Just the Facts Maam! A 5 month trip around the western USA

I have done a few of these type of travel blogs before. They mostly settle around the nuts and bolts of our stays, and some of the local flavor. Diane is doing a travel blog with much more in depth info about the areas in which we stay. http://www.mytripjournal.com/rvnchick2020

You are welcome to follow along, ask questions and give your own opinions and suggestions.  As always, life is all about the journey!

Our first stop was at a park that we haven't stayed at since 1999. The end of December 99' actually.  I honestly didn't remember much about the park, but I did remember the owner.  While checking in I had a conversation with him that centered around the pending possible ?collapse? of all infrastructure in the country (and the world) at the stroke of midnight on December 31.  He was quite serious about his beliefs, and shared that he had built a compound in the surrounding hills, complete with underground bunker.  When he learned that I was a current LEO, he offered to make me ?Chief of Security? for the new compound.  I politely told him I would think about it, and made a hasty exit. Of course nothing happened on January 1, other than a few hang overs.  But the conversation still is fresh in my mind after all these years. 

J&H is a small park, neatly kept but not overly impressive. We paid $57 a night for a 7 night stay.
Sites are gravel as are the roads, but not a lot in the way of amenities. There is a small pet yard, a community fire pit, and a laundry room.  A few things have changed since we have been here last though. The rules are a bit extreme in some areas. 

First, it is now a 55+ and over RV park. No smoking is allowed anywhere in the park, even in your RV. No outside fires of any kind, and guests are forbidden from climbing any kind of ladder, free standing or on their RV.  RV maintenance is forbidden, unless by an outside service technician (which has a whole other set of rules to comply with).  I do admit to bending this rule a bit myself, a little more on that later. 

There is an escort to your site, even though the park is very small (53 sites).  Free Wifi is offered, but I didn't try to get on as our T-Mobile on  board wifi worked well. They have a laundry and a mini laundry.  The prices for the laundry are $1.75 per load to wash, and $2.00 to dry.  That seemed steep to me, but we have on board laundry and haven't used park facilities for a while. There is no pool or water feature. They do accept mail and package delivery.  I checked out the restrooms. They were still open, but all are restricted to one occupant at a time (Covid restricted). The are in good condition, but the handicapped accessibility is debatable. One of the shower stalls is wide enough for a wheel chair, but a awkwardly placed stool would make access to the shower difficult.  There are no RV sites designates as Handicapped. 

Part of the reason for staying here is it's proximity to area attractions like the Grand Canyon (about 90 minutes away by car) and several  areas to hike.  There are several breweries in the area and we did check out a few. Being this park is right up close the mountains, when the wind blows here, it can really howl.  Our first 3 days it blew day and night.  Finally on the 3rd day it finally calmed down. 

RVing is always an adventure, and part of my adventure this time is figuring out why the city water fill only fills the holding tank, why the over the door awing has stopped opening, and how to reattach a piece of trim molding over the bed.  I have already  fixed a vibration in the Wine Refer, a leaky water connection in the wet bay, and had a new AC compressor put on a few days before we left. Oh the joys of RV ownership! 

It's been a while since we have been out on the road, mostly due to the pandemic and ?social unrest? in some places. But I will say that many of the folks that we have met here in the park have all been completely friendly, and just out to relax and enjoy the RV lifestyle.  Somethings not even a good Pandemic can crush.

From here we head to Fool Hollow Lake Recreation Area, in Show Low,  Az.

And for those following Diane's blog, she just put it up tonight, with lots more information and pics.

Just curious, is the compound still there and did you ever get to see it?

I don't know Rene, I never had the desire to actually take the guy up on the offer. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's still tucked away somewhere, waiting for the next world ending event.

This was our first trip to this campground as it is very popular and requires making reservations way in advance. Diane made our reservations in July of 2019,  and at that time the available spots were slim. In fact she probably reserved a site that someone else had released.  This is an Arizona state park, and is extremely well appointed.

