Vacations and Hikes

Last month we set out to San Diego. What a beautiful place.. We started with Kayaking as soon as we landed at 8:30 am.

 The water was freezing cold but it was really nice to see the caves.

A little too choppy to go inside.

The sea lions didn't seem to notice us at all.. LaJolla also had a beautiful park with lots of hiking. Torrey Pines State Reserve was amazing.

 

The cliffs are amazing to see.

We spent time at the museums, breweries and walking around in Old town.

I will post some pictures of a hike we did when we got home. Its on the Placitas side of the Sandias.

Camping in San Lorenzo Canyon

It finally got warm enough for us to do our first camping trip of the season. San Lorenzo Canyon is just south of us. We met our friends there late after a flat tire on the highway and a tow truck drive to the nearest tire place 5 min before they
closed. We made it to the site just as it was getting dark.

Waking up... We were the first to rise.

The canyon stayed warm most of the night and cooled down later.

Capone had a great time.

We enjoyed the privacy except for the occasional hiker curious about the back of the Canyon where we set up.

Having some lunch after a long day of hiking. We had a great big fire at the end of the night.

Heading out the next morning, stopped at Sevilleta Wildlife Refuge for a quick hike before heading home.

Living in New Mexico

Well it's been a few years..  I have been in New Mexico a little over a year so it's time to share what a great place this is and it's hard deciding where to begin. Since moving here we joined several hiking groups. We have some really great friends and no I have not forgotten those I left behind. I miss and love you guys and I hope that you will come to visit really soon. I want to share this amazing place with all of you.

A few weekends ago we bought a book about city hiking and places to see in New Mexico. We did 11.5 miles that day. We did so much that I have to be picky about the pictures I post and what to tell you about.

We did some back alley art work looking.

As you can see someone lives here..








Now before I show more amazing art. Let me add in some history.
The next picture is of Zachary Castle. In 1976 Gertrude Zachary opened a jewelry business. She then began building her dream home in 2006. It cost 2-4 million dollars to build.

This is the famous Hotel Parq Central. In the 1920's this was built as a Children's psychiatric ward with a Grim past. It is said to be haunted.

No ghosts to be found but you can see the remnants of the psychiatric ward. We walked out to the roof top bar to take a peek of the city. We were with Robert, Vicki, Linda and Mary Anne.








I have never seen so many mosaics in one place as I did in city of Albuquerque. They lined the walls of the convention center.

Well now I leave you with a few other pictures. It's a unique city with lots of history.

 Don Quixote..

The things people do with car doors..

New Years Camping

 
 Well after a fun New Years camping with Joaquin and Karen last year, Jesse and I go it alone again.

We booked a great park in Sebring called Highland Hammock State Park.

The only down fall was how close the sites were to one another.









Luckily we didn't have anyone on the other side of us.

We arrived on Saturday and set up camp. We ate lunch at the picnic area and then set off with the dog and completed 5 hikes for the day.

We also visited the CCC Museum. There were so many interesting facts about what went on during the Great Depression.

After dinner we sat in on a campfire with stories about the boys of the CCC. I learned so much that night. Capone curled up in my lap and slept since it was past his bedtime.

The next day we started out early and completed 2 hikes before catching our tram ride through the hidden parts of the Park.

We spotted 4 Gators, turtles, Several different birds which included a red tail hawk.

After the tram ride we headed back to the camp site to complete our final trail in the park.

Capone kept up with us everywhere we went.

We went outside of the park for dinner at the sunset grill which was on the lake.

We drank Margaritas and Pinacolada's while eating a great burger.

Monday we packed up and went back to our favorite trail before leaving the park.