Albuqueque, New Mexico - Rio Grande Bosque, Coronado Historic Site, and Casa Rondeno Winery Nov 3rd - 6th

Friday, November 3rd. Well today did not go so well. The guy came to install our new inverter only to find it would not work with Tiffin's current wiring system!!! So Ray went back to La Mesa, "hat in hand" and asked them to replace it. Turns out our current one is obsolete and the replacement is an inverter with a separate power management system ... probably because the f'n thing did not stand up over time! Bottom line, the parts have been ordered and are a week out. If we are lucky it will get here by next Friday for install otherwise it will be the following week. Certainly screws up our reservations made going forward. ARGGGGG. 

At least our solar is working to recharge our batteries because, of course, no shore power  battery charging happening with the inverter/converter. As mentioned in the last blog, we plugged the MH into the power pole, but the power will only go as far as the surge protector we had installed. Ray has the fridge plugged in directly to the power post and we have run extension cords inside to run other electric appliances and lights. Our battery power lights do work thankfully and the inverter is allowing us to run our tv if only during daylight hours. La Mesa did not hook up our batteries properly 2 days ago so we were not even charging with solar but Ray sussed that out fortunately and it seems to be working now.

After all this bad news, we decided to go out for lunch. I picked out "Yummy Noodle House" and boy is it delicious and reasonable. We even ordered 2 dishes to take home for dinner. I did not feel like cooking at all.

Crab Ragoon Appetizer (I'll take 3 dozen to go please!)

Saturday morning and Ray is up extra early as his back is really sore from crawling in and out of our basement yesterday, making room for the guy to work on the inverter ... all for not. 

Today we took off to Home Depot for more extension cords so we can run our TV and DVR as well as the mircrowave and toaster.  We'll be like this for another week and our battery levels seem to go down once the sun is off the panes quite substantially.

After shopping, we decided to take a walk in the Rio Grande Nature State Park along the river. We were here 7 years ago, but hardly remembered it. First up is the walk to the Visitor's Centre, which is kind of like a bunker that opens up to the marsh. It's actually in the marsh. Here's a picture from Google

Past the Visitor Centre you come to the park gate that lets you onto the Paeo del Bosque (bah-skay)Bike Path, which goes for 16 miles. There are many entrances to the path, so you don't have to access if from the State Park. You can also ride the many dirt paths along the river.

We took the River Loop Trail to the Rio Grande.

One of the two channels before joining up again.

Huge houses on the other side.

Our Canadian Geese have found it here lol

Lots of colour left in the trees

Back in the car after an hours walk. We did manage to get some more fall colours. Back home for lunch, and then Ray got all our cords hooked up. Don't trip!

This afternoon I made Beef Ribs on our barbecue that Ray got out for me. Didn't want to heat up the inside of the coach as it's 70F outside already. Turned out delicious. Ray's a happy man and I'm happy to at least accomplish something.

Beef Ribs, baked potato with fixin's and coleslaw. Yumm

Sunday, another beautiful sunny day. When Ray hooked up all the extension cords, we turned off the inverter completely. That has obviously been draining our batteries even though we were not using anything and the fridge isn't plugged into it. This morning the batteries were at 12.7 instead of 12.3. 

We decided to take the 30 minute drive this morning up Highway 25 to The Coronado Historic Site and The Kuaua Pueblo Ruins and . We found this one on our paperwork from our RV Park lol Ray here. The maps and internet list this as the Coronado Historic Site, a disgrace to me. This site's attraction is the ruins of the Kuaua Pueblo. Archaeologists unearthed the ruins to determine if Fransico Coronado wintered at the pueblo (he probably did). When Coronado later returned to Mexico the authorities put him on trial for his brutal treatment and killing of the Puebloan people. To me therefore, the maps are doing a complete dis-service for naming the site after Coronado. There's my rant for the day.

Most of the ruins were reburied to preserve them after the excavation in the late 30's early 40's. What you see today is reproduced on top of the original ones for the purpose of showing tourists. 

This was a huge community with 4 plaza's and probably over 1000 people living there at one time. This was a matriarchial society. The women did the construction of the rooms, the men went miles and miles away to get the support logs from Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine. The women also did all the cooking while the men did the hunting. The men did the weaving, with evidence showing this being done in a kiva. Being near the Rio Grande River, they had a lot of agriculture, game meat and being on the major European Trade Route, lots of goods trading.

