Santa Fe Part 3

I'm almost one year out from my total thyroidectomy. I'm feeling okay thyroid-wise, but found out from my endocrinologist that my thyroid level is still too low, so he bumped up the dose again. I'm ready to feel 100% again. Some days are good days where I feel really close to that 100%, and some feel like I've fallen into a pit of mud. I'm sure I'll get there.



My American Gladiator friend, Shannon Hall, is opening her new gym, New Smyrna Fight Club, at the end of the month, and it's located close to my work, and me and the kids have free lifetime memberships. So, I'm excited to get in some boxing and cardio workouts after work.



Okay, so on to Part 3 of the trip to James and I took to New Mexico in September!



We drove away from the Glorieta Retreat Center and headed west. We wanted to drive around San Lazaro and check out the scenery there. From GE, it looked like the entrance to San Lazaro was protected by a large electric gate. When we drove by, the gate was open, and there were cryptic looking signs posted along the road leading up to the gate. Some were upside down. I looked online to see if I could find any events that might be happening there, but there was nothing on the Internet. I also couldn't find anything that would tell me whether this actually was the entrance to San Lazaro.



But, since an event was clearly going on, and the gate was open, James and I decided to drive down the road a little bit. There weren't any "No Trespassing" signs or "Private Property" signs, so we drove a short way before finding the sign that convinced us to turn around. It said "Restricted Area; Prepare to Show Identification Ahead."



I asked James if we should go on and show our identification, thinking the worst they would do is tell us to leave, but James thought we should probably turn around, and since he's right most of the time, I decided to follow his advice.



We turned around, and headed further down the road, hoping to drive around the roads surrounding the pueblo and maybe find a place to park and hike. I knew there was a bike trail around somewhere, but that country is hard to navigate, especially by someone like me who is terrible at navigation (remember my choice of the wrong path earlier in the day). Lol.



The country in this part of New Mexico was more open than some of the other places we visited, with a lot of pasture land.

We came to a dirt county road, which looked like it headed straight into pueblo territory. We took that road, and finally reached the end of county maintenance, which meant it went from pleasantly passable in our little Ford Mustang to unpleasantly treacherous in less than ten seconds. But we drove on, carefully navigating the pits and other obstacles. Then we came to what looked like a small parking area, and a place where a fence began.



We parked and decided to hike the area not protected by the severely dilapidated barbed wire fence. Again, there were no signs saying we couldn't. A guy in a four wheel drive, who apparently lived in the house on the hill behind the fence drove up, looking like he'd just come home from a hard day's work. We asked if it was okay to hike here. In a friendly, carefree way, he said, "Have at it. Just be careful. Lots of rocks and steep drops."



I asked, "Okay, but if we find an arrowhead, can we keep it?"



He laughed and said, "Sure."



We agreed to his terms of being careful and gleefully escaped the car.

It was an amazing hike. We found a few obsidian arrowheads. And a ton of neat geography. We hiked around the curiously shaped boulders and in narrow little canyons. We were constantly bending down to sift through pebbles and chips of obsidian. We found an odd small pebble that , James, who used to own a jewelry shop that made items from stones, thinks is amber.



The hike was pretty easy, although there were places we had to climb. Nothing too treacherous, though. I saw no signs that humans had been in the area for a VERY long time. A curious feeling of awe washing over me as I thought about the people who lived here and walked these rocks centuries before. What did they do every day? How did they survive? What did their children do for fun on such rocky terrain? I could easily imagine games of hide n' seek, because James and I got separated more than a few times while wandering around.

Intently interested on the ground, I'd say, "Hey, look at this," and I'd get no answer. Looking up and glancing around, I'd find that James was no where in sight.



"Where are you?" I'd call out with a laugh.



"Over here," he'd call back from somewhere. In such a place, where there were hollows of rocks, dry arroyos, and odd sand formations that looked like giant anthills, sound could mislead you.

James had sounded as though he was far away, but was really just around the next boulder. Lol.

We found some interesting rock formations that appeared man-made. I haven't researched the geology of the area yet, so I still don't know if they were or not. If someone knows, please feel free to leave me info in the comments.



For example, this rock was quite large and the arcs and edges seemed different that the more natural looking rocks in the area:

And then there was this round one with a flat top:

And James took some pics of flowers...so pretty...

And James found the official "Cool Thing of the Day," which made a great photo:

Here are some more pics we took of the seemingly remote area:

After a whole lot of exploring, the sun finally began to set, and we decided to head back toward the car. We followed a dry arroyo, and soon discovered something very large had been there not long before us...



I couldn't help but feel that the mountain lion was crouched low to the ground, silent...watching us.

We finally arrived back at the car, satisfied with our jam-packed day of exploration. Although we weren't searching for golden treasure on our Gallisteo hike, we found it nonetheless...

