Musings

Cliff n jemez river

Our first big adventure was to drive into—and out of—an extinct volcano.

Soda dam jemez

We followed the Jemez River up. It’s in the previous shot, too. Between the river and the road is a ridge locally called soda dam. Long gone hot springs created the deposit, layer upon layer.

Caldera crest ish

This is approximately the crest of the caldera rim. It’s not edgy and distinct. We were glad it was warm and sunny, and the crud on the road was melting, even in the shadows.

Caldera interior

This is the Valle Grande of the caldera. It’s huge. You are looking at no more than a “corner” of the interior. All those ridges across the VG are on the floor of the caldera. Huge.

Toward r grande valley

Descending toward Los Alamos (the willows) on the other outer flank, we could see the mountains on the other side of the Rio Grande Valley. Such landscapes!

Cliff above Tsankawi

Outside the lava territory of the volcano-lands, we saw different kinds of rock and landforms. That is the extent of my geology knowledge on this. 😇

Sunset adobe

Our second big adventure was to walk downtown for a fancy dinner, just as the sunset was glowing over the rooftops in the neighborhood…very soon to fade.

Plaza lights

The plaza trees are festooned with lights. And the moon was up.

Elk tenderloin

Food porn. I had elk tenderloin with mushroom sauce and veggies. Perfection.

Plaza lights later

Plaza lights as we traced our steps homeward, after full dark.

Dark computational

Highly computational photo. Stunning.

And the super-great adventure? Thirty years since our wedding. 🥂🍾 😃