Woke at 7am. Spouse made decision about 10am that we'd risk driving to daughter's in-laws who live near Jemez Pueblo. Roads not too encouraging when we started it - snow covered to Pojoaque. Plowing was just beginning. Better between Pojoaque and Santa Fe - more slushy than snowy. By the time we got to Bernalillo, it was like we'd driven to Arizona - no snow, blue skies and sunshine but we could see to the north dramatic dark views of the stormy Jemez Mountains (or maybe to San Pedro Park country). Between San Ysidro and Vista Hermosa Road, weather was fine.
Spouse masterfully drove us all the way there and back. We dropped off son-in-law's Grandma in Rio Rancho. She's a lovely 85 year old woman who once lived in Los Alamos.
Daughter and son-in-law had to leave Christmas dinner early because grandson was sick. They took him to the emergency room in Los Alamos because he was wheezing and said he hurt all over. He has an inflammation of his airways or bronchioles. They took a chest x-ray, hooked him up to a nebulizer which is a mask to somehow ease his breathing and prescribed Prednisone to ease the inflammation. Poor daughter didn't even get a chance to eat her Christmas dinner. They drove back through the Jemez and the roads got a little icy around the curviest part of the road when the entered Los Alamos County.
We enjoyed our Christmas Day in the red rock country of the Jemez Mountains (I have the red dirt on my tires to prove it! : ) Son-in-law's family is really nice. We got to meet his sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew for the first time. His Mom and step-Dad live in a beautiful straw bale house.
The southern Jemez Mountains are stunning. I looked at the topo map and the tall mesa behind the house might be an extension of Cat Mesa called Mesa de los Datiles. On the map, it looks like a cat's paw. There's a big canyon that parallels San Diego Canyon called Cañon de Cercado that runs along Cat Mesa. Such interesting country.
I walked 4 miles this evening, down to Diamond Drive. It was beautiful walking on the snowy sidewalks (not icy) on a Christmas night. I listened to Deliah on 99.5. When I got back, I did some shoveling, including for our neighbor. Our neighbor's son-in-law on the other side has been shoveling our sidewalk so, as advised by Deliah, I decided to "pay it forward", that is, to pass along the kindness extended to us.
Will sleep in tomorrow. Would like to snowshoe but it depends on when I wake up.