We decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather we’ve been having, so we had a picnic supper up on the land last night.
The lights over by Santa Fe don’t show up well in the picture, but they were bright reflections of the setting sun from windows that were just at the right angle.
How cool was that?
An even cooler thing is Beate and Tim came up with us. They wanted to see the condition of the roads for driving, and to know if they could walk in to their place with just boots. They decided the roads are fine, but rented snowshoes for this weekend’s walking — they plan to walk in to their place along the road behind the brown gate (slightly over a mile) rather than driving up to our house and walking down. It’s supposed to be sunny again tomorrow, so they should have a good time.
Another reason the timing was great was we had planned to go in by the scenic way Beate and Tim usually take, and that gave Beate a chance to try their key. (The Forest Service locks the gates in early January until the snow is gone, and they usually use the same lock on the gates to both roads.) Her key didn’t work, so Andy tried his. Same story, the lock was different from the usual one. As we drove up Beate said the lock reminded her of the one they had put on the gates after the fire in 2011, so on the way back Andy found that key on his key chain (yay, Andy for keeping it!), and they tried it.
Sure enough, it worked. So Beate and Tim will drive in using Andy’s usual route until they can get their own key (by copying Andy’s or else getting one from the Forest Service). If they hadn’t tried it last night, they would have assumed their key didn’t work on either gate and would have thought they were locked out.
All in all, it was a well-timed trip!
January 22, 2016
WOW!
i’m so glad andy’s key worked!
and monk…
that last picture is just magical! the tiny lights there in the mountains and the pink glow of the sky and white snow… it’s all just magical.
and it looks COLD.
when you say ‘picnic dinner’ do you mean INSIDE the cabin? LOLOL!
i kinda hope so!
i don’t really see how you drive there at night. it would be hard to find the road I think… when it’s all snow everywhere.
Yes, we always eat inside if it’s the least bit cold out. Andy comes home slightly before 4 pm, we go to Subway to buy our sandwich plus chips and a drink for him, then drive up. It was over 70 degrees in the house thanks to all the heat he has been pumping into the floor on sunny days. It was slightly below freezing outside. Beate and Tim walked partway down to their place to see what walking in the snow was like, but they didn’t go far and Andy and I waited in the house for them. Some people might call us wusses, but we call ourselves smart. 🙂
Beautiful photos!
I too hope your picnic was inside!
Thank goodness Andy saved that key and knew where it was.
I’m the type who would save it too…but not know where I saved it at!
and another thing… Thank you for posting these stories after the fact!
If you did so before, I’d be sick with worry!
LOL!
xoxo
I’m with you on the keys. I was going to say I would probably stick them in a drawer and then not know which key was which. But Andy mentioned tonight that I have those keys too, so as I was writing this I looked. In fact three of the keys had the labels: “Our Gate” and “Forest Service S.R. 4 Locks” in Andy’s handwriting, and FS 8/2011 in my handwriting. The latter is the one for the gate Beate and Andy opened on the way home, the “Forest Service S.R. 4” one is for the gate Andy usually has to go through. It was probably a good thing for me to check. Who would have guessed? 🙂
The amazing thing is Andy has been carrying that key in his pocket for 4½ years now. Who would have guessed? 🙂
Good that you had a grand time up there and were able to spend some time with your friends as well. The reflected lights add life to the photographs indeed.
Yes, the lights were magical, and the trip was even better with Beate and Tim.
that’s looks gorgeous and cold – the coldest things here right now are those things in the fridge!
Today started out better, there was actually a nice cool breeze, as long as you walked at snails pace – the house seemed less hot and I did some painting and a few other arty things
But now early/mid evening the breeze has gone and it’s hot as…another tuff night coming up, no doubt!
Does it cool off much at night? It’s not so bad here in the summer — we have good cross ventilation and have a big fan in the living to blow the air out so we get a cool gentle breeze in the bedrooms/study.