From the Circle Cross Ranch

4-18-2007

First I must apologize - the photograph on the last post was mis-identified. It was actually taken from the Lizard Head Pass on the San Juan Skyway.

What a great week we had with Ann & Al, Gin & Jim. We all took off in different directions this morning. We headed south into New Mexico. We stopped at the Toadlena Trading Post, a few miles west of Hwy 491 and south of Shiprock. It's very small, but they have a great museum and display of Two Grey Hills style rugs and blankets. They have all been doing by members of the same extended family - the earliest in the 1920s and the latest just a year or so old. The Two Grey Hills rugs/blankets are all done in white/ivory/grey/beige/tan/brown/black. The only dye used is possibly black. They had gobs of them for sale, too, but more than we wanted to pay at this time. We're so glad that we went by there - and heartily recommend it to anyone who is in the neighborhood. Thanks to Gin for bringing it to our attention. I'll post the web site later.

The rest of the drive was pretty straight-forward. We stopped for lunch at El Cafecito in Grants, NM. We had eaten there before, and had a great lunch - recommend that, too. We did do a quick visit to the Visitors' Center at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. It's a fascinating facility, too. It was built in the 1930s by the CCC.

Everything here at the ranch (about 30 miles from Cloudcroft, NM, partially in a national forest) is green and gorgeous. We're exhausted, so won't be long for this world. I'm not on my computer, so no picture.

We finally got to the ranch about 6:45 - a long, LONG day of driving.