Speaking "New Mexican"

After a couple days without electrical hook-ups in the Cibola National Forest, we headed towards Storrie Lake State Park. We were already impressed with New Mexico's state parks, and we were glad to find a camp site available this day near Las Vegas. For those that don't speak "New Mexican," we should point out that this isn't the glitzy gambling mecca in Nevada--this is the little town of Las Vegas, in northern New Mexico. While we never took a picture of our camp site, or even of Storrie Lake, we enjoyed the electrical and water hook-ups for a very reasonable rate. Good job New Mexico!

After settling the motor home into its new home, we took a drive around the area. Our first stop was at Las Vegas National Wildlife Management Area. If you speak "New Mexican," you know that this state is in a serious drought. We noticed that the water was low at Storrie Lake, but some of the ponds in the wildlife area were completely dry. At this viewpoint, we looked across the horizon to see only the white dirt where a pond once provided water to the animals.

At a different view point, we saw another dry lake bed. But from our perch a long ways away, this one seemed to have some brown lumps in it.

With the lens zoomed to its maximum, we saw that the "brown lumps" were a large herd of elk. The picture is blurry because they were such a distance from the viewing platform. We counted more than 300 elk lying in the dry lake bed, and wondered where this large group of animals found water to drink. We had never seen so many elk in one group before.

In our loop drive through the wildlife area, we found a trail head for the Gallinas Nature Trail. Even though it didn't look terribly interesting to walk through the dry golden prairie grass, we needed some exercise.

We found evidence that settlers had once lived on this dry prairie, using the native stone to build homes.

Then, suddenly, the flat prairie gave way to a canyon filled with big rock formations. This hike just got a whole lot more interesting.

The rocks formed into caves that still had evidence of the camp fires that left black soot on the walls and ceiling.

Looking out from inside the cave, the cave ceiling made a nice frame for a picture of Mark enjoying the views into the canyon.

After seeing so many elk just down the road, we expected more wildlife on this hike. But the only animal we saw was this scaly lizard, blending into his habitat.

Denisa is always impressed with the orderly scales that line the bodies of these reptiles. If you look closely, they are another of God's wonders. 

We think that exploring rocky canyon walls on a blue-sky day is also evidence of God's wonders.

It's not the Grand Canyon of Arizona, but if you speak "New Mexican" it is a pretty box canyon that makes for a nice hike.

After a 4-mile loop hike across the golden-grass prairie and through the rocky box canyon, we had worked up an appetite. We like to seek out authentic local food, and we certainly couldn't leave New Mexico without tasting some Mexican cuisine. This is a plate of enchiladas smothered in "Christmas sauce." (That's half red-half green chili sauce for those that don't speak "New Mexican.")