Abiquiu with the Osterhouts

 Our visit to Abiquiu with the Osterhouts started at our charming casita in a vinyard by the river.  It has every amenity except for TV, wifi, or any phone signal.  The perfect relaxing getaway! 

On Saturday morning, after a delicious breakfast at the Abiquiu Inn, we toured Georgia O'Keeffe's Abiquiu home.  No photos were allowed inside.  The house has been preserved as it was in Ms. O'Keefe's time, with charming mid-century modern minimalism combined with the authentic New Mexican architecture.

 The garden is still maintained by volunteers.  The water rights allow for 2 hours of water on Monday mornings. 

 Ms. O'Keeffe collected rocks, bones, and shells and had many displays on windowsills and benches throughout the property.

After the tour we headed North to Ghost Ranch, which was a dude ranch in O'Keeffe's time but is now owned by the Presbyterian Church.  We hiked one of the trails for a bit and walked around the camp and then had lunch at the snack bar.

On Sunday we checked out the village of Abiquiu and went to Abiquiu Lake before heading back to Albuquerque.

 We could not figure out this "swimming area" until we realized that the water was very low and the usual beach area is actually above where we were standing!

While Stephen and I were at work, Mom and Dad went for drives, saw the sights, walked in the open space, and cleaned up our yard after the tremendous wind storm on Monday evening.  We were very fortunate that the nicest, warmest, sunniest days were the ones we were in Abiquiu!  We had a great time.  Mom and I got to play our ukuleles, and we celebrated all of our birthdays!  Can't wait for the next adventure.

The Day of the Tread

I have never been in any kind of race/run/ride before!  And I never would have if fellow music teacher Tabitha had not invited me.  She started, "Now don't say no until you think about it..."   And then proceeded to try to convince me I could ride 26 miles!
The Day of the Tread is a huge event in Albuquerque.  It is a charity bike ride, benefiting Pegasus Legal Services for children.  You can ride 100 miles, 50, or 26, and there's a fun ride for kids.  People wear amazingly creative costumes.
We started at Civic Plaza.

 

My number was 644.  I saw numbers in the 900's!  The 100 milers and 50 milers left before we did, so it wasn't as crowded as it could have been.   There were many police officers and volunteers helping with traffic during the first part of the ride which was on city streets.  But we soon entered the Bosque trail, which is familiar territory for me.
There were stops all along the way with live music and drinks and snacks.

The turning point was El Pinto, where we were offered coffee, snacks and sopapillas!

And more live music, of course.

After a lengthy pit stop at El Pinto, where Tabitha and I both saw people we know, we headed back.  Another 13 miles to go!  When we got to the finish line, there were cheerleaders from the local high school, another band was playing, and the announcer was calling out the fun costumes.  What a blast!  Next year we'll ride faster AND wear cool costumes.  Totally fun. 

Ghost Ranch

 Ghost Ranch has been on my list for a long time!  As usual, Stephen found an amazing place to stay in Abiquiu.  We had half of a casita in a vinyard, and it was absolutely charming.  While Stephen got settled in, I took a walk that led to the river.

We visited the Georgia O'Keeffe welcome center on Saturday, looked at the displays and watched the 7 minute movie, and then headed up to Ghost Ranch to scope things out.
Ghost Ranch was a dude ranch when Georgia O'Keeffe first visited.  She rented a casita then eventually purchased a seasonal home there.  The ranch was given to the Presbyterian church, and is now a camp and retreat center, but the public can visit the museums and hike the trails.  We walked around to get oriented and talked to a very helpful employee about the best trails to hike in the morning, then visited the anthropology and paleontology museums before heading back into Abiquiu for dinner.

The "City Slickers' Cabin"

The casita G.O. rented before she bought property at Ghost Ranch.

It was late morning on Sunday by the time we hit the Chimney Rock trail, and it was already fairly hot.  But we had plenty of water and snacks and we were ready to go.

Stephen said he wouldn't read the rules.  He said he was sure I would tell him if he was breaking one.

Looking down at the camp.

I am in love with these interestingly eroded rocks.  Stephen said that was weird.  

Still in love with the rocks.

We can see our destination!  But it's still a long way around.

Abiquiu Lake

Now we're at the top!

And.... the destination.

The very handsome official blog photographer.

We almost missed this cute fellow as we were nearly back to the trail head and looking forward to cooling off in the truck, but Stephen spotted him.  He posed for many pictures!

This visit to Abiquiu hopefully won't be our last.  There are other trails to hike at Ghost Ranch, and we didn't tour either of G.O.'s houses.  We have to plan ahead for that, as tickets were sold out for both tours.  But we had plenty to do while we were there and now we can return!

On Monday we went to the Arts and Crafts show in Santa Fe, had a very nice lunch at the Blue Corn Cafe, and on the way back down the Turquoise Trail, we stopped at a sculpture garden we had passed many times but isn't open on the weekends!  Origami in the Garden is the theme, and we were able to learn how they create the huge pieces starting with actual paper origami.  Stephen had a lot of questions about the process, and apparently we can schedule a tour that includes the studio and a "how it's made" explanation.

It was a fun-packed long weekend, and it's great to know that there are still lots of new things to see within a relatively short drive from Albuquerque.  The adventure continues!