Lunch with Jess and Dave Hansen

We traveled from Albuquerque, up the freeway I-25 thru Colorado.  We stayed in Colorado Springs, across from Old Colorado City and then traveled up to Denver on our way to Nebraska.  My niece, Jess Kramer and her husband Dave Hansen live in Fort Collins and they drove down to meet us for lunch in a little town outside Denver called New Brighton.  Denis took our photo and we took off to continue our journey home. 
We had a wonderful visit and talked about all of our future travel plans.  We promised that next time we would stay near Fort Collins and spend a little more time.

Beautiful Spring Flowers in New Mexico

Trip to Sante Fe, New Mexico

UncleWally, Denis and I took the Albuquerque Rail Runner to the beautiful town of Sante Fe, New Mexico.
Albuqerque has a wonderful rail system that travels to Sante Fe.  That is the capital of New Mexico and many workers commute on a daily basis using this train. 
We had another great day and Uncle Wally is very much fun to shop with and has very good taste.  He paints using water colors and oils and is very talented.

They have some of the most beautiful buildings I ever saw. 

Have you heard about the Loretto chapel that had a wooden staircase that was built with no supports?

It is freestanding and perceived to be a miracle.  It is no longer used however they have many photo's of it being used.

Old Town Albuquerque, NM

Uncle Wally, Denis and I spent an afternoon in Old Town Albuqerque.   It is a delightful area with lots of things to look at and purchase.  We also toured a beautiful old adobe church and many art galleries.  The Native American and CAtholic influence is represented in alot of their art.  We visited a beautiful old church, San Felipe - much of it reminded me of St John Cantius - the polich church in St. Cloud, MN.

We had a very nice day with my Uncle Walter.  He will be 75 this August and has a beautiful home in NM.

Moving on to New Mexico

We spent Easter, April 4 and 5 in Camp Verde due to the high winds and travel warnings.  So we went to church and out for lunch and back to the resort. 

On Tuesday, April 6th we traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The wind was high again but it was bearable.  We called my uncle Wally and he came out and had happy hour with us that evening.  It was quite cool so we were inside.  It was a city campground and quite characteristic of the environment.  Here's some great pictures.

There were casita's at each campsite with a picnic table.  Each casita was painted with Native American symbols.  And they contained a nice big picnic table.  Too bad it wasn't warm enough to eat outside.  Of course grass doesn't exist out here.   This road runner especially caught our eye.  We saw a large, live one in the shrubs next to our RV.  The view was fabulous.  The Sangria Mountains formed the backdrop.

More of Arizona

We visited this old copper mining town called Jerome, Arizona.  It is mostly tourist shops now but the season hadn't really begun yet and it snowed the day we were up there.  It is about 8000 elevation and quite a few switchbacks on the way.

This shop was a brothel and sells some very "interesting" clothing and items.  Perhaps they were used in their business years ago :):):):)

The town is built on an incline therefore you are either walking up or down as you go down the street.  This bar is called the Flat Iron - for those of you from St Cloud, MN - you may reconize this name.

The Grand Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is majestic to say the least.  Here's some photo's that simply do not do it justice.

Everyone should see this wonder of our country.  Every cloud, sun and hour changes the view.

Luna and I really don't like heights.  So we braved 1 picture towards the edge and that was it  !!!

The views are awe inspiring.  

   

Random Thoughts on Arizona

• It snows generally at 5000' elevation
• They have blue bells growing wild not blue bonnets
• The Arizona highway patrol enforces speed control with enforceable photo enforcement cars (no humans in car) along highways
• All grocery stores carry wine and liquor
• Some churches have cloth covered chairs with individual kneelers rather than pews
• There are Wells Fargo banks on every corner along with Chase (no US Banks)
• The saguaro (pronounced saw - aro) cactuses that are pictured on our blog that are 30' tall actually are 360 years old - amazing !!!  They grow 1" a year.
• There is a US Naval Observatory at 7335' in Flagstaff ( whatever for?)
• Grass in AZ is a luxury due to water shortages and cost 
• Hot temps are not unbearable due to no humidity.  Louie Anderson is right.
• We are only 250 miles east of Las Vegas  - 350 miles east of Los Angeles