Jason here... We have been planning as a family to go camping for a long time. As usual, everything in the world came up as reasons not to go (not the least of which were snow flurries Tuesday morning) but we stuck to our guns and had a great time. We were going to go to the mountains but thought our kids would have more fun if they were a bit warmer so we went to the desert near Socorro, NM (San Lorenzo Canyon). It's a good thing too because we forgot the bag that had the pajamas and warm clothes in it. For San Lorenzo you "have to" 4X4 to get there...
This place is just out in the middle of nowhere on BLM land, so intrepid partiers come around, which they did, to our spot which is the best at the dead end of driveable wash.
These Rasta types wound up showing up in the middle of dinner. They were super nice (...probably became much much nicer later that night). Anyhow they wound up going further up the canyon to give us plenty of room but came by several times in their backpacks. One of these guys came by with his shirt off smoking a pipe (standard issue nice smelling pipe that is). Allie (who was standing there w/o any pants- no pajamas remember) was yelling "Mom, he's not modest!" It took several rounds to get her to be quiet and courteous.
Exploring around in the canyon we found these miniature sand castle/pueblo structures. They had amazing detail...
Saturday (Luke's birthday) we explored around for a bit. We all had a fun time climbing and jumping from the rocks. Allie was a bit too fearless for our taste but seemed to be having the best time. Then we made a run into Socorro for diapers since our diaper reserve was also in the clothes bag we forgot at home.
We ate at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican food restaurant that was excellent (green chile rellenos especially). To finish out the day we drove south to the Bosqe del Apache National Wildlife Refuge where 10000s of migratory birds winter. All but 3 birds left for the summer when we were there, but oh well. We saw a ton of turtles, roadrunners, wild turkey, coots, and a few geese. It makes us want to go back in the fall. The coolest thing we saw was a coyote fishing in some shallows. It had already caught one and had set this huge flopping fish on the bank. We spooked it a bit so it picked up its fish and wandered off.
We came home super dirty with one set of clothes each for the whole time, but that's what camping is about right?
11 comments:
Cool! You guys are good travelers. Go with the flow and just have fun. We all should plan another family camping trip.
That looks like a lot of fun! I didn't know that coyotes caught fish. How far away was the one you got a picture of?
Count us in for (wanting) a family campout. Around here they say, "if we can do without you for a few days between August and October, we can do without you all year." So...we vote for late fall!
We were parked basically at the water's edge which was just out of sight in the photo- in other words, the little canal (or whatever you'd call it) that you see in the photo is pretty much all there was too it. It wasn't any wider than that. Jason saw the coyote first so he stopped to jump out and grab the camera. That was when I saw the fish flopping on the other side of the shore from us. Which of course was when we realized he was fishing. Had we known that when we first saw him we would have just sat and watched him catch another fish. Darn!!!
Joy
I'm so sorry we couldn't join you-but we would have slowed you down! It looks like an awesome trip all around and just think you had less laundry to do when you got back! :) Jenny
What a face! (that last pic of Allie) I love how flexible & adventurous you guys are with your plans! Looks like a blast.
And.
What are "coots"??
Coots are black birds that look like ducks but they don't have webbed feet like ducks so they can travel on land much better.
Looks like a fun camping trip! Glad you went despite the weather. It looks so pretty in that dead end there. Wish we were out camping as well.
that is a VERY interesting camping area...looks like fun!
Wos, what a fun camping site. I'm glad you had fun.
Love Mom
I love the camping site! What an adventure! Dallin would have loved it. He and Mark camped out in the yard on Friday night, and he thought that was pretty cool. But, he still wants to go "real" camping. How long of a drive was that?
Happy Birthday to Luke...... I'm so sad that I didn't remember. :( I am trying to be better. It's hard to believe that he is 2. Sure looks like a fun weekend. I admire you guys sense of adventure. I realized when we were camping last month that I could LOVE camping- with a 5th wheel trailer. My sister in laws family brought one, and that looked pretty attractive to me- you know, toilet, shower, A/C, microwave..... . I guess for now I will just have to be happy kind of liking "real" camping. We really will have to get in on the camping trips sometime.
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