The Sandia Mountains in the state of New Mexico are beautiful. The Sandias sit east of Albuquerque and rise to a height of 10,678 ft (3,255 m). We first visited this area when we did a house sit in Aug/Sep of 2018. The sit was in the small community of Cedar Crest. It was our first house sit outside of AZ and it was our first house sit after we sold our house. So, we had the strange/exciting/scary feeling of “OK, this is it – this is what we’re doing for a while - we’re committed”. Well, that house sit turned out to be one of our favorites to date. One big reason for this was because we were able to bring our dog, Nellie, with us. In addition, we really enjoyed the location, the home owners (Arne and Jan) and the dog (Chobe – named after a river in Africa – more on that later).
Back in January, when we were in Panamá, Arne and Jan emailed us and asked if we could please house sit for them again. We didn't think we could at first, but then their plans changed slightly, and our Panamá plans changed a lot, and it all worked out to our mutual delight. We really enjoyed meeting Arne and Jan during our first sit for them back in August. We only spent a short while with them but we shared a couple meals and good conversation. They met in the 1960’s in Africa when they were both in the Peace Corps – when the Corps was just getting started. They ended up living several years in different places in Africa. Now they do 1-2 trips a year where they take a small group of people on an excursion to Africa. So, in March, we found ourselves back in Cedar Crest to look after their home and Chobe while they were escorting their group on ”The 2019 Zimbabwe/Okavango Adventure” which went to various locations in Zimbabwe and Botswana. We were excited to have the opportunity to sit for Arne and Jan again and were excited that we could, again, bring our dog, Nellie, with us who we had not spent much time with since September.
Cedar Crest is located about 15 minutes outside of Albuquerque along the eastern base of the Sandia Mountains. It sits at an elevation of 6,581 ft (2,006 m). It is a quaint mountain community with only about 1,000 residents, however, there are many homes that are “vacation homes” for people that live in the Albuquerque metropolitan area which has a population of over 900,000 people.
The weather in Cedar Crest can be unpredictable. One day we had rain, hail and snow within a 60-minute time span. On March 31, we saw our first hummingbird. It was feeding in the warm morning sun: a tell-tale sign of spring. But, by that afternoon, it was snowing. When we woke up on April 1, there was around 4-5” of snow accumulation on the ground and the hills around us were transformed into a beautiful winter wonderland. So much for March coming “in like a lion and out like a lamb”.
One of the joys of staying at this home in Cedar Crest is seeing wildlife and bird watching. The house has a cozy living room with a wood burning stove. The room has several wide windows that run floor to ceiling. It also has two sets of french doors. These combine to provide a fantastic view of the mountains and forest. We saw several coyotes, sometimes traveling in groups of 3-4, and we saw many deer.
The home has a wraparound deck with several bird feeders mounted on it. Some of the feeders are seed and others are “nectar” for hummingbirds. We saw many beautifully colored birds and the humming birds were beginning to arrive via their spring migrations.
Hummingbirds are really amazing animals. They are slight in size, measuring only 3-5” (7.5-13cm). The smallest species weigh in at only .07oz (2g) – that is less than a penny! Although slight in stature, they perform herculean feats of physicality. Most small birds and mammals have short life spans of 1-3 years. Hummingbirds can live up to 10 years. They can beat their wings so fast (up to 80 times per second) that they can hover in midair. Their heart beats at 1,000 times per minute. One species, the rufous hummingbird, migrates from Alaska all the way to México – a journey of 3,900 miles (6,276km) one way. Other species migrate from Minnesota to Panamá. Some species cross the Gulf of Mexico non-stop. That’s a distance of 5oo miles (800km)!!!
We were worried about the hummingbird we saw feeding in the morning sun on March 31st. We were afraid it might not survive after the sun disappeared, the temperature dropped and we got 5” of snow. Turns out hummingbirds are robust enough to deal with these weather extremes. Hummingbirds can go into a state of “torpor”. This is a state similar to hibernation, during which they can slow down their metabolism to 1/15th of its normal state. They are also able to slow down their heart beat from 1,000 beats per minute to roughly 100 beats per minute and they can drop their body temperature from 104f to 64f (40c to 18c). Who knew hummingbirds were such beasts?!?!
We’ve done around a dozen sits now and we have enjoyed all of the animals we have taken care of, but without a doubt, one of our favorites, if not THE favorite, animal we have looked after so far is Chobe. Chobe is a black standard poodle but he looks more like a labradoodle. He is super, super cute and he has a really funny personality. He can be a handful at times but that is because he still has a lot of puppy in him. He is only around 2 ½ years old. I mentioned that Arne and Jan have spent a lot of time in Africa. Chobe is named after the Chobe River in Botswana. We really enjoyed watching Nellie and Chobe interact with each other and we loved taking them on hikes with us in the Sandias.
The highlight of our time in Cedar Crest was a visit from our daughter Sarah. After being in Latin America for the past four months, and more travels of unknown length in front of us, we were truly grateful that she could take a long weekend to come see us. Unfortunately, our son, Connor, was not able to come due to starting a new job (but we did get to see him over Easter - yay!).
While Sarah was visiting, we took a day trip to see our friend, Jeff, in Abiquiu and then make a stop to check out Meow Wolf in Santa Fe. Jeff owns a BnB in Abiquiu that we have stayed at twice and had a great time. Abiquiu is wide open country made famous by Georgia O'Keeffe’s art and her Ghost Ranch. Jeff has several animals – including a beautiful horse named Buster, some mini-donkeys and some alpacas. If you know our daughter Sarah, you know she loves animals, so it was a no-brainer to take her to Abiquiu while she was in NM.
After Abiquiu, we visited Meow Wolf in Santa Fe. Meow Wolf is a little hard to explain. In it’s own words: “Meow Wolf creates immersive and interactive experiences that transport audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of story and exploration. This includes art installations, video and music production, and extended reality content.”
It is a very weird but unique and enjoyable place. I really can’t explain it to you. You need to go there yourself. It is located inside a converted bowling ally. When you first enter, it is like you are coming into a neighborhood street at night time. Then, when you enter a house and start to walk around, you realize you "aren't in Kansas anymore". They are going to be opening locations in Las Vegas and Denver, so maybe you will be able to visit and experience it yourself soon.
That about covers our time in New Mexico. We enjoyed our month there – and especially the time shared with our daughter, Sarah. At the end of the month, we were ready to return to our travels to seek out a location that we might be willing to commit to living in for a year or more. If you are interested, there are more pictures of our time in New Mexico in the "Gallery" section of this website.
Next stop: Spain!
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