Big Camp Santa Fe 2023

We had great intent to hit this summer running and planned to leave for our Big Camp Santa Fe immediately the day after school was out. This meant that the final days of school activities would be wrapped up with getting ready to leave for two and a half weeks. I am happy to report that we made it through and on the road with only forgetting a few minor things.

Santa Fe was chosen for this year’s destination because it was an area we hadn’t been yet that seemed to have a lot of things to see and do from ancient dwellings and museums to lakes and hiking trails. Its warmer temps at the end of May also seemed appealing.

Back to Colorado Springs

We traveled through an intense thunderstorm on our way to Colorado Springs for the first leg of this trip. We had a great spot at the Cheyenne Mountain State Park and enjoyed the well groomed hiking paths straight out of our camp site. For a break from being in the truck, we took the next day and went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The first time we visited this zoo on our big trip in 2018 the kids were much younger which meant we didn’t see all the zoo had to offer. This time we knew we could take the whole park in and were looking forward to feeding the giraffes again which was amongst our favorites. Our other favorites this trip included the elephants and peacocks [Ellie], the penguins [Jackson], and the hippos [Nicole] that were new to the zoo since our last trip.

At the Lake

Upon entering New Mexico, we thought the terrain looked a lot Wyoming — sagebrushy prarie with some mountains in the distance. The wind also made it feel like Wyoming. We had a shorter day of travel and rolled into our next stop at Cochiti Lake thinking we would have time to hit the lake before dinner. When we checked in the attendant strongly advised we not get the boards on the water and after walking down to the boat ramp we quickly discovered why. The Rio Grand River was quite swollen from the northern snow melt and spring rains so the lake was at least 30 feet overfull. Not to mention the winds had pushed all of the drift wood and debris to the shoreline, making it difficult to even access the waters edge.

It was a bit disappointing to not be able to get in the lake like we thought we would for a few days, but it left us time to explore the near by communities of Albuquerque and Santa Fe. We also took a morning and rode the bikes the 6 miles (12 miles round trip) over the Chochit Dam, which is one of the ten largest earthfill dams in the US. By the time we had stayed our 8 days, we were able to get out on the paddle boards and could almost correctly pronounce Cochiti.

Albuquerque Old Town Plaza 

On one of our excursion days we found ourselves heading a bit more south to the city of Albuquerque. Because we had Dottie with us, we were limited to dog friendly things to do. (Side note for next time: research local dog daycares and bring shot records.) Lucky for us, much of Northern New Mexico doesn’t mind four-legged friends. After a fuel stop we headed to the heart of Albuquerque, the Historic Old Town Plaza. Think of your favorite black and white Clint Eastwood movie with an adobe looking plaza and that is pretty close, only full of color. It was such a blessing to see all of the rich history and culture found around the plaza. Ellie was in love with all of the street vendors and tiny shops with handmade goods. On the way out of town we grabbed ourselves some authentic New Mexican street tacos — the first of many on our trip. 

On another trip to the city after a hail storm in search of new vent covers for the camper we took in my favorite kind of souvenir shops — local quilt shops. Each kid found a pattern and some fabric for their next summer projects when we get back home. Again we enjoyed a dinner of street style tacos with green chili. 

Santa Fe – The City Different

We journeyed into Santa Fe a couple of times as well. Our point of interest there was also their Historic Plaza where the Loretto Chapel stood. Like many other visitors, we were seeking out the “miraculous staircase” to take in its three mysteries. From there we walked awaround more shops and art galleries before finding lunch at yet another taco truck. 

Taos + Northern NM

We finally said goodbye to the lake and started heading north again but before exiting New Mexico Brian had booked us reservations for two nights in Taos. We quickly found out that a fiber optic cable had been damaged, cutting off all internet and cell service for the surrounding area. Talk about a vacation dream come true, except those were the days we both had some time sensitive work to attend to, which meant we were in route to find a few bars of service to do our few minutes of work. Our travels took us around the Enchanted Circle that was like a travel warp back to the Black Hills. Along the way we stopped at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and a Candy Shop.

Downtown Taos was another beautiful place to walk around. Much like the other two with lots of skinny streets and tiny shops full of fun things to look at. We took in another street vendor’s taco and rescued a bit more fabric from the quilt shop. Our last stop was the Historic Taos Peublo, a living Native American community with multi-storied adobe buildings that have been continuously inhabited for over 1000 years. 

Live from New Mexico

More Trip Pics

At our last stop, we became highly aware of how much our lives depend on being connected to the rest of the world. Even though our children may not know how to use the tools from the past, we are familiar with using a paper map and a phone book as means to finding a good pizza place — except those tools have pretty much faded away. Even most advertisements in visitor guides only list a web address leaving out the important info like a physical address. And don’t forget how many credit card machines rely on connectivity and how much cash we don’t carry anymore. Signs of times that have changed which is all fun and games until the internet goes out.

With all of the slight mishaps of this trip we are still very grateful to be able to travel to a new place in our wonderful nation and expose our children to the area’s rich culture and history. Out of all of us, Dottie was probably the one who enjoyed it the most. She was living the best dog life with morning walks to the lake, digging dirt, bike runs, paddle alongs, and all of the things she could put her nose to in the old town plazas. You’d be surprised if I told you she only barked a couple of times as we toured each plaza which led our last campfire conversation back to Buddy.