Sabbatical Part 3: Reading and Hiking Near Los Alamos
Our first week in Los Alamos was pretty relaxed and we spent a lot of time at the pool. With the closing of the pool after Labor Day, we started getting out and about some more.
Tuesday, September 6
From the Los Alamos / Santa Fe area, there are two different ways to get to Taos. You can either take the Low Road, which goes along the bottom of a narrow river valley, or the High Road, which goes up and over some hills and through Carson National Forest. On this day, we drove on the Low Road to Taos. We had a very nice lunch on the patio of Farmhouse Cafe and Bakery. The cafe was one of a series of connected businesses on a lushly gardened piece of land that was covered with wind sculptures. M really liked it. We'd gotten started late and there was a LOT of road construction in Taos, so in the interest of getting Birdie back for naptime we didn't linger very long and took the High Road back. The High Road has a lot of up and down, which led to Birdie being carsick, which was exactly as much fun as it sounded.
It wouldn't be a vacation if I didn't bring a long book or two with me. Years before I had enjoyed the Power Broke by Robert Caro, so I decided this trip was a good time to start reading Caro's The Years of Lyndon Johnson. I'd borrowed volumes 1 and 2 from my father prior to the trip. On this day I finished The Path to Power. This first volume covering LBJ's childhood through his election to Congress. It ran about 800 pages not covering the extensive citations, and it read like a thriller. I couldn't put it down and highly recommend it.
Wednesday, September 7
We found out that the splash pad in White Rock had been kept open for another week, so we took Birdie to run around in the water. On the way, we stopped at the White Rock Overlook, which involved a short walk on a paved path to an observation deck over the valley.
This day was trash day, which I only barely remembered when I heard the garbage trucks go by the other side of the street in the morning. This gave me just enough time to get the trash bin out to the end of the driveway. You might ask, "why didn't you put the trash at the end of the driveway the night before?" And the answer is that our hosts had warned us specifically against that because "the bears get into the trash if you leave it out overnight." Well, ok, then.
The house also had a small pond off the deck that was fed by a hose on a timer. Our hosts reported that the trail camera they pointed at that point to take bird pictures had one night captured a photo of a mountain lion, as well as bobcats. And just a few days ago, our hosts posted picture one of them took of another mountain lion at that same pond. Needless to say, Birdie did not go outside on the deck by herself while we were there.
Thursday, September 8
It was time to do a real hike. We followed a long road full of very twisty switchbacks up into the mountains around Los Alamos that took us to Valles Caldera National Preserve. Like Crater Lake, the valley is a volcanic caldera, but instead of a giant lake there's a broad valley of grass surrounded by a ring of mountain forests. In the past it's been a pastureland. Now it's a great place to have a hike. We were high enough up (more than 11,000 feet) that it was relatively cool. We did a short two mile hike called the La Jara Loop, which went from the visitor's center around a rock outcropping and back. There were a lot of hummingbird moths and assorted birds. Alas, we didn't see any elk, which are apparently pretty common.
Birdie was getting pretty restless in her hiking backpack by the time we finished, so we drop up to the some of the old cabins in the forested area and let her wander around for a bit. We drove on a bit of the gravel roads into the mountains, but it was clear that we'd be moving slowly, so we turned around and headed back to Los Alamos for naptime. It was a lovely day, and I'd go back there again in a second.
Friday, September 9
M and Jess took a spa day and went to Ojos Calientes to luxuriate in hot springs and generally relax. I stayed back with Birdie in Los Alamos. I believe this day was the longest M has been away from Birdie since she was born.
Saturday, September 10
We met Jess and Robert and family for lunch in New Mexico, and then both families drove the short distance to the artist's colony called Madrid. We visited the old Oscar Huber Ballpark minor league park; Madrid was a company town for the coal mine and they'd had a very competitive minor league team called the Miners back in the 1910s and 1920s. The Miners were such a big deal that this park in the middle of nowhere New Mexico was the first park west of the Mississippi to have a game under lights in the evening.
With the coal mine long closed, Madrid today is a bunch of artists living along one main drag. We wandered from one end of town to the other, took some fun pictures, had some snacks. It was a nice day.
The other thing that happened this day was that M got her covid bivalent booster shot at a CVS in Santa Fe before lunch. We opted to get them on different days just in case, which proved to be a good call. M would end up sleeping most of Sunday.
When we got home, I finished the second Caro LBJ book, "The Means of Ascent." This book was much shorter (~500 pages) that part one and covered the period from 1940 to LBJ's election to the Senate in 1948. The story of that Senate race, in which LBJ blatantly cheated, is incredibly compelling reading. His opponent, Coke Stevenson, was a legend in Texas politics, but he was playing under the old rules of politics, and LBJ was making up new ones that presaged the modern era. LBJ won by 87 votes, but if Stevenson had been less honorable, he would have won in a landslide, and LBJ would be an obscure congressman forgotten to history. At one point Stevenson and his friend, the Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, nearly got into a shoot out while investigating the fraud. Hamer apparently intimidated a group of gunmen into backing down, in a story that would seem ridiculous if hadn't been witnessed by several dozen people. Anyway, great book, well worth reading.
Sunday, September 11
M spent a lot of the day napping as the covid shot did a number on her, so it was another day spent at the house. Since I had finished both of the books I brought with me unexpectedly quickly, I started digging into the books our hosts had at hand. On this day I finished a short pop-science book about Rats.
We also finished watching Archer, Season 10 that evening. It was pretty easily the weakest season of Archer to date.
Trip Stats
We bought two tanks of gas in this time period, getting us to 9 total for the trip. Los Alamos is not close to Santa Fe, and it's even farther from Taos. It takes a long time to get anywhere, but least most of the scenery is pretty!
