Abiquiu 8/14-8/16 Rest days

After several tough but great days of riding, we met my sister, Deborah and brother in-law, Billy for a few days in beautiful and unique Abiquiu.  They made a vacation in New Mexico so they could visit with us, and we were very excited to see family after a month and a half of being on the road.

After spending the 13th at the Abiquiu Reservoir rv park, we drove to Taos to meet them and do several loads of laundry.  We didn't want to over burden the septic at the home they rented in Abiquiu, so we thought an afternoon in Taos we be a great way to pass the time.  We had lunch and went to several galleries and grocery shopped.  A women in a gallery told my sister that a week before it was awful to be there because of smoke from a nearby forest fire.  We have been very fortunate on this whole trip to not run into any fires.  The only one near the Great Basin in Wyoming was in an area we wanted to skip anyway, so very lucky indeed.

The house they rented in Abiquiu, named Vista de Lago, was great! The construction was very unique incorporating many windows to take advantage of the location on a mesa high above Abiquiu Lake.  Also very visible was the Cerro Pedernal mesa, so famously depicted in many of Georgia O'Keefe's paintings.  

We spent many hours enjoying the views, gathering cool rocks, and enjoying each others company.  We used it as a base camp for many trips around the area including the Ghost Ranch, which was part of a 1766 land grant to Spain, eventually donated to the Presbyterian Church in 1955.  Many artists spend time there for artistic and spiritual reasons.  Georgia O'Keefe bought a home here as well as in Abiquiu.  We went to the Plaza Blanca cliffs, or White Place, an other worldly area of white sandstone that has been shaped into mesmerizing cones and shelves.  We were able to walk right next to many of these formations.

Sarah, Deborah, Billy and I went to Santa Fe to sight see, shop, and go to the Georgia O'Keefe museum.  

We had one incident with a mouse in the house which was pretty hysterical.  I saw it by the fireplace and Sarah, Deborah and I ended up standing on couches, screaming and in hysterics, trying to get away from the vicious creature, while Daren, our knight in shining armor gathered it up, clinging to the back of a chair, in a bucket, and set it's panicked soul free.  I may be tough riding, but when it comes to rats and mice, I'm a complete wimp!

Many more pics here

https://plus.google.com/photos/112714069817620713891/albums/5779972641409061889?authkey=CPSgpM66pfiozAE