Well I did manage to stay in Ruidoso for 2 nights before heading north. Ruidoso is a nice area with some good hiking, but the town is a bit touristy. Abbey and I got in one good hike before we moved on to Santa Fe. We got into Santa Fe late in the afternoon but with enough time to hit Trader Joe’s and stock up on our supplies. If you’ve never been to Trader Joe’s you don’t know what you’re missing. It has all kinds of good food and it also has wine at reasonable prices and I’m not talking about 2 Buck Chuck either. After loading up there I think my RV was probably over its weight limit, but luckily noone ever checks. When I got back to the RV park after Trader Joe’s I found that my camp chair, electric and TV cable that I had left at my site had been taken. I was pretty bummed because I wanted to watch TV that night, but I figured one of the workers must have picked them up figuring I had left it behind. When I asked the next morning, however, the guy said nothing had been turned in. Then I was really bummed. It was the first time I had ever had anything stolen. Guess I won’t stay at that park again.
On Saturday the whole Gibbons clan, Ryan’s friend, AJ, and I drove up to Frisco where we had rented a condo for 3 nights. Poor Abbey and their dog Lydee had to go to the kennel. It was Lydee’s first time, but at least she had Abbey with her. Abbey gave me that deer-in-the-headlights look when I turned to leave and told her I’d be back. It killed me, but skiing helped me get over it. We skied 2 days at A-Basin (Arapohoe Basin for the uninitiated) and 1 day at Copper Mtn. A-Basin is more of a locals hangout and a lot less crowded. It was my first real time skiing in about 13 years. Needless to say I was a bit rusty, but I escaped the 3 days without injury and I skied fairly well all things considered. So, I was usually the last one down the hill, but I was also usually one of the last ones to come in or take a break. It was a lot of fun getting back on skis again and it was a real bonus to come back all in one piece. I didn’t want to think about driving the RV with a broken leg or worse.
While I was in Colorado I took Abbey to the vets again for some more testing. It turns out they are pretty sure she has Lyme disease even though she’s not showing any symptoms. So they have her on antibiotics for a month and we’ll have to see how things go from there. I’m trying to cut down on her hiking as she seems to get tired more easily these days. Of course, she is getting up there in age too. She’s 12 now so I can’t expect her to do as much as she used to anyways.
View from the Top of A-Basin
Ed and the Kids
The Gibbons Clan