Drive down to New Mexico

Monday afternoon we started driving down to New Mexico. My dad was doing business on the way down, so it took us a few days. Bless his heart, he did try to pick some fun things to go see.

We drove over 1800 miles in the 10 days that I was out there. Of the 10 days on vacation, there were only 3 where I wasn't on a plane or in a car for most of the day. But still very much worth the one-on-one time with my parents.

My dad found this store a few years ago and for obvious reasons I've always wanted to see it. It was fun to check it out and meet the owner. I bought a nice pair of earrings as a memento.

While the fires burning in eastern Arizona and New Mexico didn't impact the reunion at all, we did have to trace out alternate routes to go around them. This is smoke from the fire in Raton, New Mexico.

As a funny aside, my sister and her family, appropriate named the Burns family, seemed to be right in the middle of the action of all the fires. They were driving near Raton when the fire started, they were at Carlsbad Caverns waiting in line when they saw a fire start up the hill. A few minutes later the Caverns were closed. On their way home, they saw a brush fire start on both sides of the road, delaying them again.

Some dancers in Taos, New Mexico

We spent part of the day in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There is so much history there, but we only had time to see part of it. Many Native Americans come and sell their wares at an open-air shop. These pictures are from one of the oldest churches in the United States.



We arrived in Safford, Arizona on Wednesday afternoon and spent the next 2 days with just my sisters and their families. Then we went to Virden, New Mexico for the big family reunion celebrating my grandpa's 90th birthday.