We had two lunches and a snack on patios as well as two takeout dinners and one takeout dessert. Trip totals: 10 patios and 5 takeout meals.
Tuesday, September 6
From the Los Alamos / Santa Fe area, there are two different ways to get to Taos. You can either take the Low Road, which goes along the bottom of a narrow river valley, or the High Road, which goes up and over some hills and through Carson National Forest. On this day, we drove on the Low Road to Taos. We had a very nice lunch on the patio of Farmhouse Cafe and Bakery. The cafe was one of a series of connected businesses on a lushly gardened piece of land that was covered with wind sculptures. M really liked it. We'd gotten started late and there was a LOT of road construction in Taos, so in the interest of getting Birdie back for naptime we didn't linger very long and took the High Road back. The High Road has a lot of up and down, which led to Birdie being carsick, which was exactly as much fun as it sounded.
It wouldn't be a vacation if I didn't bring a long book or two with me. Years before I had enjoyed the Power Broke by Robert Caro, so I decided this trip was a good time to start reading Caro's The Years of Lyndon Johnson. I'd borrowed volumes 1 and 2 from my father prior to the trip. On this day I finished The Path to Power. This first volume covering LBJ's childhood through his election to Congress. It ran about 800 pages not covering the extensive citations, and it read like a thriller. I couldn't put it down and highly recommend it.
Wednesday, September 7
We found out that the splash pad in White Rock had been kept open for another week, so we took Birdie to run around in the water. On the way, we stopped at the White Rock Overlook, which involved a short walk on a paved path to an observation deck over the valley.
This day was trash day, which I only barely remembered when I heard the garbage trucks go by the other side of the street in the morning. This gave me just enough time to get the trash bin out to the end of the driveway. You might ask, "why didn't you put the trash at the end of the driveway the night before?" And the answer is that our hosts had warned us specifically against that because "the bears get into the trash if you leave it out overnight." Well, ok, then.
The house also had a small pond off the deck that was fed by a hose on a timer. Our hosts reported that the trail camera they pointed at that point to take bird pictures had one night captured a photo of a mountain lion, as well as bobcats. And just a few days ago, our hosts posted picture one of them took of another mountain lion at that same pond. Needless to say, Birdie did not go outside on the deck by herself while we were there.
Thursday, September 8
It was time to do a real hike. We followed a long road full of very twisty switchbacks up into the mountains around Los Alamos that took us to Valles Caldera National Preserve. Like Crater Lake, the valley is a volcanic caldera, but instead of a giant lake there's a broad valley of grass surrounded by a ring of mountain forests. In the past it's been a pastureland. Now it's a great place to have a hike. We were high enough up (more than 11,000 feet) that it was relatively cool. We did a short two mile hike called the La Jara Loop, which went from the visitor's center around a rock outcropping and back. There were a lot of hummingbird moths and assorted birds. Alas, we didn't see any elk, which are apparently pretty common.
Birdie was getting pretty restless in her hiking backpack by the time we finished, so we drop up to the some of the old cabins in the forested area and let her wander around for a bit. We drove on a bit of the gravel roads into the mountains, but it was clear that we'd be moving slowly, so we turned around and headed back to Los Alamos for naptime. It was a lovely day, and I'd go back there again in a second.
Friday, September 9
M and Jess took a spa day and went to Ojos Calientes to luxuriate in hot springs and generally relax. I stayed back with Birdie in Los Alamos. I believe this day was the longest M has been away from Birdie since she was born.
Saturday, September 10
We met Jess and Robert and family for lunch in New Mexico, and then both families drove the short distance to the artist's colony called Madrid. We visited the old Oscar Huber Ballpark minor league park; Madrid was a company town for the coal mine and they'd had a very competitive minor league team called the Miners back in the 1910s and 1920s. The Miners were such a big deal that this park in the middle of nowhere New Mexico was the first park west of the Mississippi to have a game under lights in the evening.
With the coal mine long closed, Madrid today is a bunch of artists living along one main drag. We wandered from one end of town to the other, took some fun pictures, had some snacks. It was a nice day.
The other thing that happened this day was that M got her covid bivalent booster shot at a CVS in Santa Fe before lunch. We opted to get them on different days just in case, which proved to be a good call. M would end up sleeping most of Sunday.
When we got home, I finished the second Caro LBJ book, "The Means of Ascent." This book was much shorter (~500 pages) that part one and covered the period from 1940 to LBJ's election to the Senate in 1948. The story of that Senate race, in which LBJ blatantly cheated, is incredibly compelling reading. His opponent, Coke Stevenson, was a legend in Texas politics, but he was playing under the old rules of politics, and LBJ was making up new ones that presaged the modern era. LBJ won by 87 votes, but if Stevenson had been less honorable, he would have won in a landslide, and LBJ would be an obscure congressman forgotten to history. At one point Stevenson and his friend, the Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, nearly got into a shoot out while investigating the fraud. Hamer apparently intimidated a group of gunmen into backing down, in a story that would seem ridiculous if hadn't been witnessed by several dozen people. Anyway, great book, well worth reading.
Sunday, September 11
M spent a lot of the day napping as the covid shot did a number on her, so it was another day spent at the house. Since I had finished both of the books I brought with me unexpectedly quickly, I started digging into the books our hosts had at hand. On this day I finished a short pop-science book about Rats.
We also finished watching Archer, Season 10 that evening. It was pretty easily the weakest season of Archer to date.
Trip Stats
We bought two tanks of gas in this time period, getting us to 9 total for the trip. Los Alamos is not close to Santa Fe, and it's even farther from Taos. It takes a long time to get anywhere, but least most of the scenery is pretty!
We had two lunches and a snack on patios as well as two takeout dinners and one takeout dessert. Trip totals: 10 patios and 5 takeout meals.