Rock House - Elephant Butte Lake State Park

There will be some excitement of the Earth-y kind at Paseo Del Rio tomorrow. So exciting that the ranger suggested I might want to move back a little. That's excitement.

Have you seen the sign on Exit 92 (I-25) that points you to Rock House? If you read it and think of the Commodores, stop it. No one else does.

Visiting Rock House is a high-clearance adventure, and so Annie's CRV was just the vehicle.

Don't let them kid you. The "toilet" is where you make it.

 Still, isn't it amazing how many camping possibilities there are at this one park? I'm only showing you half the map.

I did my due diligence and still found nothing solid on Rock House. So, I just took the same pictures everyone else does.

You're not likely to see many shots from the back of the house, since the structure sits right on the edge of a cliff.

I met Paco again today. He's a big pittie who greets me by putting his mouth completely around my arm. It's cute and gentle, and it makes me laugh. I also met his man, Juan, who camps around town in a beautiful little trailer he built himself. He's a carpenter with lots of work in town. Otherwise, he says, he'd be out in nowhere.

And that's your weekend update.

Getting nothing done, and taking all day

Joni Mitchell's Circle Game is playing at Passion Pie Café, and so am I.

My kind friends, Annie and David, sent me home to Paseo Del Rio with my arms and heart full of nourishment. And the mail they had collected for me. I had an enormous fresh salad last nigh with granola for dessert; nutrition is running amok through my veins this morning.

A camping neighbor invited me to coffee yesterday, and in chatting we learned we have mutual friends. We drove up to visit one of them, Barbara (and Katie). Okay, two of them. 

Phoenix

I'm an introvert. I was social yesterday, so naturally I'm exhausted. You extroverts, don't be insulted by us. We love you; if we're spending time with you, you know that's true. Then we need ourselves. We hope you see us as versatile, not insular. 

I chatted remotely last night with a good friend who declares she has stopped making plans. I said welcome to the fold, Sister. The less invested I become in what happens next, the happier I become. I must be pretty darned detached.

Weather here is perfect. Happy people walk past and remark "Beautiful day!" and, although I can't distinguish it from any other day I have spent here, I have to agree.

A lovely family camped next to me for the long Good-Friday-to-Easter weekend. There were a dozen of them, give or take (they didn't all stand still long enough for me to get an accurate count).  Abuela and abuelo, two sons, and their families. 

They noticed I was alone, not boiling water for coffee Saturday morning, and called me over. From then on, I was their mission. They just kept feeding me. It was especially sweet that they sent a different teenager over each time they invited me; the kids had obviously learned the language of hospitality. I tried to demur, and the boy said "But we have too much food!"

Even when I wasn't sitting with them, I enjoyed their happy noises next door. No scolding tones, no arguing, lots of laughing. Somehow they enjoyed each other for three days. Miguel (aged 8) asked me three times if I lived here every day. The last time he asked "Are you HAPPY here?" I assured him I was very happy here.

Phoenix bougainvilleas.

Life is good, but not photographable lately. Pardon my cheats.

Happy Earth Day! Splurge and enjoy Earth again tomorrow. It's on me.

Paseo Del Rio: "living in a van down by the river"

[loosely translated]

Please enjoy these photos approximately 18 times longer than you normally would, to honor the time it took up upload them. Fast internet is not one of Paseo Del Rio's strengths.

There are open campsites here, even on this holiday weekend.

Out in the country, where cats take walks. Not Paseo Del Rio.

Antony.  I think I can get him to teach me Spanish.

Herr Onn. I think I can get him to teach me German.

This was a jail way back when (~ 100 years ago).

This is where the dam workers might end up if they got too dam drunk and stole some dam thing.

   

I took this picture back in ninety-eighty-aught-aught-eleven.

I thought I might head out before now, and then I got to remembering some mail it would help me to have (computer charging cords), so I'm waiting around for that. Plus Easter dinner with my very generous and hospitable camping neighbors. This morning they invited me over and fed me coffee and donuts and tamales. Thank goodness I had eaten tamales in some other lifetime, or I would have bitten into the corn husk. Thanks, I'll be here all week. There are worse things than amusing your hosts.

The family just now sent messengers to invite me for dinner. Gotta run!

Paseo del Rio, Elephant Butte State Park (New Mexico)

 

I can't say it's windless here, but it's less wind. Paseo Del Rio is somewhat sheltered by the mountains (officially called "those, those, and them"), and the dam. The shelters have solid walls and some leeway about where you park, so it's possible to optimize your position for wind protection.

The bathroom is the running-water/flushy kind. There is a shower, but I'm warning you that the propane tank lies: this is a COLD-WATER shower. Still, it's water, and the shower room makes a good changing room. Water here has a lot of iron and sulphur.

All sites are semi-primitive, which means there is no water at your site, nor is there electricity available. I've mentioned the shelters, which are sheltering, and they have picnic tables.

All sites are on the Rio Grande. There is a nice walking path along the river.

Nights are very dark and very quiet. Guess what's the loudest thing here? Me. Quiet hours begin at 10 PM, and so I've been running my 3 minute-per-hour generator until then to stream TV, but I noticed no one else does that. They just go to bed, or enumerate regrets, whatever works that night. Just so I'm clear, I'm not running a threshold-of-pain portable generator; it's the Prius engine coming on occasionally to charge the battery.

Tonight I'll gauge my decibels at 7 meters, determine wind direction, appraise my overall benevolence, and decide whether to watch TV or catalog remorse. I already have a gut feeling, though.

Elephant Butte Lake (not visible from Paseo Del Rio)

Spud's nose (often visible from Paseo Del Rio)

Whee! You keep an eye out for rangers!

I weesh to be alone weeth thees fleur to practees my bad Fronsh accent

 

Dam it.

I've been enjoying the trifecta of good eats, wifi, and electrical outlets at Passion Pie Café. A shout-out to Red, who somehow remembers people's names and preferences, even after long absences. Tip your baristas!