One More Day

There's a new Hot Spot up. :)


Well, I guess I got the Mac just in time, because my laptop broke yesterday...it appears that Terrible Little Cat, knocked it off my dresser and the it floor in a way that messed up the pins in the power jack. I can probably fix it myself, but will take some little tools, which I'll have to search for this weekend. Anyway, the pics I need for my Santa Fe Part 3 post are on James's camera, and I need a USB-C adapter to get them off there and onto the Mac. I ordered the adapter yesterday and got overnight shipping, so I'll have it today.

That Terrible Little Cat is very bad. Terrible, even. She knocks EVERYTHING over. I can't tell you how many dishes she's shattered, but it was like, ten. Or more.

And I have this big bust of King David in my bathroom by my bathtub (nothing better than David watching me bathe--LOL--that was a joke, don't read anything into that). It has to weigh at least 20 pounds, but its knocked over every day, and I'm surprised his poor nose isn't broken off. Apparently, Terrible uses David for a springboard to the window.

Poor David is starting to get irked from falling on his face every day:

So, in the relative quiet of our house, there's always a crash happening somewhere when Terrible is awake and prowling.

And, as a result of Terrible bolting out the front door a few times, there are now fleas in the house, and I'm trying to nip them in the bud without having to spring for a vet bill for all three animals and the outrageously priced Trifecta. So I got up at 4:00 am this morning to give Monet a flea bath. I found three or four fleas on her. Then I gave them all a dose of the second best flea pill--Capstar.

And I'll call my ex-boyfriend, Kelly, later to see if he can have someone come by and spray the house real quick (he owns a pest control company).

I awoke to good news this morning, too. James's offer on the house in Naples was accepted, so he'll be ready to move in soon, and the pool table and outdoor furniture all come with the house. I'm so excited for him, and us. If we manage the extra money well, we might be able to turn it into a profitable business!

Yesterday, I had bloodwork done for today's endocrinologist appointment. It'll be my ten month post total thyroidectomy appointment. I also got the stitches out from my tooth yesterday, and that's healing well. After the doctor, work will be really busy, and I'm in x-ray today. But I got a lot of the other part of my job done, so I'm pretty much ahead, and am trying to stay ahead to keep things running smoothy. Karen bought us a mini fridge yesterday for the office we share, which is awesome. We're going to try and bring in more healthy things to snack on, and now that the weather is nice, we might start taking walks at lunchtime or before or after work. One of our goals is to be in the best shape of our lives this year, and I'm all in.

I'm discovering 2016 was a pretty funky year for a lot of people. But it's gone, I've slammed the door on it and am ready to start anew!

And for all those who think they can make me quit anything I start in this life:

And no doubt I will:

Have a great day, and make it better for somebody! :)

Still working on it...

I'm still working on part 3 of our Santa Fe Trip...should have it up tomorrow! :)

A Nice but Somewhat Sickly Weekend

James came on Saturday so we could go down to Naples and look at houses. He got some awesome news one Dec 31st--his home sold in Seattle for $15,000 MORE than he listed it for. It was an absolutely beautiful home, and James worked a lot on that home to get it pristine and upgraded to sell fast.

For those of you who wants to see the home James will be moving out of, it's here.

And he only owes $100k on it or less, so he'll be making a huge profit.

But he had to go to Naples after arriving to look at a few houses and he found one we both really like...Unfortunately, I couldn't go with him, because I was sick for the very last time in 2016.

You can find our probably future home here.

Anyway, I'm excited! And I might travel up to Seattle to drive with him on the way down...that would be an awesome road trip!

This morning I don't have time to do part three of our Santa Fe trip because I've gotta take Callie to the airport at 5:00 am, then get some bloodwork done, then go straight to work. But I'll try to get the last installment in on Wednesday.

I'm also working on a couple projects...one is a fun kind of satire about the chase, and the other is....James and I are going to start a business with his leftover money from the sale of his house. I can see a lot of great things happening this year, including going back to my spot to pick up the treasure.

Anyway, I want to brag about James for a minute. He is the kindest, sweetest guy I could ever dream of, and so easy going he doesn't care if we go out or stay home all weekend, just as long as we're together. Because we're both kind of homebodies, we tend to stay inside most of the time.

Except when we go on adventures:

And all three kids love him. Even Joe isn't shy around him, and that's a powerful sign. This morning I wanted to show him how much I appreciate him and how awesome I think he is by making him breakfast, which I did. He wanted scramble eggs with cheese and bacon and a doughnut, so thats what he got....with sprinkles. LOL. :)  No one deserves sprinkles more than James. Cause he's a winner, and sprinkles are for winners, right? :)

One of my favorite moments from 2016:

And to top it all off, he's tall, athletic, and handsome. The total package. So, yeah, he's pretty much swept me off my feet.

I think its going to be a good year, and I'm happy and content.

