Trip to New Mexico

This weekend we went to New Mexico to visit Grandma Bobbie. She is stuck in Raton for several weeks while undergoing a course of IV antibiotics, so since Mohammed could not come to the mountain we took the mountain to Mohammed. Here is the mountain, helping me pack for the trip:



Cailan's contributions to my suitcase are on the right side of the picture. For some reason, he seemed to think I was going to need A LOT of socks.

We had a nice weekend visiting Bobbie. It had been several years since we had been to her house, so we enjoyed seeing how her yard has come along - she has some really beautiful wildflowers that are still blooming. She had a couple of big metal butterfly sculptures that Cailan played like steel drums, and there were many real butterflies in the flowers. We also got to see the fabulous new space that the Raton history museum is moving into - it's a big 2-story building downtown that they are restoring with gorgeous woodwork, including some display cases donated by a jewelry store, and a stamped tin ceiling. Cailan played an antique piano and a harp there. We had a short hike at Sugarite canyon on a pleasant but windy day. By that point, Cailan was pretty exhausted from all the intense playing with Grandma, so he spent most of the hike riding on Chris's shoulders or my back.

Mostly, we hung around Bobbie's house while Cailan and Grandma played. She dug up the toys that have survived Chris and his cousins: cars and dinosaurs and playing cards and miniature houses and a Wonderful Waterworks ring toss game that was a huge hit.


For our own reference, on the way there, we took highway 50 to Pueblo and then headed south on I-25. The route took us just over 8 hours, including our stop for dinner. On the way home, we took the cutoff through Walsenburg and Westcliff which shaved off at least 40 miles. Although Google maps predicted this shorter route would actually take longer, the return trip including dinner was only 7 hours.