Pot Luck at the Park and a trip to Valle Vidal

Friday was a busy day! I had to finally do some laundry and then made chicken spaghetti for the pot luck dinner we were having at the park that evening. We had a great meal in the game room and then the party moved outside for some bluegrass music by Shorty and friends—and even a little dancing on the parking lot!

It was a lot of fun and even (campground owner) Marti’s little terrier Gabby got in on the action. Now Gabby isn’t an ordinary dog—he “talks” (growls) incessantly whenever anyone pets him. I’d never seen this kind of terrier (will have to tell you later the type because Marti’s not around and I can’t remember), but he is adorable! (EDIT: Gabby is a Cairn Terrier, the same as "Toto" in Wizard of Oz. )

The party didn’t last very long but was followed by a gorgeous sunset. Here’s one photo, but I’ve decided to make a link (on the right with the others) dedicated to “New Mexico Sunsets”.

On Saturday Bobby and Melba, Roger and I took a drive that Roger had ridden on his motorcycle earlier in the week through Valle Vidal in the Carson National Forest. Just north of Cimarron, we drove about 20 miles through one of Ted Turner’s ranches (588,000 acres) where we had hoped to see some of the bison and elk that he has there--didn’t even see as much as a chipmunk. We only took one photo--and, no, this isn’t the lodge but the remains of an old adobe cabin like we’ve seen scattered all over the backroads here.

• If you’re interested in more about Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch, here’s a link to their website: http://vermejoparkranch.com/
  

Continuing on directly into the National Forest, we did stop at Shuree Ponds for some pictures:

The scenery kept getting more spectacular as we drove—unfortunately, pictures of the mountains just don’t do justice to how beautiful they really are. From the top of the mountains “I could see for miles and miles and miles” and every time we go for a drive in this area, that song keeps popping into my mind:

After about 35 miles of dirt road we started through what I assume would be called Commanche Creek Canyon since it was a canyon and Commanche Creek runs through it. Again, the pictures don’t do it justice, but here’s a sample of what we saw:

The dirt road finally ran into pavement about 30 miles from Cerro where we’d found a great little Mexican café on a previous trip, so we stopped at The Plaza for lunch before heading back to Eagle Nest. Altogether, the trip was probably about a 150-mile circle and took almost 6 hours—a perfect day!