We reserved a water/electric site although the campground does have full hook up sites. The sites are concrete paved, and most also have a small concrete patio, but most of the rest of the site is dirt/gravel.
The sites themselves are quite large, and there is a great deal of room between sites, and many trees help to make the sites feel private.

There are a variety of amenities available. There is the lake available for swimming and fishing, and many hiking and biking trails are also open. The town of Show Low itself has in interesting history, and a colorful beginning.  Legend has it that the town had two wealthy men that wanted control of the town. It came down to a poker game, and when neither could get the advantage on the other, one of them stated that they should ?show low? card. The lowest card would win and take control of the town. One of the men flipped the ?deuce of clubs?, which is the lowest suit, and number value in the deck,  The town was later named ?Show Low?, and the main street in town bears the name ?Deuce of Clubs?. 

We paid $33 per night, plus additional $5 reservation fee. Even the full hook up sites were only $35 per night. A good reason why this campground sells out so far in advance. We reserved our site in the ?Ruddy Duck? loop. There are two loops each for W/E sites and FHU sites. And one other loop for tents. Our site, #6 had a great lake view, but not all of the sites do. And a word of caution. Some of the sites are set up on a ?buddy? style. Two individual sites that face each other. Fine if you are camping with a friend, but not so much if you don't know the people. Be sure to ask when reserving.

We used our on board Wifi, and I switched to our Verizon account as the signal was better than the T-Mobile account. There is no campground Wifi offered. I checked the restroom facilities and was amazed how clean and modern they were.  Each room was an individual unit with a shower, sink and restroom facilities. They were will appointed and in great condition.  The shower was free, and they did have a specific handicapped room, but because of the way that they were built, any of the stalls could have accommodated a handicapped camper.

Our site had a fire pit, but due to high winds and dry weather, all open flame fires were banned. The use of propane cooking was still acceptable.  The campground volunteers that take care of the sites do a great job, when we got to our site the area was clean, and even the gravel in the site had been raked smooth. The dump station has 2 lanes and either are easy to get into.

We were only here 3 days, but I would return here again, and stay longer to explore more of the park and the town itself. I spent a good portion of my time working on some of the ?issues? that popped up with the RV.  First and most important was figuring a way to get city water back flowing into the RV. A failed ball valve only allowed city water to refill the fresh tank. I finally came up with a workaround and put another ball valve on the exit side of the water pump. I then plumbed another city water line in and left the original ball valve to fill the holding tank as necessary. 

We did find time to take a hike on one of the trails in the park that circled the lake. It turned out to be 6 miles by the time we were done, but the mild temps in the 70's and breeze made it very pleasant.

From here we go on to Prescott for a week and stay at Point of Rocks campground. 

Pic 1 is the view of Fools Hollow lake from our site.
Pic 2 was our evening cocktail view of the lake.
Pic 3 is a Buddy Site, one of many in the park.
Pic 4 is a lake view.
Pic 5 is me spending a day at the water bay.

This was our first time staying at this park, but we did drive it a few years ago. Probably the single biggest feature of the park is that it is surrounded with some beautiful and stunning rock/boulder formations.  Another positive feature is that Watson Lake and Watson Lake park are a short walk from the park from a trail at the back of the campground, which just happened to be right next to our site (so we got to meet a lot of people, whether we wanted to or not!) Most of the sites are fairly level side to side, but all surfaces are powdery dirt and a few rocks, so having a decent size rug is recommended.  The park is also fairly close to Prescott to make exploring the town a short 5-10 minute drive. 

Those were the high points, but there are some down sides.  Most disappointing is that the park is a dust bowl. I can't really say that the park has dirt/gravel roads as the gravel is non existent.  The slightest breeze or vehicle going by puts a cloud of dust in the air. The trees in the park are in dire need of trimming be able to get into the sites without them dragging the side of the RV.  There are no amenities to speak of in the park, other than restrooms and a laundry.  The lower set of restrooms is brand new and handicapped accessible (if you can squeeze past the roof posts in the walkway) but the upper restrooms are old, dated, and definitely not handicapped accessible.  There is WiFi offered, but it is only good for checking your email, no streaming allowed. Reliability of their WiFi is not guaranteed.  Our T-Mobile card worked well here, but I do have an exterior antenna that pushes up 5' over the top of the RV.

