We had a blast at the cabin in August and September. We love heading there around that time to escape the Texas heat, get a change of scenery and have a bit of a calm before all our fall commitments kick in. This trip was lovely and everyone had a wonderful time!
Hank enjoyed feeding the deer every day – we’re so blessed to have them come and eat right out our hands. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that they are in fact wild animals (some with very large antlers). We went fishing at the pond near out cabin, threw countless rocks into the river, went for rides on the 4-wheeler, played archery, baked and cooked, made s’mores, played, hiked, relaxed – it was wonderful.
We took a few day trips including going to Colorado and hitting a wildlife refuge on our way there and back. Hank calls the refuge “the Mountain Zoo” and he had a great time walking around and checking out all the animals. We spent a day at Ghost Ranch and had a magnificent time hiking out to Hayden Quarry, a site of immense geological and educational value. Its famous for its rich deposits of Late Triassic dinosaurs and has been being studied by paleontologist for over 130 years. Hank was sad he didn’t get to see any fossils or bones when we got to the quarry, but excited to get to see and hold some in Ghost Ranch’s Hall of Paleontology. He thought it was so neat that Ghost Ranch’s resident paleontologist, Dr. Alex, knows Dr. Scott the paleontologist from Dinosaur Train (a show Hank really enjoys). Dr. Alex took us on a private tour of the facility including showing us some catologing in process. It was very cool. 
There was a studio tour happening while we were visiting the cabin so we went on the tour and saw lots of interesting art. We found a new (to us) coffee shop and cafe with fantastic panini and smoothies that we plan to frequent on our next visit. And we learned that the Chama Public Library has a storytime for Hank’s age group. We went to the storytime and Hank was the only child there that day. He had a blast and got all the librarian’s attention. They read stories, sang songs, made a painting and had a snack. It was a nice way to spend the morning.
We had a few special visitors at the cabin this time, bears. We saw two different bears and Hank gave them both names, Blackberry Rose and Almond the Bear. He said Almond the Bear was his favorite, we think that might be because we saw more of Almond the Bear than we did any other. I guess the bears were just out and about in general because in town, there was an enormous bear at the top of a pine tree near the grocery store. The police came out and put tape around the area to discourage people from hanging out by that tree. The bear looked far too large to be that high up the tree, but they are excellent climbers after all. We spent some time visiting with Paul and Carlotte, Tyler’s Uncle and Aunt and just generally had a great time.
When it was time to leave the cabin, we were all sad to be going. But we’re looking forward to our next visit. Hank is hoping for snow next time. Here are some photos from our time at the cabin this summer in no particular order.
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