Summer Adventures Recap Part XI: Cuba-Espanola in a day

Earlier this summer we drove from east of Santa Fe all the way west to Cuba, New Mexico one Saturday. On August 2nd we drove the opposite way. We had planned on just going fishing along a stream, but because of a crazy rain the day before, the rivers were dirty and swollen and Stan didn't think the fishing would be very good, so we decided for a fun drive option with a hike in the middle.

The pretty forest

Our dirt road

There were some pretty farms hidden in the valley. We loved the red rock cliffs as well.

There was a neat peak out in the distance, a possible future hiking destination.

Food break! The sun was so bright it was hard to get a good picture of him smiling with his eyes open.

My Boys!

There were random beautiful meadows created by the volcanoes in the area back in the day (Glad we weren't there for that). There were also random huge rocks in the middle of the meadows.

 We got out for a hike up to a beautiful scenic view spot.

As we hiked, there were a bunch of old roads. You could tell how long ago it was used as a road based on how much vegetation was growing in it.

Stan leading the way up the mountain

It was pretty steep for a minute, but the view was SO rewarding.

Valle Caldera, created when a HUGE volcano exploded

I feel pretty awesome about this picture. There was a large branch laying on the ground with a small branch coming up, I positioned the camera on said small branch and we put the timer on. You do what you can when you're in the wilderness and want a family picture without someone to take it for you. We don't need a gopro stick :)

On the way back to the car we saw a cattle drive with cowboy and all! Some of the cows stopped and stared at us.

We headed back on the road and kept driving. Here is another beautiful view we caught.

We finally got to a spot where we could stop and enjoy our BBQ.

Scott was grateful for the time out of his car seat

Steaks and corn on the cob. We had gone to Sprout's market with the intention of getting burgers but the meat man convinced us to get the New York, bone-in steaks that were on sale. We love that man. They were sooooooooo good!

Father and son hanging out while our food cooked.

The drive out was beautiful. The road was pretty much on a cliff edge. It was a beautiful view, but scary! Glad we made it out ok. :)

As always, it was a beautiful day. We pretty much winded in and out of mountains for 55 miles on dirt roads, a new record. A paved road feels sooooo good after a day like that.

Summer Adventures Recap Part X: Scott's first swim!

Stan has been swimming for exercise and so one Friday night we decided to take Scott in!

We found this swimsuit on sale at Babies 'R Us on sale because it was the end of the summer. It was a perfect fit and he was so happy in it!

He wasn't quite sure how to feel about the water. It was kind of cold but we were able to get a smile out of him for the picture :)

Summer Adventures Recap Part IX: Quick Mesa Trip

This might be the saddest looking post all summer. We took no pictures :(

We decided to go to Mesa for a quick weekend at the end of July (25th-27th) to see Steve and Janae and their cute kids before they headed back to far away land DC after spending all summer in Mesa.

It was so fun to see them, Wilford, Mom, Dad, and Emily. I LOVED playing with Nate and Aubrey. They are so funny. It was fun to see Scott be able to interact more with my family now that he is getting older.

We had a triple date with my parents and Steve and Janae Friday night. Then Saturday, we just hung out and spent time together. We left the kids with the boys and had a girls afternoon shopping. It was a lot of fun. As much as I won't admit that I enjoy shopping, these ladies make it fun :)

As a bonus, the weekend included a missionary dinner and farewell for my cousin Josh. So fun to see so much family!

Sure am grateful for them.

Summer Adventures Recap Part VIII: Mora Flats

The day after Amy left, July 19th, we headed up to the Santa Fe National Forest to try and get some good fishing. It was a successful day!

The drive up to our trailhead took a good couple hours, but Scott slept and we had a good visit. It was a beautiful day for a hike. The forest was soooooo green and had great undergrowth. It was a three mile hike in. We did see a few people on the trail so we were able to get a family picture at the trailhead:

This hike was a little different because we kind of started out at the top of the mountain and were hiking down in a valley where the river was. The views from the rim were beautiful. There was a fire in this forest last year and you can see the damage that did in some of the pictures.

This forest had so many different types of vegetation. As seen above, there were pines, and then there were these aspens. We LOVE aspens. And LOVE hiking with this man.

Gotta get my classic picture

Change of vegetation, deciduous trees and crazy undergrowth. It was SO humid here.

