To save you dear reader from a droning soliloquy of ponderings and journal entries from my vacation, I present to you some practical tips and recommendations for visiting Colorado and New Mexico.
1. The Colorado Renaissance Faire was a wonderful experience, especially for my older girls. We did indeed meet all the interesting creatures mentioned in the previous post and had a wonderful time. I myself fell into the part as a "big bad wolf" for Mardi Gras days at the faire. My brother Geoff, the creative force behind Stonecraftarts has a booth of his amazing works.
2. Colorado is a wonderful place to visit, but camping spots are scarce. Make reservations early. We missed-out on camping at Mueller State Park, just West of Colorado Springs. Rocky Mountain National Park, though crowded as well is my top destination from previous visits. Do yourself a favor and get there one day.
3. Thanks to my friend and co-worker Keith, we enjoyed rustic but peaceful living in the Cimarron Canyon east of Taos. Northern New Mexico is now my favorite destination with beautiful scenery, less crowded than it’s Northern neighbor and many activities for folks of all ages. The Enchanted Circle that surrounds the Taos Valley is chocked full of adventures waiting to happen. The Rio Grande Gorge pictured above is one of many stops along the way.
4. The most wonderful surprise was a spontaneous trip to Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM. Ghost Ranch, former home to the artist Georgia O’Keefe, is a conference center, education center, overnight camping and much more. It is one of the top paleontology sites in the country with an onsite museum. In our short 48 hours at the ranch we went swimming, hiked to Box Canyon, did some horseback riding, ate the most nutritious and delicious camp food of our lives, checked-out books from their library, dropped into a class on world music, attended a beautiful chapel service, visited with delightful people and connected with God in His creation. The contrasts of greens, reds, browns and blues are amazing. The Ranch is now operated by the Presbyterian Church but has a very open and welcoming attitude for people of all faiths.
5. Travelling light is the way to go. For an inexpensive luggage rack, I picked-up a bike-rack at Wal-Mart for $40. This provided just enough external storage for camping gear, freeing up room inside for a comfy ride for the kiddos. We packed the bare necessities which proved to be a blessing with less stuff to deal with.
6. Napping in Wal-Mart parking lots on the night drive home saved the kids from endless hours of daylight travel through monotonous landscape.
7. DVD’s at truckstops can be purchased for as little as $10. For those awake hours, nothing occupies the kiddos like a new movie.
8. Plan-in slack into your trip. Getting back to town a day and a half provided the readjustment time needed before returning to work.
9. Take along plenty of music. For $30 there’s a short-range radio device you stick in your car lighter that broadcasts back to your radio. It takes either an MP3 player or even better a memory stick full of music. Essential for any long trip. (See Gadget Review for details).
10. A family of five can get away for a delightful nine day trip for $1,000 dollars. Less even if you camp every night. We are committed to staying within a budget and still had a wonderful vacation.
11. Vacation often. Time away, resting from your labors is more than a luxury. I’m committed to daily, weekly, monthly and yearly cycles of rest. I may blog soon on the benefits of what has been called for centuries the sabath rest. It’s a gift God has given us from the beginning of days.
11 Comments
Glad you had a great vacation, and glad to have you back!
What a lovely adventure you had!
JJ
Jennifer, Thanks for comment. It is alway great to get away on vacation and good to get back home refreshed and ready for the challenges ahead. Of course, I would love to have brought back with me the cool dryer weather of New Mexico! It’s raining cats and dogs at the moment.
Yay, Phil, you’re back. It sounds like you all had a lovely time. Your brother and those Green Men (and other architectural ornamentation) sound fascinating. I loved seeing their type in England last summer in the cathedrals and old buildings.
We’re headed to Lake Tahoe fairly soon, so we’ll be communing with nature as well. Except for the MoH who does that with casinos. Well, there is a green connection there, right?
Hi. Glad to have you back. What a wonderful time you must have had. haven’t been on a vacation for so long because of college, raring to go now as vacations are coming up
I recommend putting movies on your ipod and getting a dvd player that has an ipod dock…
Kelly, I LOVE Tahoe. What a wonderful destination summer or winter. Great skiing. My brother is amazingly talented. I’ve seen him develop his sculpting ability since he was 16. This Fall I’m hoping to get a new site up for him to better show-off his work and enable e-commerce. We have a number of his pieces in our house and garden. It’s just exquisite.
Amber, Thanks for the well wish on return. Yes, vacation is so important. It’s something that I neglected for too long. Life is too short not to take breaks regularly. There is something though in taking a long break that is good for the soul.
Cherann, Great tip. Yeah, I’m moving in that direction. I actually have a snazzy iPod that work has issued me for dev reasons. I may look into that idea though for future travel. The dvd we have has two screens which is pretty nifty for the girls in the van. Are you heading out on vacation soon?
Phil,
I can easily tell from all those pictures that you and your family really had a great vacation! I think your money is well spent.
Blessings to you and your family
Yes, it really was a good and long overdue break. There is something to the rhythm of life that I want to pay more attention to in my schedule. Vacations are one important ingredient in the flow.
Hey Phil, I hope it isn’t prying, but where do you live? I just thought it was funny that you and I were on vacation at the same time, and you went to Colorado where I live. It would be even funnier if you lived in Georgia or Florida, where I went to visit.
I poked around a little, but I couldn’t find anything saying where you lived. I’m a relatively new reader, so sorry if you posted about it already, and no hard feelings if you don’t want to divulge that info.
Glad you had a good vacation.
Mike, That would be coincidental wouldn’t it. No I don’t live in Georgia or Florida, but if you passed through Texas on your way, perhaps our ships crossed path. I live in the Austin, Texas area, which is a fun vacation spot by the way. In addition to being “The Live Music Capital of the World” Austin is a beautiful city in the hills that is home to the University of Texas, a ton of great restaurants and located near San Antonio and other great destinations in the Texas Hill Country. But the best time to visit would be October to May. Unless we could swap homes four months a year, then I’d say you just need to spend June through September “enjoying” the Texas heat and I’ll take care of your home in Colorado while you are gone cooling my heels at a higher altitude
I guess that would have been too much of a coincidence. Austin sounds nice, and I heard some really good things about Austin’s Barbecue. I sure do love barbecue, so I was hoping to visit one day.
Thanks for the home swap idea, but I don’t think the boss at my day job would go for it.
Anyway, after visiting Georgia I have “enjoyed” enough heat and humidity.