Luke and Jordan Come to Gallup, New Mexico

We never know how long we will stay when we arrive at a new campground, and we never know our next stop until the day before we leave.  But we did have a very important appointment to keep this weekend in Gallup, New Mexico, so we planned our trip east around it.  Our son and daughter-in-law, Luke and Jordan, were heading out on a 14-day road trip to 4 different national parks, and we were intercepting them their first night on the road.

We haven't seen them since we hit the road in January, so it was so good to see their smiling faces!  Luke finished his last class of medical school on Friday, and they left on their first big road trip since they got married in September.  Jordan is a PA (Physician's Assistant), and they will be moving to Kansas City for Luke's residency right after his graduation May 30.

With that first hug when they arrived, Luke mentioned that Dad had lost weight.  The two of them are closer in weight than they ever have been!

We played games and talked about their move to Kansas City.  It was a great evening that went by way too fast!  Then we bedded them down on the fold-out air mattress in the motorhome couch.  It got down to 27 degrees that night--the coldest temperature we have had since moving into the motorhome in January!


 


They packed up to leave the next morning--ready for their hiking and camping adventures at their next stop at the Grand Canyon.  They will be staying in their tent for about half the nights on this trip, and we were a little worried to see that it would be 27 degrees at the Grand Canyon as well.

 


   
It was nice to spend Mother's Day morning with Luke and Jordan!  Denisa enjoyed having children in her Mother's Day picture today!  It was a beautiful blue sky day with the sun lighting up those pretty red hills right in front of our motorhome's parking place.




 

This is the first blue sky day we have had since we arrived in Gallup three days ago.  In fact, we have had every weather condition imaginable.  The first day included high winds and blowing sand that even obscured our view as we drove through town.  The next morning we woke up to snow.

The snow was lovely, but cold!  It turned the trees in the campground into lacy white sculptures in front of the red rock walls of the canyon we are staying in.

Denisa jumped out of bed and went out to take pictures in the early morning.  She caught this picture of Church Rock in the snow.  We're planning a hike to Church Rock if the weather ever clears up.

While she was out playing photographer, Denisa met some of our camping neighbors that were also surprised to see the snow.  They are relocating a motorhome from Iowa to Los Angeles for a rental company, and getting to see a good bit of the United States in the process.  They are from Holland, and have traveled extensively all over the world.  So we invited them in for some cookies and milk on this cold morning and made new friends!  We love the people that we get to meet in our travels!

Besides wind storms and snow storms, we have also had rain and sleet.  We went to the Saturday flea mark, and got pelted with sleet. You can see the sleet in the air in the picture below.

Many of the Indians from around the area bring their wares to the flea market each week.  The cars and the stands stretch for a half mile, and we felt like we had a real cultural experience.  We were told that the roasted mutton was the best thing for lunch, followed closely by the Navajo stew.  We were going to try both but the helping of mutton on fry bread with corn on the cob, chile peppers, and potatoes was huge and filled us up.

Our next strategy was to watch for the most crowded stands, and buy whatever the locals were buying.  So we came home with the following local favorites:

 We were looking so forward to tasting the Zuni sweet rolls and the cherry bread.  The item that cost 1.50 is called alkaan cake, and they said it was made from white ground corn, raisins, and germinated wheat, and wrapped in corn husks for baking in an oven with hot coals.  We watched as locals opened it up immediately and started snacking on this treat at the market.  So right after this picture was taken, we opened it in great anticipation.  Let's just say it must be an acquired taste.  We also found the rolls to be hard, dry, and very dense.  The cherry bread was our favorite, but we wouldn't buy it again either.  The little loaf of banana bread went into the freezer, and we're hoping it will be wonderful (but at this point we aren't expecting much).  So we were disappointed with our flea market purchases, but still thought the experience was a good one.

We found Gallup has over 100 stores selling hand-made Native American items.  We don't know how that many stores can stay in business, and I'm afraid we didn't help them since we live in such a small home.  But we did enjoy the museum on the second floor of the Gallup Cultural Center.  Out front is a statue of one of the Navajo Code Talkers made famous for their role in World War II.




We also enjoyed our stay at the Red Rock Park just east of town.  It used to be a state park, but is now owned by the city of Gallup.  We enjoyed the morning light on the Red Rocks that surround the campground, even when there was also snow on the ground.