Sabbatical Part 2: Los Alamos Through Labor Day
After five days driving we had arrived in Santa Fe. What happened next?
Tuesday, August 30
We woke up in Santa Fe in a little casita off a dirt road. Our primary order of business for the day was driving up to Los Alamos. We were visiting Katie & Richard to show off Birdie and to learn what we needed to do around the house while they were gone.
We had a nice lunch on the deck. Our housesitting assignments were pretty simple:
- Water some plants in the front yard once a day.
- Water their plants on the back deck once a day.
- Make sure the bird feeder was filled.
- Make sure the hummingbird feeder was filled. This was particularly important because apparently hummingbirds will leave when the feeder is empty and not come back that season. We joked that Katie mostly wanted a housesitter to make sure the hummingbirds stayed!
This sounds pretty simple, but the reality is that... nope, it was pretty simple. There were a ton of hummingbirds and an assortment of other birds at the feeders, so we had to fill them far more than you might expect, but it was pretty trivial given that in return we got to stay in this gorgeous house whose back deck overlooked a canyon.
After lunch, we went back to Santa Fe. After Birdie's nap we roamed around Santa Fe Plaza and had dinner at a not particularly great restaurant in that area.
Wednesday, August 31
On this day Katie & Richard left on their trip, and we moved into the house in Los Alamos. There was a great deal of unpacking and generally doing as little as possible.
For dinner, we were gifted Katie & Richard's dinner subscription to their son Robert's restaurant, Secret City. We'd have the meal subscription every Wednesday we were in Los Alamos and it was uniformly delicious. On this first Wednesday, I also picked up the high chair that Jess had found for us to use while we were housesitting.
Thursday, September 1
After we woke up I took Birdie on a walk to a local playground. The walk was just long enough and the playground just unimpressive enough that having done it once I didn't particularly want to do it again, but the scenery in our temporary neighborhood was excellent.
Birdie really loves splash pads, and it turns out there was a splash pad at the public park in nearby White Rock. Since all the water-based entertainment options were slated to close after Labor Day, we hit as many as we could over the next few days. Birdie loved it.
Friday, September 2
We returned to the splash pad in the morning, but there was more water-based entertainment in our future. There was a private pool a few miles from the house, and our hosts had a membership. We met Jess and Robert and family at the pool. Jess and Robert's middle and youngest child happily hauled Birdie around in her pool float.
Saturday, September 3
Almost all of the people we visited on this trip were friends of M. The one exception was my college friend Beth, who is a resident of Albuquerque. We met Beth, her husband and two kids at El Rancho de las Golondrinas near Santa Fe. The ranch is basically "Colonial Williamsburg for 18th century New Mexico." As such, there are many farm animals, traditional crafts and assorted other such activities. On the day we went there was a children's festival. We wandered around the ranch with Beth and company. We watched some traditional dances. Birdie enjoyed such traditional activities as playing with rocks and less traditional activities like playing with hula hoops.
After we left the ranch, we had lunch at Santa Fe Brewing, although we eschewed the beer in favor of water.
Sunday, September 4
We returned to the pool with Jess and family. Once again Jess's kids happily hauled Birdie around in the pool float for hours. She also got to happily play with an assortment of their pool toys. M and Jess chatted. I swam back and forth between both groups. It was a lovely day.
Monday, September 5
Los Alamos is most famous for the Manhattan Project, and there's a lovely little park commemorating it on the main drag. We wandered around there in the morning and took Birdie to a playground at the nearby library.
For the afternoon, we returned to the pool for the last day of the season. Once again we were joined by Jess and family. Birdie had a great time.
What Else?
Well, we took some walks near the house. We sat outside and looked off into the distance. If were up early, we watched the sunrise off the deck. We watched the hummingbirds a lot; it turns out hummingbirds are very territorial and buzz each other a lot. Since there were often 10 or more hummingbirds at the two feeders, this was pretty much a constant.
Birdie ran all over the the house and porch. She particularly liked helping M water the garden on the back porch. She also read a lot of books and played with her toys and generally made up for five days of forced immobility in the car. The house had a large nook under the stairs with a pile of pillows and a gigantic teddy bear, and Birdie loved hauling that bear everywhere.
We cooked dinner several times. I did some reading. We watched Season 10 of Archer. Mostly, we recovered from our road trip and relaxed. With the exception of the trip to the Ranch of the Golondrinas, we didn't get farther away from the house than White Rock. It was fantastic.
Trip Stats
We only bought one tank of gas in this period.