Anyway, time to get me homely self ready to take Callie to the airport...lol... Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about me...he thinks my geeky self is beautiful. :)

Santa Fe Part 2

So, we left off last time saying goodbye to producer Shannon and the camera crew. But James and I still had so much more we wanted to see and explore. We decided to continue south toward Las Vegas, NM and stop in Glorieta, near Pigeon Ranch, where the famous Battle of Glorieta Pass was fought in 1862. It was a turning point in the Civil War, and the climax of the New Mexico Campaign, resulting in the Confederates being forced to retreat to Arizona.

Depiction of the Battle of Glorieta Pass by Roy Anderson

I wanted to check out an old car I found on Google Earth that looked a lot like The Bullet. I'd found the trailhead to Glorieta online; it's located on a religious retreat property, and the website for this property said that hikers were allowed into the gated area to park at the trailhead.

However, when we got there, the gate was shut, and there was no one around. A sign said that hikers were NOT allowed to park on the property.

We weren't about to let that thwart us, and we drove around the area slowly, looking for somewhere to park. We finally found a spot, and started what would be a long, very strenuous hike.

Just getting to the trailhead was quite a trek across the large retreat property. However, the weather was beautiful, not too hot, and not too cool. We had a light bounce in our step as we approached the trailhead.

The trailhead signs were confusing, though, and we weren't sure which of the three or four trails would take us to the car. I consulted GE, and read some online info about the trail, and we decided to take the path to the right.

Well, that was the wrong path, as we would realize a good hour into the steep and often dangerous hike. Sometimes the trail disappeared entirely. We crossed streams, edged along narrow strips of earth on steep hillsides, and ducked under or climbed over fallen trees.

"Um, this doesn't seem like the beginner's trail the website said this was supposed to be," I said to James as I skidded down the side of a lichen covered boulder.

"Yeahhhh, I don't think this is the right way..." he replied.

So, we applied some mountain man wisdom to the situation, and promptly disagreed about how to rectify the situation. I knew the correct path was to the left, and squinting through the trees, I thought I could see how we might be able to connect with the right path. However, the way would be precipitous, and difficult. There was a deep, narrow canyon separating our path and the path we should have been on. I thought we could do it.

James was a little more tentative, afraid that we might expose ourselves to danger and wind up not even finding the other trail. He proposed we backtrack all the way back to the beginning of the trail and start over.

I was too impatient for that, and we'd come so far already, and I dreaded the thought of going back the way we came. It was getting really warm out, and my knee was already pinging with little knifelike jolts of pain.

So, we began the descent down into the canyon, crossed a muddy stream, and started the ascent back up to what I prayed would be the right path.

Despite the difficulty of the trail, we maintained a positive attitude and joked about our predicament. It was either laugh or cry at this point, and I like laughing better.

As we climbed, it became more and more apparent that we wouldn't be able to complete the climb without some serious rock climbing equipment. I had to admit defeat, and that's not something I like to do. We had to turn back. But I proposed we follow the muddy stream back, and avoid climbing until we were forced to.

Eventually, we made it back, and although a little hot and tired, we started on the right trail. I'd measured the car to be about a mile and a half from the trailhead, and figured we'd already hiked a strenuous two miles. My mind was beginning to tell my body I wasn't going to make another 3 miles, especially if the trail was as difficult as the one we'd just been on.

However, this trail turned out to be a bicycle ride compared to the other one. And in reality, it was a popular mountain biking trail. The walk was, for the most part, easy, and we eventually ditched the sturdy walking sticks we'd used on the difficult trail.

We trekked across butterfly-laden meadows, admiring the different trees and flowers and reeds that grew in the wetter areas.

It was hard to imagine a bloody battle had once been fought there. Like the beautiful turquoise waters of the South China Sea, the fields and meadows we strolled across hid a violent history of bloodshed.

Finally, our eyes fell on the most beautiful rusted piece of junk I've ever seen. The Bullet...that ended up not being The Bullet. But it was definitely "shot."

I started poking around, trying to find the serial number Forrest mentioned in the book.

Despite my enthusiasm, I didn't find the serial number that would prove this to be the actual Bullet. I did find a couple of spiders that made me scramble out of there pretty quick, though.

I don't think they were tarantulas, but to me, every spider is a tarantula.

After we had thoroughly examined the car and the immediate area, my curiosity tried to convince me to continue on to the ghost town of Glorieta. But we'd already hiked so long, and there was still one more place we wanted to visit before the sun set. So, with one last glance over my shoulder, and a promise to return to explore this amazing place another time, we headed back to the car.

It was probably a good thing we did...by the time we reached the retreat property, I was about dead. The temperature had risen, and we'd pretty much stopped sweating. With just a couple hundred yards to go to the car, we collapsed under the shade of a giant oak, and drank the last of our water. After absorbing some welcome breeze, we picked ourselves up and finally reached the car.

Here's a cool old Texaco station on the retreat property:

We'd already done so much that day, but we weren't done, and the most exciting part was still to come...