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Monday, September 21, 2009

Tent Rocks NM and Grace Church in Albuquerque

Kasha-Katuwe is the Pueblo Indian name of the Tent Rocks National Monument near Cochiti Lake NM. We camped at Cochiti Lake Army Corps Of Engineers recreation campground for three days with Reid and Amy.

On Saturday morning we drove about 7 miles to Tent Rocks and went on a beautiful hike. The trail is very well maintained and the hike was more than a stroll but not a real hard one. There were some places with a lot of steps and low rock overhangs, but mostly it was just gorgeous scenery.The Cochiti Pueblo have always considered this area "white cliffs" an important place. It was designated a National Monument in 2001 and is under the Bureau of Land Management's administration. It has toilets and a small parking lot and is a little out of the way (which makes it perfect).
We met some nice people along the way. My twin brother noticed that some guys that went right past us were twins. We talked with them for a minute and snapped a picture.
They were from Albuquerque. We met others from Minnesota, Colorado, California and Texas.

We took a lot of pictures:


The Tent Rocks are located on the Pajarito Plateau in northern New Mexico and has an elevation range of 5,570 feet to 6,760. It was not over stenuous but 1,000 feet of upward hiking took us about an hour to reach the top and about half that time to return to the car.

On Sunday we drove back to Albuquerque and went to Grace Church. We attended there when we were stationed at Kirtland AFB (1988 - 1992). They moved into a new church after we left in the early 1990's and are now doubling the facility. It is really beautiful. The new additions have more classrooms, a basketball gym and a garage for single mothers to get their cars worked on.

Gladly we saw some old friends and were able to catch up. Reid has been one of the Sunday School teachers there for years and he did a great job with Mark 10:32-52. He had very good questions and some good points (relevant and practical) we can apply to our daily lives.

After church we went with some new friends (Paul and Debbie), and Reid and Amy to have Mexican food at Monroe's Restuarant. (Doesn't really sound like a Mexican Restaurant but it was great!) Thanks Paul!Later we took Reid and Amy back home, did some wash and went back to the Roadrunner at Cochiti Lake. We packed up, got our winter jackets out (supposed to be cool 40 degree weather in Santa Fe this week) and then went to see Bob and Judy for a little bit.

We called it a night and that wraps up the Roadrunner Chronicles for today.

3 comments:

  1. Great post, Randy! Very informative and I really enjoyed the slide show and all the great pics!

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  2. sounds like you are fully into "it". so happy for you. also love it that you are combining regular service opportunities into your full timing. i think that is the key to satisfaction in this life! bless you and hope to see you down the road. great site!

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  3. Wonderful post...brings back memories! I loved the hike at Tent Rocks. I know you will have fun in Santa Fe as well.

    Be sure to go to the Loretto Chapel Museum...that is where you can see the "Staircase from Heaven". It is in the Our Lady of Light, Santa Fe.

    Have a great time.

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