There is no pool, play area, or pet area, but waste bags are provided in a few places. Highway 89 also has some significant traffic noise, and we were not that close to the road.

We paid $44 a night for a 7 night stay, which came to $312 for the week with taxes.  The site was full hook up 50 amp and the power seemed to work well.  The water hook up was buried down inside a box that made it a bit difficult to hook up to. I needed 2 angled adapters to get my hose and in line filter hooked up. The water pressure is low, about 20-25 psi on my inline water gauge. Sewer is in the back of the site, so bring extra sewer hose.  Our site was a back in (#68). Out of 95 sites, 3 are pull thru and the rest are back in or pull in, and most are very close together.

The office is still using a ?no contact? policy.  If you have a site reserved, there will be a tag on an outside message board with your name and site# on it. As such, we rarely ever saw anyone from the park during our week stay. No walk ins accepted, reservation only. I did need ice from the park store, so the process was to call the office,  give them a credit card (no cash accepted) and then they your product outside on a bench. So in 90 degree weather it is not advisable to call for anything until you are ready to be there quickly.

This is the closest RV park to Prescott, so there are reasons to stay here. Just don't expect a lot from the park itself.  There are some good hiking trails in the area, which we did a few. There is a ?White Dot? trail to hike that has the trail marked with 2? white paint dots on the rocks. Be advised it is picturesque, but can be strenuous due to many rock formations. Watson Lake is open for kayaks and boats with electric motor propulsion only, 10 HP max. No swimming in the lake as it may be unsafe due to old strip mines in the area.

Rule restrictions are no tents, no wood fires, and prohibited breeds of dogs are Chow, Doberman, Rottweiler, or any kind of Pit Bull ?type?. 

Pic 1) Our site in the campground
Pic 2) Looking back from the trail to Watson Lake towards our RV
Pic 3) View from overlook on the White Dot Trail
Pic 4) New remodeled bathroom
Pic 5) Old bathroom
Pic 6) Pathway to the new men"s restroom
Pic 7) Map of trails around Watson Lake

Marty,

I will say Arizona is such a Beautiful state!

My old memory of Driving IH40 on a quick pass thru from Ft Ord, Ca back to Texas, in the early 1990s was totally wiped out and replaced with awe when we spent time in AZ 2018.

This trip when we left William's AZ on 89 up into Utah I was in double awe.

I am learning quick when it comes to RVn the treasures await on the roads less traveled.

Keep the reports coming. I cant wait to come back and spend more time in the Grand Canyon state.

Looking forward to hearing about the other places on your loop too.

Safe Travels to you.

JD

Thanks JD, from here we move to Sedona, AZ for a week. 

Looks like some of the sites are really the best!  Thanks for posting all this.  We love going to Arizona, and you are helping to narrow down some new locations to stay.  We have been trying to go to Fool Hollow for a year, and will take your advice and reserve now for next year. 

Pictures are super too!  Stay safe, and Happy Trails!

After the last few dusty RV parks that we were in, we were looking forward to Sedona, and we were not disappointed.  The town itself is also just a very interesting place, due to the surrounding colorful and unique rock peaks and formations that permeate the area.  Pulling into the campground the first thing I noted was the entrance road was paved, and then the roads to the sites are firmly graveled. 

Our site, #82 was a back in gravel pad, and had a long and wide patio in red colored cement.  Some large tall trees were at the back of the site that provided great afternoon shade.  Our site also backed up to the entrance to Oak Creek.  A berm separates the creek from the campground, but a well marked entrance leads you down to the water.  The creek itself is about 25' wide at this point, and up to 4' deep in the middle. The water is moving pretty quickly, but wading and floating in it are possible due to a man made rock ?basin? up creek about 30 yards.  The water was very clear, and seeing the bottom was easy but there are large rocks covering the bottom so walk carefully if you take a dip. 

