Tag: Santa Fe

More Days in Santa Fe – May 2019

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Sunday May 5: Clifford and I visit with our friends as we pack up, and then we say our goodbyes before we head back to Santa Fe. The wind has come up, but luckily it is not a long drive. 

Roe Mesa (or is it Glorietta Mesa???)
Driving to Santa Fe

We find our way to our friend Diana’s house and park on the street.  It is not a wide street, so we can only have the slide-out out just enough to barely squeeze through from the front room to the bedroom. 

Cougar “boondocking” in Santa Fe

Diana fixes us a tasty tortilla lunch, and then Clifford and I go with Diana and her housemate Martha to a lecture being given by a doctor of alternative medicine. It turns out that it is Erica Elliott talking about her beginning years teaching in a Navajo boarding school in Chinle, Arizona.  Erica was one of Clifford computer clients when we lived in Santa Fe.  We didn’t know that she had had an earlier career as a teacher.  She has an amazing life story and it was so fun to listen to her talk of that of time in her life.  

After the talk, we bought her book, Medicine and Miracles in the High Desert, and she gave Clifford a big hug. Our friend John is also there, and we all head back over to Martha and Diana’s house after the talk for a delicious chicken dinner and great conversation. Later I start reading Erica’s book and stay up way too late.  It is so interesting, it is hard to put it down.

Monday May 6: This morning Diana and Clifford work on a CI project, indexing his notebooks, as Diana is going to participate in this somewhat tedious job. While they are working, I walk along the nearby arroyo. 

Path along the arroyo

In the afternoon Clifford and I run our errands to the bank, Trader Joe, and a couple other stops, including the Violin Shop, as I hope to get a different chin rest for my viola. It turns out they don’t have the chin rest that I need, but I buy a better bow, so it was not a wasted trip. We also go to the Santa Fe Baking Company, which has been renamed and improved under new ownership, but what is the same is the apple tree by the outdoor patio seating area, and it is at the peak of its bloom.

  • Apple blossoms
  • The New Santa Fe Baking Company
Same apple tree
Creative presentations

For dinner, Diana, Martha, and I go to Dion’s Pizza. Clifford is napping, so he misses out.  Later in the evening, Clifford plays his dulcimer and I stay up reading until midnight. Being in Santa Fe and doing stuff with friends sure has been fun, but tomorrow we start the final leg of our journey back to Utah.

Visiting Dear Friends – May 2019

Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

Wednesday May 1: It is really windy today, but Clifford and I are leaving Rancheros de Santa Fe RV Park/Campground where we have been camped the last week for the Santa Fe event where Clifford was a guest speaker. Today we are heading east to visit dear friends from our Santa Fe years when they and we lived outside Santa Fe, getting together on a regular basis for breakfast at Harry’s or visits to their various homes. We are excited to see them, as it has been awhile, with lots of water under the bridge since our last get-together.

New Mexico landscape east of Santa Fe

As we are traveling east on I-25 between Santa Fe and Las Vegas, NM, right at the junction to highway 3, we hear a great loud bang and our whole rig – Suburban and 24-foot Cougar travel trailer – swerves nearly out of control. The on-ramp of highway 3 gives us a bit of leeway to get slowed down and stopped. With adrenal pumping, I get out to survey the damage. We have a bad feeling that part of Cougar must have ripped off, but it turns out to be a blowout on the right rear tire of the Suburban. It is not a good scene, but fortunately there was no traffic as this was happening, we didn’t wreck, and Cougar is fine.

  • Blow out!

It is a big deal to get Cougar unhitched, get to the jack and spare tire, and get Suburban jacked up. We put out warning cones and flags, and luckily the on-ramp gives us a little buffer from the traffic on I-25.

It is a big deal to get the Suburban tire changed

After we get the ruined tire off, the spare on, tools packed up, and Cougar hitched up again, we head on to our friends, much later than planned. There is no cell service in this remote area of New Mexico, so we can’t even inform them of our delay.

Iconic butte west of Las Vegas, New Mexico

Once we arrive, they happily show us their new place, a spot is found to park Cougar, and we have dinner together. All is well as we chat through the evening before heading to our respective beds.

