never so tempted to buy a quilt someone else made as I was to buy this one. It hung in one of the 3 D's restaurant's recommended and I felt a bit guilty taking a picture, but, it was so beautiful. I would never copy it, but, if anyone wants to buy it, it's at Harry's Roadhouse in Santa Fe.

Chelsea arrives in Albuquerque and quilting gets done

On we drove to our destination, Albuquerque. Along the way, I got some quilting done, of sorts. One of our group projects is working on a pattern in the McCalls Quilting Magazine, Quiet Village. I got a lot of embroidery completed while I took my turn driving. It's a 4 day drive from the start in San Francisco to Crestwood, Kentucky.

Moving kids around the country.

Life in the fast lane of youth, can't always be accomplished without the mom around to help drive. That was me a week or so ago. First, Chelsea, DD #2 had to move from the USGS to start her Master Degree work, in geology, at the University of New Mexico. So off I flew to San Francisco to help move her/drive her to said destination. Jennifer, DD #1 took the opportunity to come up a few days early to enjoy the last few days of Chelsea in California.

Leaving the bay area, we drove for one last visit to Yosemite. It really was a drive through one last time to salute the Captain, smell a tree and maybe see a bear or other such wildlife. The sad fact is that this park is hugely populated with cars. These signs are everywhere, and I'm sad to report this bear might have been the casualty of some crazy driver in the park. Of course any wildlife viewing causes major traffic jams, and this was no exception. If you go get there EARLY.