Sites 76 thru 84 are the biggest sites, and there was a large grass area in back of the site as well that was open to anyone to anyone to use, and provided the access to the creek. There is reasonable room between sites, but being able to position your chairs facing backwards towards the creek made the site feel much larger. Many large trees line the creek as well providing shade, and wind break if it get gusty.  There is also ?Adult Only? sites if you desire.

I was impressed with the grounds crew that took care of the sites. After each guest left, they would come to rake and clean up the gravel, clean the benches and chairs, and wipe down all the hook ups.

It is pricey compared to previous parks, but they did make you feel like you were getting something for your money. We paid $75.60 a night, plus $2 a night for the dog. At least there is a grassy fenced pet area, and there are several places around the park that hold pet waste bags. Our weekly rate was $532 for the week. Dogs are allowed on the grass areas, and in the creek if you desire. For amenities the  park offers a grass volleyball court, horseshoes, tether-ball, a Bar-b-Que  pit, and various seating  areas around the park. There is a large community fire pit in the grassy area, but due to elevated fire concerns it was not being used at this time. There is also an on site laundry room. 

Our on board Wifi worked well here as we were fairly close to a tower in town. The park does offer free Wifi, but streaming isn't possible. Washing a vehicle isn't allowed, but they do allow an outside service to do it for you. I had them wash the rig the day before we left to wash away the dust and dirt from the previous parks. The service was ?Gary's Mobile  Wash? and cost $100 for the wash and cleaning of all windows. I was happy with the results, but the service is very busy so plan ahead if you decide to use them.

The only negative I could find was that bathrooms. While clean and usable are not particularly handicapped accessible. There is a ramp built to get into the bathroom/shower area, but once inside the shower stalls have a 2? lip, are a bit narrow and have no grab rails. The toilet stalls are wider, but also  have no grab rails. The only set of restrooms is between sites 26 and 27, which was a fair distance from our site. 

Sedona itself feels very upscale and is a well planned community. But there is always a few peculiarities right?  Well in Sedona it's the traffic circles. Lots of em. With light traffic they work well, but on a crowded weekend they can back up and stall. Many ?out of towners? just don't navigate them well. And there just isn't a way to avoid them most of the time. 

There are a lot of interesting and challenging hikes to take in the area, and we did a handful of them. They can be a little underrated, as some are rated as ?easy?, but still may require walking up rocky paths and over boulders.  There are also many interesting specialty shops and  restaurants in the area, and we tried out a few. They required masks to walk in, but once inside they could be removed.

All in all I really enjoyed the week here and would come back.

Pic 1) Our campsite
Pic 2) Entrance to the creek is between the white signs.
Pic 3) Entrance to the park.
Pic 4) Sites further down from us.
Pic 5) Clean, but not handicapped accessible.
Pic 6) Looking down at the creek.
Pic 7) Saw this guy heading out looking for dinner. A small King snake about 18" long at the back of our site.

We stepped up bit when picking a spot for over the 4th of July weekend.  Diane made these reservations in August of last year, even way before Covid was on the radar.  But this park is a Class A only resort, and only has 29 spaces.  We were specifically looking for a park that was not going to be a problem for Heidi (our mutt monster) with a lot of fireworks going off all night, as she is terrified of the loud explosions that are so common these days. And for that, this was perfect. We nary heard a rumble or a pop from an exploding fire work. However, the best laid plans can run off the rails for things you can't control, like thunder from the Monsoons that can occur randomly day or night.  At least they were quick, and generally not too loud. 

