In early December we took off for Tumacacori, Arizona to attend the annual Festival de Tumacacori.  It’s a two day cultural celebration at the Tumacacori Mission (a National Historical Park) in southeastern Arizona.  They have it on the first full weekend in December.  Park Rangers give tours of the Mission and its grounds, lead hikes along the Santa Cruz River and the Juan Bautista de Anza Historical Trail, and host a Fiesta (complete with hourly piñata breakings) filled with craft booths, food booths, and entertainment provided by musicians and dancers showcasing the local Indio/Hispanic culture.  The colorful swirl of big skirts and the tapping of heeled boots on the stage boards, as well as a wide variety of mariachi musicians (some from Tucson elementary schools) were a pleasure to witness.  We ate barbecued chicken quarters plus homemade potato chips and homemade salsa courtesy of the Knights of Columbus,  and purchased fry bread spread with honey from one of several such booths.  Other topping options for fry bread were a variety of different chili pepper-based spreads.

The weather was mild, even quite warm in the sun, and everyone wore hats because of the sun’s intensity.  We had a wonderful time at the fiesta.

 

On our way to Tumacacori, we enjoyed the views of the Front Range, looking and finding Pike’s Peak as we passed Colorado Springs.  About an hour and a half south of Pueblo we checked out the small town of Trinidad, Colorado, which we are considering as a next place to move to.  Then continuing south we went thru Raton, NM and spent a comfortable night in the van in Las Vegas, NM.

 

The following day we drove to White Sands National Park, a natural wonder that features the world's largest gypsum dune field. The park is located in the Tularosa Basin of the Chihuahuan  Desert.  We drove through the park.  One boardwalk area was closed because personnel of the adjacent White Sands Missile Range were attempting to retrieve the remains of a missile that they had tested there.  (When the military is testing missiles, the park is randomly closed).  We went further on and walked around a bit in another area.  You could hike up through the dunes and sled down if you wanted; but I don’t do well in deep sand, so we stayed in flat areas.  The huge expanse of white sand dunes went on and on.  It was amazing and somehow very beautiful.

 

After White Sands, we went on to Silver City, NM.  An unusually bohemian small city where the residents all seem to be either college students or aging hippies.  Lots of people with long, flowing gray hair and loose, flowy, light colored clothing to boot!  This town also has more than the usual share of secondhand/thrift stores.  From Silver City we drove into Arizona and spent the night at a Comfort Inn in Green Valley, maybe 35 miles north of Tumacácori.

 

After leaving the fiesta, we drove home via Tucson, Hatch, NM ( big chili pepper growing area), north up Hwy 25, past Truth or Consequences, Socorro, through Albuquerque up to Santa Fe, then off east around the mountains to reach Las Vegas again,  We spent the night in Raton at an old, but very clean motel with turquoise and tan Indian patterned wool blankets on the bed.  It was cold that night and we appreciated the blankets.

 

The next day we headed for Greeley, stopping in Trinidad again.  We then encountered heavy, wet snowfall through Colorado Springs and Denvier.  It was very slow going because the snow hadn’t been falling for long and the snowplows and sand trucks were crawling along in front of us on the interstate and all the traffic was piled up behind them.

It was a tedious drive, but somehow exciting because of the snowfall.