San Antonio Hot Springs in New Mexico

San Antonio Hot Springs is located near Jemez Springs in New Mexico. We drove from Albuquerque for a day trip to the hot springs. It was

about an hour and a half drive to the un-maintained forestry road 376. You can either stop at the bottom and hike up or if you feel

confident and you have a car with a high clearance you can drive to the parking lot at the top. When you get to the parking lot at the top

you still have a short hike to the hot springs themselves. Just follow the path and cross the river. It is definitely a tranquil place.

There are a few levels of pools each a little warmer than the next. The natural setting is just amazing. The place took me by surprise.

Lay around for a while chat with some locals and have a nice ice cold beer. Please take all your trash out with you.

Grand Canyon

Most people know the Grand Canyon. Showing the greatness of the Colorado river. It is strange to think that one river managed to create such a huge canyon. Everybody always says that photos do not do it justice. Well in this case it is definitely true. We did the south end of the park where most people do it from. Lindsay has done the North rim so we decided we would brave the tourists in their buses and go for it. As I approached the rim for the first time and peaked over, my breath was taken away by the sheer size. This does not happen to me often. It takes your brain a few minutes to really comprehend what you are seeing.

We decided to walk as much as we could of the rim. Well keep in mind we are doing this in the middle of summer. It was hot. Really hot. We walked from one viewpoint to the next and then take the local free bus to the next and so on.  You can do the whole thing via bus or hike one way and take it back the other. There is also the bike rental option. Well regardless to say it gets a little repetitive after a while. Yes it changes a bit but it seems to lose its luster pretty fast. One amazing thing we did see was the great Californian condors flying around. They are doing a great job of protecting them. They have been tagging and naming every single one of the condors since the 1970’s.
My advice for the Grand Canyon in summer is lots of water you can really use the bus and not feel too bad. If you have time hike down into the canyon (something we did not do). Oh and remember sunscreen, a camera, and a hat ;).  

Valles Caldera

Valles Caldera is a huge 22 km wide volcanic caldera in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. The Valle Grande is a part of the caldera an you can access it by a paved road. This part of the caldera is a huge grass expanse. The caldera is now a national preserve. It is located right outside of Los Alamos.

Car show on route 66 in Albuquerque

We were looking for some camera gear in Albuquerque and stumbled upon this car show.

Bandelier National Monument

Bandelier National Monument is definitly the best Puablo Indian ruins that I have seen. They date back to 1000 to 1600 CE. It is situated on the slopes of the Jemez Volcanic field in the Jemez mountains. The peoples of the area carved their houses out of the soft tuff on the rockface multiple stories high. They also built houses and kivas in the canyon floor. Lindsay used to live and work here so it was definitly a treat for me to see the place through her eyes. There are two ways of accessing the site. One way is to take the shuttle bus from White rock (There is very limited parking at the bottom because of a flash flood that destroued most of the parking lot) or you can drive your car to the camping parking lot and hike in and take the bus out to the parking lot again or hike back. We opted for hiking in and it was definitly worth it. Once you get to the main site you can buy your ticket and do the main 1.6KM paved loop. There is is also a trail that extends beyond this loop to the Alcove House. This is devenitly worth a visit (If you are not scared of heights). There are three wooden ladders you need to climb to get to the cove. So be warned.

Abandoned Diner on I-20 in Texas

We came across this diner on our way through Texas on the I-20