View of where we are headed. That flat spot down there is called Mora Flats.

We saw many beautiful flowers the whole day:

And a few wild animals:

We got down to the river and Stan was able to get across, but there wasn't a good place for Scott and I to cross :( So we settled down and Stan got all ready to go fishing!

Stan caught a few fish but was only able to get a picture of one.

And while he was off doing that, Scott and I were hanging out, taking LOTS of pictures. I'll spare you the majority of them, but here are a few:

He was pretty happy most the day.

The view from our resting spot.

I gave him the water bottle to play with and he attacked it.

Love this boy!

He was discovering his feet this week.

It was a wonderfully fun day!

Summer Adventures Recap Part VII: A visit from Amy!

One of my roommates came to visit us! I don't have many pictures, but we did do some adventuring and so I figured her visit warranted an adventure recap post:

Amy came to play and meet Scott on July 15th-18th. We had fun eating delicious food, visiting, and going to some of the places we take visitors so they can get a taste of New Mexico. She (and her sister her came with her) were so nice to watch Scott one evening while we went to the temple. So grateful! It's good to visit about memories :)

Wednesday we drove up to Sandia Crest, did a little hike along the rim, had our lunch at a look out point, and headed back to the car.

We then jotted down to one of the Salinas ruins and then back to Albuquerque. That night we went to Sadie's to try some New Mexican food, stuffed sopapillas!

Thursday we drove around Albuquerque and had a funny experience getting caught at an intersection where a man ran out of gas in his motor home IN the middle of the intersection! Glad we were able to help him get some gas :)

It was fun to visit, too bad I didn't take more pictures!!

Summer Adventures Recap Part VI: 1st Camping Trip!!

We did it! We went camping with a baby!!! And it was awesome!!!!!! (This was obviously before our backcamping experience, I'm just so behind on this blog-posting thing)

On Friday afternoon (July 11th) we headed down to where we first traveled in New Mexico, Mount Withington. We chose to camp at the Hughes Mill campground. There were just two camping spots there and we were the only campers. As we drove up to the spot, we feared a rainstorm, but it barely slipped past us and we had a perfectly wonderful evening.

Scott hanging out so happily as we got dinner ready

Getting ready to set up the tent

We had delicious steak and grilled vegetables for dinner, then enjoyed a beautiful fire and fantastic s'mores.

Yuh-UMMMMMM!

Stan is a master fire builder,  his scout skills definitely shine!

Scott and I watching Stan build the fire

Scott was an angel the whole time. He was mesmerized by the fire and fell asleep watching it. In the morning Stan asked if Scott had even woken up at night. :) (The answer was yes, but only once for a quick snack)

Getting ready for bed

Scott fell asleep so quickly once the fire was built

Saturday morning we enjoyed our favorite breakfast burritos and picked up camp to go on a little hike.

Hanging out in the tent in the morning. Scott was showing off his keys

While we were getting all packed up for the hike, Scott sat patiently here in the seat. I had thrown a diaper on the seat to change him before we left, when I looked over, he was holding it like this.

Classic hiking selfie.

This was a beautiful forest and it was so peaceful.

We spent the rest of the day on one of our longest/farthest drives ever. We headed westish/southish towards the Gila to check out some lakes over there and hopefully do some fishing.

Sometimes, as we are driving in the mountains, we feel like it really is an old western road and a horse drawn wagon could come around the corner any minute, this is one of those spots

We saw A TON of elk. This picture doesn't even show them all.

And we saw a ton of turkey vultures eating the carcass. They all flew away when we drove past. There had been at least ten.

It was such a beautiful day and we saw all kinds of scenery. From this...

(And there were these white flowers everywhere!)

To this....

To this

One lake ended up being private and no fish. But the habit of looking for ruins in the rock walls paid off because we totally saw one! We wish we knew the history of it. This was a beautiful spot.

If you look across the lake on the left side of the cliff was a ruin

Family picture! I was smiling at Scott through the camera. It worked great!

The clouds and sky in New Mexico are so beautiful!

And sadly we never quite made it to the second lake. The road was too muddy and we were running out of time. Another adventure for another day. :)

Indian Peaks- we passed this spot on our way home and want to go back and explore!

We headed home in the sunset and it was yet another great outing!