A place for Cougar

The next couple of days are spent visiting and catching up on past and current events in their lives and ours.

She-shed at our friends’ new place
Wildflowers delight us at our friends’ new place

Clifford and our friend run into the nearby town of Las Vegas, NM, to look for tires for the Suburban. It is a bit time-consuming checking out places where the damaged rim can be replaced and new tires can be had, but eventually the right place is found and new 10-ply tires are put on. This is what we should have had all along. Live and learn. Learn and live, might also be said.

Santa Fe Conference – April 2019

Carol CarnicomLeave a comment

Wednesday April 24: Leaving as early as possible, Clifford and I say good-bye to our campsite at Percha Dam New Mexico State Park and head north, arriving in Socorro, NM, by early afternoon. The wind really picks up the last several miles, so we are glad to have made it here as early as we did. We go to the best-ever laundromat, a pleasant surprise in this small town, then park in the Walmart lot. After purchasing some needed items in the store, we walk to a nearby Subway for dinner. Much easier than preparing and cleaning up after a meal when enroute.

Surprising beauty in the Walmart parking lot

Thursday April 25: It is steep climb from the desert floor to the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains where Santa Fe is nestled in. I’m happy to see these great mountains that were the backdrop to our life in Santa Fe for over fifteen years. Topping the last rise, it is kind of exciting to see Santa Fe spread out before us at the foot of the mountains.

Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the background – steep climb ahead
Topping the last rise – Santa Fe before us

We make our way to Rancheros de Santa Fe, the RV park/campground on the outskirts of Santa Fe where a site has been reserved for us. Most sites are quite close together, so we are pleased that we have a nice front yard with trees and a picnic table. We run into town for errands, including Trader Joe, my favorite, for groceries.

Our campsite at Rancheros de Santa Fe

Friday April 26: We are busy this morning with CI business and trying out our Rhino (auxiliary sewage container) to see how it works, when a car pulls up. To our surprise and delight, it is our friend Diana who has tracked us down. We sit at our picnic table sipping ice tea with Diana and her housemate, Martha, talking over old times and current events.

Clifford finishes the final touches on his presentation and I help him organize his notes and trim his hair a bit. He has done a lot of work to organize his talk and prepare slides. We are feeling ready for tomorrow.

Saturday April 27: We are on our way by to the Women’s Center by 9:15 this morning, where we meet the lady who invited Clifford to this event and who made all the arrangements for us. We also join up with our long-time friend and fellow researcher, Elana Feeland, who will be the other speaker on the program.

The two hours of Clifford’s talk goes by quickly as he delves into Carnicom Institute Past and Present, from the beginning stages of research to the depth of where the research is at this point.

Clifford engages his audience

After the break for lunch, we listen to Elana’s talk on the dangers of electromagnetics in the environment. Once Clifford and Elana break free of all the questions that are being asked after the presentations, we follow our host to a retreat house in the mountains where we enjoy an amazing view and a fabulous healthy dinner. The talk at the dinner table is quite intense, as is fitting given the topic: Geoengineering-Bioengineering – The Unmistable Link.

Beautiful grounds at the retreat house

About sundown, we head back to our campground, a beautiful sunset in the background as we drive down the mountain. Two messages on my phone are of special interest: a photo from my daughter Ang of flowers blooming in her greenhouse and a photo of new snow sent by my sister, both from western Montana.

Sunday April 28: This morning we meet with friends for breakfast at one of our most favorite restaurants – Harry’s Roadhouse. We have a tasty meal and a great visit before heading to the Women’s Center for the final presentations: Carnicom Institute-Future, and Elana’s closing talk. Another hour is devoted to a Q & A session. When the session wraps up, people continue coming forward to ask questions. People are eager for answers to the current health and environmental ills.

Q & A following the presentations

Back at camp we are joined by a group of friends. It is good visiting with everyone, as we sit around snacking on the leftovers of yesterday’s fabulous dinner. What with one thing and another, it is after midnight before I get to bed.

We pay for a couple more days at the campground, as we still have friends to see, including CI’s webmaster who has made the trip to Santa Fe from Albuquerque in spite of the rather chilly weather. It is a good couple of days, well worth the extra time here in Santa Fe.

Rainy last days in Santa Fe