Back to the park description. The park is at an elevation of 7550' so it's also a great place to beat the summer heat. The park is actually located in Alto, New Mexico which is 5 miles north of Ruidoso. But if you need any supplies, you will have to go down the hill into Ruidoso. Interestingly one thing that instantly caught my attention upon arrival was that out of 29 sites, about 25 of them all had rigs with Texas plates.  I later learned that Ruidoso has the closest mountains to west Texas, and therefore the entire town is often swamped with Texas license plates in the summer trying to beat the heat. 

The park is exactly what you might expect from a ?luxury RV Resort?.  An electronic gate leads to paved roads, concrete pads with chairs and propane firepits at every site. FHU sites with cable, and Wifi is provided but streaming is discouraged. Our on board Wifi worked well here. I tried using Verizon and T-Mobile on the on board router. While both worked, T-Mobile signal was stronger and faster according to ?Speedtest? and we streamed video every night.

The landscaping throughout the park is nice, and many large trees around the sites provide some shade, but are carefully placed as to not drop debris onto your RV. I got a tour of the clubhouse and facilities, even though they are currently closed due to Covid. There is an outdoor social area with a propane fire table, large natural gas BBQ, and several tables and chairs under cover.  When open, the clubhouse walls open onto the patio. The clubhouse has a mini kitchen is available for cooking. A sink and dishwasher are also provided.  Two beautiful restrooms are in the club house that are fully handicapped accessible, but unfortunately with the clubhouse closed, so are the restrooms. The park also has an ?whole park Reverse Osmosis system? that provides great tasting drinking water throughout the park.

All of these amenities don't come cheap as you may guess. We paid $85 a night plus tax for our 7 night stay. The weekly rate with tax was $666.39.  Along with the amenities, nearly every site has great views of the surrounding county side, as the park is built on a hill. We were in site #16, which was right next to a walking trail that is about ? mile long and wraps around the lower property. Usually in the late afternoon we would sit on the patio with a cocktail and watch a herd of deer wander through the lower property grazing.

While the park is very nice, there are a few things I would have liked to have, or change. First, in a park of this caliber I would expect a hot tub of some sort for the cool nights, especially in the fall.  The RV sites are long enough for the longest RV's, and your tow has a enough room at the back of the site. But the width of the concrete pads should have been about 3-4' wider. As they are if the RV has slides on the passenger side, there is just enough room to walk past the rig. Most seating is at the front patio of the site, but if the sun is out and hot, it would be nice to have more room on the side to get away from it. Also missing is an  enclosed off leash pet area.  While pets are allowed to walk throughout the park and also through the walking trail, there is no specific area to allow them to run off leash.  Pet waste bags are provided throughout the park however.

None of these are deal breakers, but for the price I figure I may as well gripe a little bit. I still highly recommend this park, and under ?normal? socializing rules, the park sponsors and facilitates various get togethers weekly.  Texans are extremely friendly folks, (and the owner is Texan) so meeting and chatting is quite normal.  The next stop is ?back to the dust? as we head to a KOA in Santa Fe, NM.

Pic 1) Our site for the week.
Pic 2) Enjoying the view from the fire pit.
Pic 3) Looking down the row of most of the RV sites.
Pic 4) Some of the daily visitors right in front of the site.
Pic 5) The handicapped accessible showers. Which are currently closed.
Pic 6) The office and clubhouse.

At the end of my last review I said we were going back to the dust bowl. Unfortunately that was pretty accurate. I hate using phrases like ?typical KOA? but it kinda is.  The park itself is well maintained by the park staff, and all are friendly and helpful. The sites are gravel (mostly) and roads are dirt with almost no gravel.  Fortunately Diane opted to get a ?Deluxe Patio site? of which there is only four.  Ours was the best situated of the four, and made the dusty place a little more tolerable. 

Our site had a large paver patio that was elevated a few feet by stack stone walls. Around the outside perimeter of the walls was a thick layer of colored gravel and river stone. This at least kept the dust from the roads a little further away.  The site also had a table and 4 chairs, a 2 person chair swing, a block fire pit (which you can't really use do to fire restrictions) and a 2 burner propane BBQ.  The gravel pad we were parked on was also fairly heavily graveled. 

