Thanksgiving in Albuquerque

For Thanksgiving we journeyed to Albuquerque to have a family Thanksgiving at the home of Amelia's sister and her husband, Becky and Don Beardsley. We left here and arrived there on November 26, after a somewhat eventful trip (more in the next posting).

Old Town Abuquerque

On Wednesday we went down to Old Town Albuquerque with Amelia's Uncle and Aunt, Andrew and Elise Hudson from the Miami, FL area. Transportation was provided by Matty Miguel, Elise's niece who lives in Albuquerque. Old Town has an Old Church on the square. A little later we all gathered for a picture and a passerby consented to "shoot" the five of us. Turned out pretty well, with Dick, Amelia, Elise, and Andrew sitting, while Matty stands behind.

Thanksgiving Day

Thursday we were pretty well primed for the big day. Andrew and Don are resting after Don labored at getting the turkey on the smoker. As one might expect the kitchen is a busy place, with (l to r) Amelia (barely showing), Don, Matty, Eric Beardsley (Don and Becky's son, lives in Albuquerque), Becky, Hailey Binford (back to camera - cousin of Amelia and Becky, from Albuquerque), and Lisa Duke (daughter-in-law of Hailey, from Austin, TX). After the flurry of activity in the kitchen, a little down-time with the clam dip is enjoyed by Lisa, Melinda and Marta White (friend of Eric), and Matty. Finally, the turkey is being carved. Meanwhile, Jody and Noel (son and husband, respectively, of Hailey) are debating an important point. Across the room, Andrew, Hailey, and Elise are hamming it up for the camera. Then, just to make sure they don't feel left out, the Jody brings in the boxer pups, Mr. Duke and Little Miss, shown along with Matty, Jody, and Eric. Marta and Melinda also got a chance to check out the pups. Finally the time has arrived, and we each look for our own elegant placecard (courtesy of Melinda). After the feast, the crew looks pretty happy. Some look happier than others, but even those in the kitchen look happy enough.

The Very Large Array

On Friday morning Becky and Don, Elise and Andrew, and Amelia and Dick set off for the Very Large Array located west of Socorro, NM. This shot of some of the radio telescopes is looking toward the northeast. Here is a picture of many of the same dishes, but from the other side of the building. To get a better idea of the size of the dishes (there are 27 or them), here is Andrew and Amelia gazing at one of the 230 ton dishes.

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

We then motored over to the Bosque del Apache NWR located a few miles south of Socorro. The refuge is home and passing-through stopover point to many different birds and animals. It is famous for its annual Festival of the Cranes, which occurred the weekend before we arrived in Albuquerque. However, the cranes (and others) were still in residence. We arrived late in the afternoon, and were soon rewarded by a small flight of sandhill cranes flying in to their nights resting place. They joined a large group in the shallow water. After the sun set, they continued to straggle in. The sunset colors were reflected in the pond, along with the shadows of the cranes. Finally a large flight of snow geese glided in and took up residence for the night on the far side of the pond.

The next morning, we returned before sunrise to watch them take off again for their feeding grounds. The snow geese stand out vividly behind the darker sandhill cranes. While waiting for the birds to wake up, stretch, get hungry, and decide to fly to their feeding grounds, we were treated to a colorful sunrise. As the color spread to the western sky, it was reflected in the overnight pond, with the snow geese making a contrast and the sandhill cranes reflected in the water. At last the snow geese flew in large numbers. In addition to the birds shown in the pictures, we also saw several bald eagles, two coyotes, bluebirds, flickers, sparrows, and numerous other birds. Toward the end of our trip around the refuge, we saw the some of the snow geese at their feeding grounds.

Winding down

On Sunday we took a trip out to the Jemez area, where Noel and Hailey own property and have built a cabin, shown here with Hailey and Andrew. Finally, last but by no means least, we stopped in the see my nephew, Brian Franke and his recent bride, Tracy.

On Tuesday, we returned home (well, most of the way). We had a little fog problem in Medford and had to stay overnight in Portland, but proceeded without difficulty mid-day on Wednesday.