New Mexico

We drove up to Taos on Thursday to meet up with Big Al, a local legend, who is very dear friend of the Gestals.  Al met us and we hopped into his pick up to drive up a mountain road high above Taos Ski Valley to his horse camp. All the kids rode with us this time. Julia sat with James, molly rode with me and Casey rode with Blake, Al's assistant. We went for an hour ride up to a great vista over the valley and then came back to horse camp. It was pretty cold, we were up at over 10,000 feet. We built a big bonfire and had some snacks. The kids and James practiced using the lasso trying to rope the fake calves. We had a lot of fun at horse camp and then at dark headed down the mountain to Al's house to crash for the night. James and Al stayed up and had some whiskey. In the morning we went to Michael's Kitchen for a great breakfast and headed north. Before getting to Colorado we stopped at a place with tons of cars to see if we could get a New Mexico plate. James has been trying to get a plate from each state if he can find someone to give him one. This guy Carl didn't have any but sent us up the road to meet Duke. We felt like we were in the show American Pickers. Duke was quiet but he gave James a few states worth of plates. Then we headed up to CO.  Hard to believe the travel part of it is over and now we're onto the six week stay in Colorado.