Some Enchanted Evenings...

"On the road" from New Mexico

It is Easter Sunday evening and David and I just enjoyed a sublime New Mexico sunset.  The Land of Enchantment sure knows how to do sunsets and we have been enjoying our share this past week.  At last we are ‘on the road’ and it feels fine.

On April 14 we left Odessa, saying goodbye to my parents.  They are our last stop before we begin our journeys.  Mom and dad had a big year, both of them turning 80 in 2013.  This summer they will have their 60th wedding anniversary!   It is always hard to say goodbye to them but it feels good that they are so supportive of our adventures.  Still, I am really going to miss them… 

 

Lea Lake, the largest of the 'bottomless' lakes at 90 ft. deep

 

As we crossed the New Mexico border on that straight and seemingly endless road to Roswell it finally seemed like the journey had begun.   After having dinner in Roswell with our long-time friend Steve, we spent our first night at Bottomless Lakes State Park.  A popular swimming hole for the locals, the lakes are cool and deep, but not really ‘bottomless.’ This time of year the park is one of those places that easily could be overlooked but on our first night out it was enchanting – a stroll to watch birds along the wetland, a beautiful sunset and the full moon rising.  Much later that night some people watched the full eclipse of the moon. 

City of Rocks State Park

The next day we headed to Las Cruces in time to have lunch with my mom’s favorite cousin before spending our second night at City of Rocks State Park north of Deming, NM.  City of Rocks was a place we had never been and it was definitely worth the trip.  By day, the park is impressive enough with its jumble of huge tuff formations.  But at sunset it really rocks!  The colors intensify and the shadows animate the rocks creating a ‘rock city,’ thus the name.

 

 

About 34 million years ago this part of New Mexico experienced a very large volcanic eruption of ash 1000 times larger than Mt. St. Helens. Tons of ash were deposited in this formation known as the Kneeling Nun Tuff.  Then the weathering process started.  Millions of years of wind and water and freezing and thawing sculpted the rows of monolithic blocks.  The rock formations at the park are so unique that they are only known to exist in six other places in the world.  (I’ll have to find out where those other six places are…) 

 

After wandering the ‘avenues’ of the Rock City and enjoying the desert in bloom we traveled a few miles down the road to Silver City.  We had a great time sightseeing and visiting the museum on the campus of Western New Mexico University where we saw some beautiful Mimbres pottery.  The next day we drove the Trail of the Mountain Spirits National Scenic Byway up to the wild and remote Gila Wilderness to spend several nights ‘away from it all.’

The desert in bloom, claretcup hedgehog cactus


We are back in Silver City tonight and have electricity, phone and Internet again.  What a great first week ‘on the road.’  I’ll be telling more about our wilderness adventures in just a day or so…