The Kiva rings and squares are original though. They also refurbished one of the Kiva's so you can tour the interior but only with a guide to protect it. Pretty cool being able to climb down into it. 

When the archaeologist excavted the ruins, they actually excavated a foot back from the edges of the Kiva. They then took the panels out and through careful work were able to "peel" all the layers of painted murals off one by one. They discovered 18 layers and were able to save a lot of them. It was explained that this Kiva was built in the early 1300's and used for 400 years and like you do with your house. you "repaint your walls" so these slabs contain many layers of different pictures. Some of the panels are here at the historic site and some went to the Maxwell Museum here in Albuquerque and some to the Santa Fe Museum.

Then they put the kiva all back together and a local Native American artist repainted a bunch of drawings from the original walls in the refurbished structure. During Covid, they redid the roof by a native woodworker so it's authentic. We were not allowed to take pictures as the descendants consider the images as sacred in their mural room or in the rebuilt Kiva. I did see this one on google though before it was prohibited.

Archaeologists located the Kuaua Pueblo ruins just north of Albuquerque, New Mexico along the banks of the Rio Grande River. Created as part of the 400th anniversary of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s entry into New Mexico, the Coronado History Site references the expedition’s interactions with local Tiwa villages. Kuaua, a name meaning “evergreen” in Tiwa, was one of the largest of these villages and may have been the site of Coronado’s winter headquarters during the expedition. Archaeologists have estimated that the Tiwa settled this village in the fourteenth century and likely contained more than one thousand people when they came into contact with Coronado. However, conflict over the years with Coronado and other Spanish explorers eventually led to the Tiwa’s abandonment of Kuaua Pueblo in the sixteenth century.

When the archaeological team excavated the Kuaua Ruins in the 1930s, they uncovered more than 1,200 adobe rooms, three ceremonial rooms, and six kivas. Several of the kivas contained a series of murals that many revere today as some of the best examples of Pre-Columbian artwork in the United States. Kuaua religious murals flourished throughout the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, reflecting religious and cosmological iconography such as references to rain, rainbows, clouds, lightning, and ritual figures engaging in rain-making rituals. These rituals formed an important part of Pueblo culture and religion due to the region’s general climate of minimal precipitation.

Thanks to extensive conservation efforts since the 1930s, the murals have been preserved for modern viewing. The Coronado Historic Site includes a Visitor Center, which features fourteen examples of original mural artwork as well as Pueblo Indian and colonial Spanish artifacts. Several trails throughout the ruins of the pueblo and along the Rio Grande River provide exploration opportunities for visitors wishing to more authentically learn about the Tiwa Pueblo culture and lifestyle.

Here are some pictures of our touring the site.

You can tell this is original as the "bricks" are oval. The reproduction bricks are rectangular.

A very unusual square Kiva

After touring the site, we decided to go to the Route 66 Diner for lunch. Ray took a picture of the outside lit up a couple of days ago and now we get to see the inside.

Very large straws to draw the pecans from the Butter Pecan Milkshake, Ray's in heaven!

Huge portions and reasonably priced.

Back home for the afternoon. Nice and warm at about 24C/75F outside. I spent 2 hours in the laundry room doing our clothes. With our power issues, I cannot use my "in house" laundry machines. Pretty reasonable here though, 4 large loads washed and dryed for $10.

Ray got "bit" or stung by something on the underside of his right big toe while we were walking the trails through the Bosque. By Saturday night his toe and pad of his foot is purple. I told him to take some Benydryl and we iced it off and on for 2 days. I also had him draw the outline with a pen, so we could keep an eye on it. Fortunately that seemed to be the trick as this morning, Monday, it is finally reducing. 

Today we decided to go to the Pueblo Montano Chainsaw Sculpture Garden and picnic area, as the winery we were going to did not open until noon. Beautiful sculptures.


AFTER A FIRE RAVAGED THE landscape along the Paseo del Bosque trail in Albuquerque, New Mexico, firefighter Mark Chavez did what anyone in his position would do: he picked up his chainsaw and made some art.