The utilities were only fair though. The ?D? row of sites  that we were in was always full with larger  rigs, so the power draw in the row was probably significant as the days hit low to mid 90's.  The first day we were there just after hooking up, our generator fired up.  Checking the Progressive Industries Surge Protector (PI) in the electrical bay, it was showing a P-4 error code, which was low voltage on Line 1.

The PI will disconnect the rig from power if power drops below 104 volts.  It reset itself after a few minutes. I monitored the readout after it re-connected.  Within a minute or two, the PI clicked, power was disconnected and the readout displayed 103 volts.  As is usual with many parks, incoming AC line 1 gets heavy use as that is the way most RV's are wired.  I employed a ?line switcher? to the pedestal post that swaps Line 1 and Line 2 before it enters the rig.  Line 2 was fairly steady at 115 volts. That solved the issue for the rest of the stay. 

The ?line switcher? is simply a 18? long piece of 50 amp RV cord with the main power lines (the red and the black) switched on opposite posts on one end of the cord.  It has come in handy in the hot summer months at campgrounds with minimal input voltage, or just older cabling in their power pedestals.  The water pressure was also a bit low especially when peak shower hours were going on. 

Cellular was sketchy at the park as well. Doing a speed test when setting up barely moved the needles. I checked the area of Santa Fe for internet providers, nearly all were cable companies. This seems to be fairly common in more rural NM. Surprisingly I was able to get just enough signal with my booster and antenna to stream Amazon old TV shows at night, as long as every one of our other devices were turned off of Wifi.  The park did offer Wifi that worked pretty well, but their documentation indicated that streaming was not allowed.  For most of my web surfing I used their Wifi with no issues.

The other amenities in the park were as most KOA's. Tent sites,  Kamping Kabins, a playground  for the kids, and  various playground sports like basketball and tether ball. The restrooms were clean, fairly modern, and handicapped accessible. There was a laundry room, a game room, a small store, and a patio area with a grill area. However, those items did not see much use due to the Covid restrictions. Masks were strongly recommended, but no one was making a big issue out of it.

We were here for 5 nights, and we paid $75 a night for the premium site. The park was close to Santa Fe, and we explored the town, as well as some of the monuments and parks around it. We walked the ground that was the Civil War era Battle of Glorieta Pass, as well as the Bataan Memorial, which pays tribute to the soldiers from New Mexico that were subject to that infamous death march.  We also visited the Bandelier National Monument, which preserves the Anasazi cliff dwellings. 

Diane's blog just posted where she details much more of our visits to those locations and many pictures of the sites. All in all this was not a bad park, just not a great one. But we checked out other parks in the area and all were fairly similar.  But it worked out well for visiting many locations around Sante Fe.  From here it is on to Taos, NM.

Pic 1 & 2) Our Deluxe site
Pic 3) The average site

Looks like a Great Trip so far Marty.  What were the Temps you encountered in Ruidoso area at the Park with all the Texans?

Thread is a great source of valuable info on the park reviews you are doing for us fellow RVrs.

JD

Thanks JD, temps there averaged in the low 80's and very comfortable.  Usually afternoon breezes as well. Great cocktail weather around 1630! 

Really enjoying your journey and pictures. I have never been out west and everything looks very beautiful.  Is that snake that was on your site a dangerous one for humans or 4 legged babies? 

Speaking of which, do you leave yours in the rv while you go hiking, I am guessing yes.  What do you do when leaving, do you put ac on and leave windows open?  I am always Leary of going too far and leaving ours behind for fear of unknown so we go on separate journeys so one of us stays back with the dog. 

I have also enjoyed Diane?s blog, she is a very skilled writer, quite enjoying reading both of your blogs.

Thanks for sharing.

That was a King snake, harmless to humans and pets, and great at controlling the rodent population.  If they feel threatened they will "rattle" their tail, but it's just a show to give it time to get away.

