Today was the day that the Niels had their family Christmas… So we use the day to do some last-minute shopping and Diane spent a good portion of the day making a wonderful assortment of Christmas cookies… All and prep for sharing for the rest of the week… Shopping was kind of crazy… The cookies were wonderful !
Keep came in just before nine that night in the three of us went to the tuna café just down the road from Maxis… It was a great way to start the vacation with Gabe.…
It was very good having the whole family together… Of course… Having a whole family has a different meeting now… But sam was with us every step of the vacation. We feel his presence every day… Even more strongly when we’re all together. We miss you buddy
Then we went by the house to say hi to Max and Becky and Beckys Brother Dansister in law Elizabeth Who had also just come in
We began today with a gorgeous’s steep run up the dale ball North trails. They’ trails are named after my good friend David’s late stepfather… He organize all of these trails. This one was really really great… Got up to a place where we could get some great views
Today Max and Becky took us to Bandelier national Monument… It’s right outside of Los Alamos we’re both Becky’s parents have worked at one time or the other.… Bandolier is an amazing historical and natural wonder… It was inhabited for thousands of years before being abandoned about 450 years ago. We got to tour the cliff dwellings and take a beautiful walk. We even saw a couple of mule deer… We then had a great picnic of burritos and Chile rellenos That we brought with us.
Afterbanwonderful brunch, we all took a wonderful ride out to Diablo Canyon today for a fantastic hike… The scenery was unbelievable… And the company was really good too. We walked along this old wash right in the slot canyon. It was pretty remarkable… In the shadows we were bundled up and they were still bits of snow but whenever we walked into the sun it was broiling… It was such a cool weather. The Geology is so amazing here !
Got back to Santa Fe just in time to head To the thousand waves spa with Max and Becky… It was so great. The place is limited to private baths now because of Covid… We got a place with two tiny “tea cup” Baths. It was so fun
Then we all met up at our Airbnb for a fantastic Middle Eastern meal that Diane had made. Yum
Today was a peaceful day… We got to hang out with Becky’s parents doreen and ‘George who are getting to be a good friends. They are such amazing people… Doreen is a PhD nuclear scientist most recently worked for NASA ads based based weather observation… She is an amazing storyteller. She grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and In a family of 14 kids… That alone he’s such a treasure trove of stories.George Is a PhD physicist who is done high-energy physics particularly lasers for all of his career… I believe he has the worlds record for the Highest power continuous wave laser ever built… That’s saying something :-)… He’s also an avid runner and has run marathons on every continent and two marathons on all but two continents… He’s also an excellent storyteller. The two of them have done a lot of travel for both of their work and live Right out of colonial Williamsburg? it’s just so much fun to hang around. with them. !
It’s been great hanging out with Max and Becky… Their house Is an effort changing ever improving project… It’s come so far from when they built it… This is the first time we’ve got to see the remodeled kitchen… Max and Becky moved a wall completely and put in a nice adobe counter that looks out into the living room. It opens up the space so amazingly!… Max also took out a window that ended up looking right into the garage… The stucco work is so beautiful on both of these things… You’ve never know that they were any other way. With the refinish floors and new appliances the place is really looking great… Outside they put in stone patios an amazing system for their chickens.… It’s so fun to see the progress here
Becky has done a great job of helping us coordinate while the two families are here so that we get together time as a group together also with our nuclear families.… It’s been a great trip so far !
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