The Paseo del Bosque trail is a 16-mile multi-use trail running through the heart of the city, along the forested banks of the Rio Grande. In 2003, teenagers playing with fireworks inadvertently sparked a wildfire that spread to over 250 acres, causing numerous evacuations and untold damage to the lands and trails along the riverfront. Chavez, one of the firefighters who helped to put out the blaze, looked over the charred husks of cottonwood trees that were left and decided to do something about it.

A chainsaw artist in his free time, Chavez went to work sculpting the dead trees into symbols honoring both the natural beauty of the Southwest and the fire itself. Sculptures include an eagle rising from flames, coyotes, beavers, a roadrunner, La Llorona (the “ditch witch” of Mexican folklore), and a firefighter standing upon a slain dragon— “dragon” being fireman slang for an especially bad fire.

The sculpture garden resides in the Pueblo Montaño trailhead of the Paseo del Bosque, surrounded by picnic tables, redeveloping flora, and some of the very same wildlife Chavez carved into the cottonwoods.

Nice to see something beautiful rise out of something awful.

After our leisurely walk around the sculptures, it's time to go to the Casa Rondeno Winery. What a fabulous event space. I must say, until I did some research, this whole complex looked very old but is not.

Casa Rondeña Winery was lovingly established in late 1995 as a family undertaking, with the first plantings in 1990 at the hands of vintner John Calvin and his two young sons, Ross and Clayton.

The Tasting Room opened in August 1997 and a winery building, with a commemorative Tricentennial bell tower, was completed in the autumn of 2004. In 2008, a new barrel aging and storage facility, including the Founder's Rotunda, was built in order to expand production capability of the winery and hold special events for winery members and special guests.

In 2010, Mr. Calvin moved out of the home he built on the property and turned it into the 1629 Club. This is a new level of membership to the winery which includes access to the private club among many other benefits.

Our Vintner

JOHN CALVIN, NAMED BEST VINTNER AND BEST WINERY BY THE READERS OF ALBUQUERQUE THE M Our Vintner AGAZINE FOR 7 YEARS IN A ROW!

Albuquerque the Magazine, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 Best of the City Issues.

While living in Spain, John Calvin gained an appreciation for architecture, music, and winemaking - three important ingredients that helped build Casa Rondeña Winery. The Los Ranchos de Albuquerque winery produces award-winning wines, such as its 2008 Meritage and its 2009 1629. Calvin is also a trained flamenco guitarist with a soft spot for supporting local music, which means the Mediterranean-esque winery often plays host to scores of intimate concerts.

Since 1990, John Calvin has dedicated himself to making New Mexico's best red wines. He has become a pioneer of premium winemaking in New Mexico, increasing the popularity and knowledge of high desert wines, turning heads and winning medals at competitions from California to New York. His Meritage Red, a Bordeaux style blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, has received 11 gold and double-gold medals over the last 3 years.

Mr. Calvin's white wines have gained significant respect as well. His estate bottled Riesling blends have won Best of Show for the New Mexico State Wine Competition for two consecutive years as well as his 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Founder's Reserve. Everyday at Casa Rondeña Winery, he continues to search for the best expression of the landscape and what it can produce.

A native of the Rio Grande Valley, Mr. Calvin's passion for world music led him to study the classical music of India and the Flamenco of Southern Spain. It was there that he began to form the philosophy that wine, in addition to music and architecture, is another way to experience the beauty around us and to coax the diverse elements of nature and earth into a graceful fabric. With this philosophy in mind, Mr. Calvin tends the vines and his winemaking with the same degree of respect and passion as his practices of music and architecture. A lifelong student of these disciplines, it is Mr. Calvin's fondest hope that Casa Rondeña Winery will continue to be a center of gravity for culture in New Mexico that will include music, art, architecture, wine and philanthropy.

They do mostly blended wines. They're delicious. We ended up leaving with a bottle of their Meritage and their Rose.

Tasting facility above and below

This was Mr. Calvin's house now Club 1629

Beautiful patio to enjoy the samplings.

Tasting room

Here is a short video to show how lovely this would be for an event. The sound of water, very peaceful.

Time to go home for lunch. Another great little tour. After lunch I made bread. Thankfully we're all plugged in so I can. :)