We used to take the pup with us on most of our hikes, but she is just over 10 years old now, and prefers to wait for us in the RV and nap.  Her comfort is always a chief concern, so if there is going to be any heat at all we close up and turn the AC on. And as a backup our gen has an "auto start" feature that will start the gen if power drops out for any reason.  If it not too warm we prefer to leave the windows open for fresh air.  She can hang by herself for up to 4 - 5 hours without issue.

And last, thanks for the kind words for Diane's blog! She loves knowing that someone is reading and enjoying her posts. She really works hard on them. 

This is the perfect park for exploring Taos. It is small, family and veteran owned and operated park. Most sites are long and wide pull throughs and full-hook ups.  The roads and sites are fairly moderate  gravel so dust in not a problem. However having a patio rug is a benefit, one that you can nail down is better as the winds can be gusty in the afternoons.

Specify if you need a 50 or 30 amp - sites vary. No shade trees on the sites, but there are lots of plants and flowers between sites.  Sites 14 - 19 have the best views of the mountains and face north. That puts morning sun on your passenger side, but the hotter afternoon sun is on the drivers side.  There is a gated entry into and out of the park.

Laundry, bathrooms and convenience store were all closed due to Covid so I cannot comment on handicapped access. There is a 1-mile walking trail that is wide and flat where walking your pets off leash is allowed (not fenced). The park provided Wi-Fi works great for web surfing. I used our on board cell system to stream video on our T-Mobile in the evenings, but the distance from the tower made the signal a bit sketchy with occasional buffering.

Water pressure is poor, but the 50 amp service had good reliable power with no issues. There are tent sites available that are covered but were not being used during our visit.  There is an outdoor shade pavilion with gas BBQ's that is open and accessible. There are no children's facilities like playgrounds or game courts.

We paid $41 a night for our site. The owner takes great pride in his park and was planting more flowers during our stay.  The park is about 5 miles outside of Historic Taos and 5 miles from the Rio Grande Bridge (must see). One day we drove the ?enchanted circle? which is an approx 80 mile loop through Taos, up to Angel Fire, through Red River, and back to Taos. Red River is a cool little mountain community with lots to see, and it a ski resort area in winter.  We stopped there for lunch on the way back down. 

And on another day we drove to Taos Ski Valley. We took a ride up the mountain on ski lift #4, which was about a 45 minute round trip.  The views were great and it kinda felt like a slow motion Disney ride.  We paid $20 each for the lift ticket. Once back down we lunched at the Bavarian lodge which is right next to the lift.  We had Brats and beer before coming back down to Taos. 

Next we head to Chama, NM for a weekend stop before heading into Colorado.

Pic 1) The view looking north from our site, #15
Pic 2) The sites are plenty long and wide.  Easy parking of the tow car.
Pic 3) Nice park, but no pot of gold!
Pic 4) Diane at the Rio Grand Gorge
Pic 5) Coming in for a landing on the ski lift

SargeW said:

I have done a few of these type of travel blogs before. They mostly settle around the nuts and bolts of our stays, and some of the local flavor. Diane is doing a travel blog with much more in depth info about the areas in which we stay. http://www.mytripjournal.com/rvnchick2020

You are welcome to follow along, ask questions and give your own opinions and suggestions.  As always, life is all about the journey!

Click to expand...

Interesting accounts! Also, whoever is taking the photos has a great "eye" for photography.

Thanks jymbee! Diane takes most of the pics, and I fill in the gaps.  She writes well, and takes great photos.

I am also very much enjoying Diane's tales and photos. I particularly like the Smokey Bear and balloon episode, not being an American I didn't know the story.

Santa Fe is somewhere we have been told to visit, so its a shame you couldn't experience the real deal. I'm sure you will get another chance.

The Rio Grande Gorge is spectacular. Another place on our list!

I like the sentiment expressed too, she sounds very sensible!  ;D