Remembrance Day, Veterans day, sunny weather and ghost town tours.

Where are we today ?

Elephant Butte Sate Park, New Mexico

        Today is gonna be another bright sunny day and not much wind. First of all we need to remember and thank all of our Veterans, for the freedom we have in our countries. Canada and the USA. I do remember and thank my Grandfather who was overseas in WW1 and my Father who enlisted in the Canadian army and was prepared to go overseas, but the war ended before he was deployed.

Grandfather far left and right
my father in the middle

       And of course all of the US soldiers that were there fighting for our freedom.

Flags lining the streets in Elephant Butte today
so heart warming.

           About 9:30 this morning we hopped in the car for a day trip to check out some local ghost towns.

leaving Elephant Butte

        This is the tour we did this morning. About 2 hours total and 55 miles of amazing deserted  desert countryside. Think we saw about 5 cars all morning. Love the southwest countryside, so peaceful.

55 miles

        This what we drove and just love the wide open spaces. First town was Cuchillo ( named for Cuchillo Negro = Black knife)  Established in 1850 .

Cuchillo

       Not much here like a lot of Ghost towns. Mostly abandoned homes and buildings makes you wonder about what life would be back then.

Cuchillo Bar click here

San Jose Catholic Church 1907

        Then more desert touring and we came across Placita (Little Plaza) est 1840.

San Lorenzo Catholic Church  1907

      Then on to Montecello founded 1856 and still has a post office today.

San Ignacio Catholic Church first built in 1857

Main street

      Love their Fire truck , volunteer fire department, its been around for a while but am sure it still does the job.

The wash has recently been plowed
 probably from recent flash floods 

Tumbleweed, only in the southwest

          Now back to Elephant Butte, checked out the dam that created the lake here. The Rio Grand is dammed up in a few places to create water reservoirs, supply electricity and prevent flooding.

         Now time to head home for lunch. And managed to catch a quick shot of the Gambel's Quails that are running all over the place here. We can hear them all day long but hard to take a pic, they move so  fast.

The quails

        Now a light lunch and we can enjoy a wonderful afternoon enjoying the scenery and our e-readers. Not much wind, sun too hot, shade too cool but we did manage, not much wind either, sure was a wonderful afternoon.

and of course the view , amazing !

      Then time to whip up supper. Pan fried Cod fillets and a salad, sure worked for us.

Wonderful

         We pace ourselves and plan the day a bit just to see how it unfolds. No  need to rush around can always come back again and see more, if we choose. Just enjoying the days the way we like.

         Thanks for stopping in and joining us in our adventure today. Hope you enjoyed your day too!

Check out the interactive map below to see where we have been this Fall and Winter..