Santa Fe New Mexico

 We went into Santa Fe on our first Sunday but as we are a bit fed up with going into towns on a Sunday to find most places closed we decided to shop at some big box stores we have not had access to on the road for a while. When we arrived we saw we were next to the Railyard District and the Artisan Market was open so we had a nice wander around there and I bought a walking stick made from cactus wood. We then squeezed Dave the Truck into a very small parking lot of a Whole Foods and spent a small fortune stocking up on goodies we cannot buy at Walmart.

We went back to Santa Fe the following Saturday to do the more tourist places. First was the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi but unfortunately we could not go in fully as there was a ceremony being held to ordain new deacons. We did get a picture from the window at the back of the church.

We walked along the Palace of the Governors where local artists sell their products under it's portico.

Santa Fe Plaza

Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

Next we visited Loretto Chapel which is now a museum and is home to The Miraculous Staircase. You can read it's history at the link below but in summary the staircase was built by an unknown carpenter in 1873 and has been constructed with simple tools and has no nails or screws. The rare wood used is not native to the American Southwest. It is believed the unknown carpenter who disappeared after completing the staircase was St. Joseph. 

Being in the Chapel felt strange for me. It used to be a place of worship but is now a museum so how do you act in it? And you had to pay $5 entry and there was a huge gift store as you exited the chapel. Museum or church?

https://www.lorettochapel.com/our-story

Historical picture of the staircase before the handrail was added not long after it was constructed as it was very difficult to use without it.

We then had a quick walk around the nearby streets and stopped for a snack. We would have liked to have stayed all day but as usual we were on the clock as we had left Morgan in the rv. This is a cool town with amazing art galleries, jewelry stores everywhere and lots of restaurants.

The French Pastry Shop

 There was an area not far from the town center called Canyon Road which is a mile long section of road edged by art galleries and shops. We drove along it hoping to stop for a little bit and walk around the stores but we could not find any parking so we had to leave. Maybe next visit!

Cochiti Lake New Mexico

 June 3rd 2023

We drove north to Cochiti Lake campground which is an Army Corps of Engineers campsite. This is our 20th campsite.

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/gateways/485

The dam which is an earthen filled dam began construction in 1965 and was opened in 1973. It is the 23rd largest dam in the world, one of ten largest earth dams of it's type in the USA and eleventh largest earth dam in the world.

Construction of the dam was opposed by the Cochiti Keres Pueblo people, who lost significant tracts of agricultural land as a result of the construction and subsequent pool filling. The Cochiti Keres filed a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the inundation of their lands, winning the suit. In 2001, the Army Corps of Engineers made a public apology to the Cochiti Keres .

Yup folks, it's another dam!

Pulled the plug, time to lower the lake level!

The lake and dam which is part of the Rio Grande had been on local news the week before as the water levels were very high due to the above-average snow fall Colorado had this past Winter. 

https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/high-water-at-cochiti-lake-floods-beach-parking-lot-and-other-structures/

The beach area was completely flooded and the boat ramp area was about half it's normal size. I took some pictures when we arrived of half submerged street lights. The next few days I took pictures of the same light to see how much the lake had risen.

Google map before flood

Street light and to the right the two vertical posts are the chimneys on a toilet building

Saturday 3rd June 2023

Saturday, Monday Tuesday. Same light they have just removed the solar panel for safe keeping

                                       

The loop we were parked on was a very new but was not the best as it was a very narrow pull through site with a seven inch slope side to side which made for a few adjustments to get us level. You would think a site designed and built recently would be level!

Each evening after John finished work we walked down to the boat ramp area and sat watching people use the lake for water activities such as stand up paddle boarding, kayaking, sailing and fishing. Some days there was a lot to see especially at the weekend and we had a few laughs watching people try water sports.

A few pictures from our stay at Cochiti -

Rainbow

Each evening clouds would roll in and storms would threaten. It was very windy every afternoon too.

Pena Blanca 5 miles from camp to make our first Amazon Box pickup. I miss Amazon deliveries!

Campsite as seen from the observation deck 

There's Yem!

Observation Deck

Observation Deck