Thanksgiving Traditions - Outdoors

Once we have celebrated Indoors Thanksgiving, we like to take to the great outdoors! This year we chose to visit one of our favorite places ever - Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Most destinations in New Mexico involve mountains or at least traversing mountains and so we first needed to drive through the Capitan Mountains in order to get to the Rio Grande on the other side. Here's the Rio Hondo River valley which takes us between the Sacramento Mountains to the south and the Capitan Mountains to the north (pictured in background). The Capitan Mountains are the only E-W trending mountain range in New Mexico:


It's a pretty valley complete with nice little towns such as Lincoln - originally named Las Placitas del Rio Bonito ("the village by the pretty river).


Lincoln in now a state monument and has...

...many historic (and cute) buildings...



Down the other side of the Capitans, across the Tularosa Basin and another 80 miles of supreme shorgrass prairie and pinyon-juniper woodland and we finally reach our destination on the edge of the Rio Grande. Here's Jennifer getting ready for birding at the Bosque! Chupadera Mountains in the background:


Jennifer checking out ducks from "the flight deck":

Steve brushing up on the birds:

Next morning we awoke (tent camping) to temps in the low 30's but we were excited to make it back to the refuge early to take in the wonderful sunrise...


...and birds! Incoming snow geese:

Outgoing snow geese:


More Bosque fun...a mule deer...

Sandhill Cranes, Ross's Geese, Snow Geese..

...Gambel's quail...

...old farm road...

...some sort of flycatcher...


...northern shoveler...


...Little San Pasqual Mountains...


...Northern Pintails...


We are very thankful for Bosque del Apache!