Life in Rural New Mexico

There's something special about Grandma and Grandpa's place, on a little dirt road in the tiny town of Aztec, New Mexico. In the mornings, as the sun rises, it slowly reveals the cottagey house, its garden, and the little stream flowing by their front door. But the front porch is still the best spot in the house for breakfast, thanks to the misters which blow cool water onto the porch and surrounding plants. This is the best time to climb into Grandpa's self-made tree house. At Noon, when the sun is high, it hovers over the vegetable garden, shedding light onto the tomatoes, squash and giant sunflowers, as the hummingbirds draw nectar from a nearby feeder. In the evening you can watch the sun as it disappears behind the fish pond, then retire into Grandpa's outdoor "café", with spanish tiles and beach-themed wall murals, which make you feel like you're somewhere "South of the Border".

Life seems to stand still here, to the point where, you feel guilty sitting at the laptop, typing a blog entry, even if it is outdoors - in the shade of the Mexican-style Cucina, with hummingbirds chirping as they feed on nearby flowers. But isn's that guilt a good thing?

We flew into Albuquerque yesterday, then drove North to Aztec. Some of the things I noticed during the drive were:
~Multi-colored, jagged-edged Mesas
~Shrub-covered, wind-worn dunes
~Dried up river beds
~The occasionl stock of cattle
~Some motor homes and trailers in odd, remote places
~Strange rock formations, including vertical towers of stone, sometime topped with strange, unstable looking slabs; caves and arches, massive bolders, and volcano-like hills
~Old brick dwellings in the middle of "nowhere" (as subjective as this word might be)
~Wildflowers and whole forests full of pine trees (in the San Juan National Forest area)
~Rusty old cars (such as the one I saw at the bottom of a dried up river bed in the remote town of Cuba)

Tomorrow we're off to explore Durango and Silverton, Colorado. And because there's so much to see in this area, we'll probably skip the indian ruins here in Aztec this time around, but they trully are spectacular! As always, I'll keep you posted on our adventures!