In the Fall of 2024, we got to participate in one of the most beautiful, amazing, life-changing, and bucket-listed events ever: the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta! Epic is an inadequate word to describe the event, but we’ll do our best to break it down for you. What to Expect at Balloon Fiesta Each day at the Balloon Fiesta is split into 2 sessions; a morning session and an evening session.
Sometimes we choose a spot to give us access to national parks, but other times it’s to give us access to an area to explore! Cibola National Forest stretches over a vast area of land from Magdalena, NM to Gallup, NM. We stayed in a spot just outside of Gallup. Staying in Cibola National Forest We really enjoyed (most) of our stay in the forest. The first spot we stayed
We’ve slowly become accustomed to parking for a night or two in the occasional casino, and always had great experiences. Northern Edge Navajo Casino isn’t an exception. While it may not have had hookups like some places we’ve been, it did have lots of space and was fairly quiet. One of the memorable parts of this location was the casino food court, where we were able to get some delicious
Coming out of the mountains in the fall of ‘24, we needed to stop in Farmington, New Mexico. Tad Cooper needed a checkup. One of the places we stayed, and a contender for the short list of “places we want to go back to,” would be the Bisti Badlands Wilderness Area. While managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Bisti Badlands doesn’t have dispersed camping options. It’s accessed by
While traveling through the mountains of Utah and later Colorado, we noticed Tad Cooper kept getting hot; hotter than he should. So as we were coming out of the mountains, we decided to have him checked out at a Freightliner dealership. Luckily for us, Farmington, New Mexico had one, and we were able to bring him in. While staying in and around Farmington, we were able to take in a
While making our way south from our summer hangout in the mountains of Colorado, we needed to find a little stop between stops to break up otherwise long, mountainous drive days. We’re a big fan of Freecampsites.net, but the sites on this page are not always guaranteed as advertised. Miramonte Reservoir West Campground is claimed to be free online. As we approached the site, we saw signs saying otherwise. Staying
The southwest of the United States may seem like a desert today, hosting only small dispersed cities and towns without much going on. This hasn’t always been the truth. This area was home to a diverse and booming population of people for over 10,000 years. No place showcases this better than Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. While many national parks and monuments can be defined by a singular access
Mesa Verde National Park is probably the one most anticipated by Mom. This land is sacred to the Puebloan people of the Southwestern United States. It is the site of some of the most iconic and culturally significant ancestral sites in the world! Mesa Verde National Park: A Study in Change and Sensitivity When Mom and Dad were in school, the term “Anasazi” or “Anasazi peoples” was in the textbooks
While looking for camping that was convenient to Mesa Verde National Park, we found a little strip of public land just off of Forest Service Road 316 outside of Mancos, Colorado. This section of the San Juan National Forest is an ideal launching point when exploring not only Mesa Verde National Park but also the nearby Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. The area was pretty popular, judging by the
We love little museums; whether they are a mishmash of local history or the hyper-focused outreach of a local utility. They all have something to offer. To date, the most unique and complete little museum we’ve visited is the Museum of the Mountain West in Montrose, Colorado. The Museum of the Mountain West is the collected life’s work of a single person! The owner and curator has collected everything from