October 15/ Day 15

Dan is reading Wonder by the fire and I just made grilled cheeses with spinach and the hot pepper jelly from Alabama farmers market for breakfast – yummy! We camped in Jemez Springs last night and it was VERY cold. The gallon of water we left outside had ice in it this morning. It had been a tiring drive from Santa Fe to here with no service while searching for campsites in the dark. After finally finding one we realized we had no water and so had to backtrack to a little mountain store down the road and get some firewood as well. We were still full from lunch at Cowgirls in Santa Fe so we just had s’mores and went to bed.

While spending the day in Santa Fe yesterday I was quickly falling in love with it and picturing myself living there. It’s a hub for artists, with galleries everywhere and artists' studios. We had found a really great campsite late at night in a state park outside of Santa Fe National Forest. It was a little stone structure with a fireplace that we set the tent up in and had a platform outside with a picnic table. Dan made really good sausage and veggies. It was such a chilly night and the best sleep I’ve had. We drove down into Santa Fe the next morning with no direction of where we wanted to go but saw signs for a farmers market and parked. Best farmers market I’ve ever been to! It was huge and very organized with an artists section as well. I got a breakfast burrito and blue corn lavender donut that was soooo delicious. It was a beautiful sunny day and it felt good to be in non hiking clothes. We took our time walking into shops around the city. There were so many great and interesting businesses. The whole place feels like another country because of the pueblo style buildings. I definitely want to go back for an extended period of time.

October 16 / Day 16

After a very slow morning of reading, writing, and scrap booking we went to the Jemez Falls trailhead and hiked down to the waterfall. We then went off the trail exploring, crossing over the water on a downed tree by a smaller waterfall and headed up the steep cliffside. There was a beautiful view of the mountains and tree tops that you couldn’t get from the other side. Dan wanted to go down the cliffside and cross back over below the big waterfall. It was very steep and pretty hard getting down but fun. We crossed over rocks and tree stumps and then were able to walk right to the bottom of the water rushing down and feel the cool mist. It was so beautiful. I rinsed my face with the water, it’s been a while since a shower and running water to wash my face with. Hope to find one today! What was supposed to be a quick one mile hike turned into a couple of hours wandering around and taking our time finding new routes. I took the first shift driving out of the park and it was so crazy beautiful. Bright yellow Aspen trees lined the road with red rock cliffs behind them. The colors were so stunning and vibrant I couldn’t believe my eyes. Even driving on the highway was gorgeous too with clear blue skies and beautiful mountains in in the distance.

Welcome to New Mexico, Land of Enchantment