Backpacking in Bandelier

There's still snow in the high country this time of year, but Bandelier is low enough and warm enough that it's a pretty nice locale for a quick overnight backpacking trip. 

We hiked in and found a nice warm spot perched along the edge of a canyon.

Evidently, this has been deemed a good spot for a long time, as there were many potsherds on the ground to admire.

The first wildflowers of the season are starting.  In this case, an evening primrose.

We enjoyed the peaceful evening.

Saloon starting point

We decided that the old horse barn, which long ago lost its siding and doors and anything else that was there except for the roof and some posts to hold it up, should really be a tiny saloon. So, we have embarked on that project, even though many of the details remain to be decided.

Trailer

Chad bought a cute little trailer he found on Craigslist.  Very useful for carrying loads of compost, saloon supplies, etc!  The guy we was selling off everything he owned in preparation for moving to France.  He threw in some old redwood decking boards for free; I'm sure we will find a use for them (I'm thinking planter boxes...)

And always more concerts

The group I sing with always has a rash of concerts for St Patrick's Day and the Easter season; I've had a lot of rehearsals lately...

Visitors!

One of the fun things about being in Santa Fe is that it is a great place to have visitors.  In this case, Chad's cousin Heidi and her daughter Sarah came out from Europe to visit Linda.  We had a fabulous few days, with good food, gallery exploration, and a hike out at Diablo Canyon.

Cats

 They look so sweet, but in actuality are Toy Destroyers.

The rest of the trip

So after all the fun exploration, we headed to CA for the main driving factors for this particular trip: seeing Kean in Downieville, and an early music workshop in San Francisco that I was signed up for.

Heading across Nevada, we admired the snow-covered peaks, and happened upon a small steam train, which naturally we needed to stop to admire as it came out of the tunnel.

In Downieville, we had a good visit with Kean.  One major task was helping him buy a used RAV4 which is a much better vehicle in the snow than the very aged Camry.  It's also easier to load stuff in for art fairs, camping trips, moving, etc...  Chad deserves all the credit for the great deal of research that went into finding the right used car, and now we know that Carmax is easy to work with.

After Downieville, we headed to the Bay Area for the music workshop in SF.  We actually stayed across the bridge in Sausalito, as one of Chad's friends has a boat there and generously let us stay there.  The marina in Sausalito is quite scenic and the plethora of good restaurants was a delightful bonus.

I quite enjoyed my workshop (who doesn't like spending all weekend sight-reading Josquin??); Chad brought his folding bike and got some good rides in.  At night we were rocked to sleep on the boat.

We took the most expedient route home, which meant partaking the usual roadside kitsch along old Route 66.  No matter how many times we do this route, we always find more Wild West UFO stuff.

Zion

The next day, it was time to head into Zion, where I had booked us a room in the lodge.  The snow was really starting to fall at this point, and we got *almost* all the way to the park on the approach from the east when we hit a road closure, necessitating an hours-long detour to enter from the other side (darn that coffee stop in Kanab?).  

Still, it was sort of magical to enter the usually-crowded national park as the snow fell, with almost no one else there.

I love finding micro-snowmen that people make.

We enjoyed the misty atmospheric light.

Chad's extra-pink Valentine's Day breakfast.

By this point, the snow had turned to rain and things were starting to melt out quickly.  We took a very wet hike to see waterfalls.

The path wasn't even that treacherous, and we got an early start, so avoided the crowds that picked up later in the day.

By the time we left the park, the weather had cleared up almost entirely.

Toadstools

As the weather started to change on our roadtrip, we opted to skip a planned bushwhack off a dirt road that is impassible if it gets wet and took a mellow walk up a small wash from highway 89 to investigate the Toadstools instead.  They are Very Good Rocks.

On our way out, the first snowflakes started to fall.