Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: Cochiti Lake Campground/Santa Fe/Bandelier

Monday October 16 – Thursday Oct. 19 – Cochiti Lake Campground/Santa Fe/Bandelier

Monday – We left Albuquerque in mid morning and headed north toward Santa Fe. On the way to Cochiti Lake Campground we stopped and had a nice breakfast at San Felipe Casino. Once at the campground all the electric and water sites were taken. We settled on a site with no electric or water but had an awesome view. Decided to do another test of our solar power system and do wash. Again it performed awesome and we did two loads with hardly any loss of volts.

Tuesday – Took the Rail Runner Train from Kewa NM to Santa Fe. The Kewa station is only 10 miles from the campground. Its a 50 minute ride to the Santa Fe station and then you are within walking distance of lots of Santa Fe attractions such as the Plaza and the Lorreto Chapel with the spiral staircase. There is also a free shuttle that travels through town with several pickup points. We spent most of the day walking around, visited the farmers market, checked out the shops and some of the old churches. At the farmers market we got into a lengthy and very enjoyable conversation with a couple from Texas. They have a house in Lubbock but spend a good part of the year traveling in their fifth wheel. Part of the joys of travel is meeting new people. We invited them out to the campground to check it out as well as our solar setup.

Wednesday – Took a short drive to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Park. We hiked the Cave Loop trail then took the one way trail through the slot canyon. Both trails totaled approximately 2.5 mile round trip with a 640 feet elevation change. The slot canyon trail is a little difficult in spots but it was fun scrambling over the rocks and slipping through the narrow slots. At the end of the trail you are on top of one the buttes with a view for miles around. On the cave loop there is a cave that was dug out of the soft rock by prehistoric peoples. Very cool.

Thursday – Today we went to Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos. It was an 90 minute drive to the park through some beautiful country. This park is the site of many ancient cliff dwellings carved out the of the cliff faces. As you walk the trail you can see many of the old opening to the dwelling spaces in the cliff, some of which you can climb a ladder and enter them. We walked the main trail then took the trail to the Alcove House. The Alcove House is 140 feet up the cliff face and is reached by a series of wooden ladders. Dennis opted to stay behind while I climbed the ladders. Whew! It was a workout! But I made it and though the site was a bit of a disappointment the view from there was really nice. On the way home we stopped briefly in Las Alamos. We stopped at a store to look for t-shirts. The ladies in the store commented on our Tomista's t-shirts we were wearing and directed us to another great restaurant that would be on our way home. We stopped at Gabriel's and ordered the guacamole which was prepared table side. Dennis had the green chili stew and I had pozole, a pork and hominy soup. Everything was delicious.

Temps: Woke up to 39 degrees in Albuquerque. Temps reached the upper 70's at Cochiti Lake. The remainder of the week was highs in the mid 70's to lows in the 40's.

Where we are parked: Cochiti Lake Campground Army Core of Engineers Park – Site 47. There are 60 sites with a mixture of electric and water, just electric and no services sites. Includes restrooms with showers. All sites have a shelter and picnic table. On Wednesday we moved to a site with electric and water. Campground fees - $12 no electric, $20 with water and electric. We used our national senior pass and only paid half.