I’m inventing a new type of fun designation: “Type P”. “P” stands for “parent”. Those of you who might read this blog are probably familiar by now with Type I versus Type II fun; TGR has a nice explanation. Type I is your immediate fun—it brings a smile to your
It’s a tradition now – mark your calendar! The weekend after New Year’s, we all bring our dead, dry trees up to a spot in the National Forest, just off the road, halfway up to the Pajarito ski area. The location might vary just a bit (closer or farther up
Where we live, one can buy a permit to wander the national forest and cut down your own Christmas tree. Anybody remember Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation? Yeah, that’s totally us. I think about that Christmas tree scene in the movie every year (I put the youtube clip at the end
When your five and seven year-olds tell you they want to get up in the dark and hike a mountain in the snow, well you just have to support that sort of ambition. Jasper wanted to get up at 2:30AM (not that he understands what part of the night that
The family camped out at a spot in American Springs last night, hopeful of observing the Perseid meteor shower. Some friends joined us for the campfire portion, which made it a super fun evening. We didn’t end up seeing many shooting stars before retiring to the warmth of the tent,
Those of you with kids can appreciate what I mean when I say that this outing didn’t take us nearly as long as I wanted it to. After a few glorious rainy days, it seemed that myself and the boys were getting a bit stir-crazy. I had no energy for
The Dungeon is a climbing area, but one need not be a climber to appreciate it. I climbed regularly at this spot nearly twenty years ago, when I was a student at Los Alamos National Lab. But only recently–now that I’m a middle-aged climber and have young kids–have I realized
*In honor of the upcoming Memorial Day, I thought I’d add a post from May 2016* I’m not sure WHY we felt the need to go camping on Memorial Day weekend, THE busiest camping weekend of the year. We go camping year-around, so why we chose this weekend to
The area of Las Conchas is truly a gem tucked up in the Jemez Mountains. Miraculously untouched by recent fires (though surrounded by the aftermath) AND boasting the lovely Jemez River (though these days more of a meandering stream…), it can feel like a bit of an oasis in this
Cave of the Winds is a Los Alamos local destination that is surprisingly secret; I have met lifelong locals who have never heard of it. It’s a cave. A classic, straight-out-of-a-movie cave. Big and dark, with some small side passages to explore. The boys love it–what boy wouldn’t? When I
Living in Los Alamos has its advantages and disadvantages. We don’t have anywhere decent to eat, and we may only have one or two decent places to get a drink. BUT… I can come home from work at 5 and still go camping with the boys in national forest, on
Quick trip the NF off the road to the ski hill with just the older two.
