Fennboree Day Two

This post is a hard one to write, not because it's painful, but because James and I realized just how CLOSE we were on our last search on this trip. That would be on Day 4, so I'm safe to post about Day 2, which was just as awesome as Day 4, but not so revelational. Lol. I want to post the info we've discovered, but I realize now is truly the time to keep my mouth shut.

Okay, so Day Two was the potluck at Fennboree in Hyde Park. There was SOOO much food. I didn't have the time to make mac n cheese and cookies, so I made two pans of the good ole standby--rice krispy treats.

Upon arrival, I saw WiseOne carrying some heavy loads (a cooler and something else) up the hill, so I jogged up and took the cooler from her, and that thing was heavy. It might have been filled with bricks. Lol.

After I set down the treats, I helped myself to a hot dog and spotted Spallies and went to chat with her. James took longer to get his food--I guess cause he's a man and can eat like a horse. He joined us with a plate full of fried chicken. Like maybe ten pieces. He must've built up quite an appetite that morning.

It was a really fun day. There was a little boy who ran up to me as I was setting down the rice krispies to show me a little golden treasure box and a prize box that held a cool little telescope in it. I showed him how to use the telescope, and he wanted me to open the little plastic gold chest, which didn't open, although I pretended to try and he liked that. I later saw him standing under a tree peering through the telescope. I wish I had a picture of that.

Later, I found out Sacha had hidden the treasure chests in an area around the pavilion for the kids to find. If they returned a treasure chest, they got a prize. When the kids were done searching, Forrest and I were going to go search for one of the few that were left, but as we were walking up to do that, Sacha announced the trivia contest. So I had a dilemma...search for treasure with Forrest, or play the trivia game? I noticed Forrest was getting distracted with attention, so I joined the trivia contest. The first round was easy. I knew almost all the answers, except the ones with numbers for answers. I'm not good at math. At all. Or remembering numbers.

Here I am sitting in the blue sweatshirt as Sacha conducted the contest.

I was the first in the second round to answer a question, and it was a number question. "When did Forrest sell his gallery?" Immediately, a couple dates came to mind--1979 and 1986. But both were wrong...it was 1988. So, I was out of the competition. I got a nice coffee cup consolation prize, but I made the mistake of setting it down, and when I returned for it, it was gone. Lol.

So, I went to search for the little treasure chests, but couldn't find any. Heck, if I couldn't find a treasure chest hidden for kids, how could I find the treasure chest? Lol...

I also got a chance to hand out some beautiful bracelets that NTMI from ChaseChat made. They represent the turquoise bracelet that's in the bronze chest. I gave one to Cynthia and Sacha and a few other people that made an impression on me. I also brought one to Forrest, but it was too small.

James was kind enough to give his bracelet to Forrest.

Then, James and I went on the short hike to the waterfall. It was a nice hike, very private and peaceful and you could hear the water trickling down the stream, and the wind whispering through the trees.

Forrest also spent a lot of time autographing things, like Spallie's tee shirt:

And mine, too:

After that, I remembered an old video Dal did a long time ago about an old pueblo where pottery shards littered the ground. We talked to him about it, and decided to go check it out.

So, we were on our way to Ojo Caliente. When we got to the resort where we were supposed to park, we noticed it was about to storm. The sky was dark in the distance, the wind was picking up, and the thunder was getting unnervingly louder. I don't think James really understands the danger of lightning, since he's from Seattle, since he was like "La la la, let's go on a hike!"

Thankfully, the storm passed without killing us. We weren't sure which way to go, so we just started up the path, then decided to take a short cut by climbing up the side of the rocky mountain. It was a little strenuous, but I'm glad we did, because we found a cool medicine wheel at the top made with chunks of quartz. People had left little offerings of pottery shards and beads and other stuff. You can also see this medicine wheel from Google Earth.

Shortly after that, we were scanning the ground for anything cool, and I stooped down and got a butt full of cactus. And when I tried to pull them out, they got stuck in my thumb, index finger, palm, and wrist. So, the remainder of the four hour hike, I had to be careful of how I bent over or picked anything up. Lol. I'm thankful the cactus thorns were more like wiry hairs than like this one.

Anyway, we finally arrived at the Posi Pueblo ruins, and had so much fun looking at all the painted pottery littered among the ground. We had collected a few pieces prior to entering the fenced area.

Anyway, we finally were getting tired, so we headed back to the car, then back to our "Wonderland Villa." It was a great day, and the ride home was amazing. The storms kept brewing, but then there was a break, and we saw a couple rainbows, and this spectacular sunset:

Anyway, I can honestly say that was one of the best days of my life. I love creating new memories with James, who is just the most awesome guy I've ever met. We truly found the enchantment in the Land of Enchantment. :)