We ate on two patios (one dinner and one lunch) and had the aforementioned takeout from Robert's restaurant.
Tuesday, August 30
We woke up in Santa Fe in a little casita off a dirt road. Our primary order of business for the day was driving up to Los Alamos. We were visiting Katie & Richard to show off Birdie and to learn what we needed to do around the house while they were gone.
We had a nice lunch on the deck. Our housesitting assignments were pretty simple:
- Water some plants in the front yard once a day.
- Water their plants on the back deck once a day.
- Make sure the bird feeder was filled.
- Make sure the hummingbird feeder was filled. This was particularly important because apparently hummingbirds will leave when the feeder is empty and not come back that season. We joked that Katie mostly wanted a housesitter to make sure the hummingbirds stayed!
This sounds pretty simple, but the reality is that... nope, it was pretty simple. There were a ton of hummingbirds and an assortment of other birds at the feeders, so we had to fill them far more than you might expect, but it was pretty trivial given that in return we got to stay in this gorgeous house whose back deck overlooked a canyon.
After lunch, we went back to Santa Fe. After Birdie's nap we roamed around Santa Fe Plaza and had dinner at a not particularly great restaurant in that area.
Wednesday, August 31
On this day Katie & Richard left on their trip, and we moved into the house in Los Alamos. There was a great deal of unpacking and generally doing as little as possible.
For dinner, we were gifted Katie & Richard's dinner subscription to their son Robert's restaurant, Secret City. We'd have the meal subscription every Wednesday we were in Los Alamos and it was uniformly delicious. On this first Wednesday, I also picked up the high chair that Jess had found for us to use while we were housesitting.
Thursday, September 1
After we woke up I took Birdie on a walk to a local playground. The walk was just long enough and the playground just unimpressive enough that having done it once I didn't particularly want to do it again, but the scenery in our temporary neighborhood was excellent.
Birdie really loves splash pads, and it turns out there was a splash pad at the public park in nearby White Rock. Since all the water-based entertainment options were slated to close after Labor Day, we hit as many as we could over the next few days. Birdie loved it.
Friday, September 2
We returned to the splash pad in the morning, but there was more water-based entertainment in our future. There was a private pool a few miles from the house, and our hosts had a membership. We met Jess and Robert and family at the pool. Jess and Robert's middle and youngest child happily hauled Birdie around in her pool float.
Saturday, September 3
Almost all of the people we visited on this trip were friends of M. The one exception was my college friend Beth, who is a resident of Albuquerque. We met Beth, her husband and two kids at El Rancho de las Golondrinas near Santa Fe. The ranch is basically "Colonial Williamsburg for 18th century New Mexico." As such, there are many farm animals, traditional crafts and assorted other such activities. On the day we went there was a children's festival. We wandered around the ranch with Beth and company. We watched some traditional dances. Birdie enjoyed such traditional activities as playing with rocks and less traditional activities like playing with hula hoops.
After we left the ranch, we had lunch at Santa Fe Brewing, although we eschewed the beer in favor of water.
Sunday, September 4
We returned to the pool with Jess and family. Once again Jess's kids happily hauled Birdie around in the pool float for hours. She also got to happily play with an assortment of their pool toys. M and Jess chatted. I swam back and forth between both groups. It was a lovely day.
Monday, September 5
Los Alamos is most famous for the Manhattan Project, and there's a lovely little park commemorating it on the main drag. We wandered around there in the morning and took Birdie to a playground at the nearby library.
For the afternoon, we returned to the pool for the last day of the season. Once again we were joined by Jess and family. Birdie had a great time.
What Else?
Well, we took some walks near the house. We sat outside and looked off into the distance. If were up early, we watched the sunrise off the deck. We watched the hummingbirds a lot; it turns out hummingbirds are very territorial and buzz each other a lot. Since there were often 10 or more hummingbirds at the two feeders, this was pretty much a constant.
Birdie ran all over the the house and porch. She particularly liked helping M water the garden on the back porch. She also read a lot of books and played with her toys and generally made up for five days of forced immobility in the car. The house had a large nook under the stairs with a pile of pillows and a gigantic teddy bear, and Birdie loved hauling that bear everywhere.
We cooked dinner several times. I did some reading. We watched Season 10 of Archer. Mostly, we recovered from our road trip and relaxed. With the exception of the trip to the Ranch of the Golondrinas, we didn't get farther away from the house than White Rock. It was fantastic.
Trip Stats
We only bought one tank of gas in this period.
We ate on two patios (one dinner and one lunch) and had the aforementioned takeout from Robert's restaurant.