Fort Union

September 5, 2021

Howdy, howdy, howdy,

What a great weekend we had, first lounging on Saturday and Sunday, doing nothing but reading, cooking, snacking, watching movies and running the dogs. Then, on Labor Day, we made a trip to Fort Union National Monument in Watrous, NM. What an amazing journey! This fort was in existence from 1851-1891, first being built to guard trade and traffic on the Santa Fe Trail, then morphing into a Civil War fort(the two westernmost battles of the war took place close-by at Fort Craig and Glorieta Pass), and finally falling into obsolescence as the railroad reached Santa Fe in 1880. At the height of its existence, this was the biggest military installation that the US had between Ft Leavenworth and Ft Riley and Kansas and the newly-won territory of California. It was perched near the confluence of the two main branches of the Santa Fe Trail, the Mountain Branch and the Cimarron Branch, which only opened in 1821 once Mexico gained its independence from Spain. In 1846, the US invaded the territory, seizing the capital at Santa Fe without much effort, and finally made it official by treaty with Mexico in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. All that is left at this point is a ghostly field of ruins, mostly chimneys and masonry walls, with their former adobe facades slowly having fallen off of their fronts or now being in the process of the same. You can see out to the east onto the high plains to the confluence of waters at Watrous, probably eight miles away, and even further beyond that into the early morning horizon. The fort itself sits in a saddle nearly up to the beginning of the Rockies, with a ring of ridges circling the fort on three sides, easily within a few miles of its walls. In the place of laundresses, lieutenants, early morning muster calls and fast-paced forays off to save someone on the trail, the fort now is but a skeleton of its former self, nervously aware that its formerly well-watched environs are now left completely unobserved and unchecked. What a place to wander around in! What a place to try and feel that old-time feeling that haunts quite a few of us!

As for us, we've been slowly preparing for the arrival of fall. The chimney sweeps have been called and an appointment has been set up. Wood has been sought out and found. We leave our windows open at night and everyone, man and beast, is freezing and buried in blankets by dawn except for Erin. Currently, we're averaging between 85-90F every day, but dropping to the mid-50s at night! I've been doing tons of reading, as usual, and was shocked to discover that we now live in the least populated of the four major time zones in this country(shocked not by our place in the race but by the percentage!). With a nation of about 330 million people, we have moved from the Eastern Time Zone, with roughly 48% of the population within its boundaries, to the Mountain Time Zone, with a mere 7% of the population within its bounds. No wonder we love it out here! The Central Time Zone follows closely behind the EST at about 28%, with the Pacific Time Zone coming in at third place with around 16%. It can't be stated enough how slow-paced things are out here, often being easily put off until tomorrow. Having grown up in a family business in the EST, it sometimes baffles the mind how slowly things happen out here and how lackadaisical the attitude can be...but we knew what we were getting into and we are not in the least disappointed! Oh, and the sunsets! Have I ever told you about the sunsets? Each and every day is a new exploration into the amount of colors that can be present in the sky as the sun sets...think every color in the Crayola box! Sometimes it's a mere fifteen minutes, other times it seems to take all night and last for two or three hours. The dogs are happy. The cats are happy. We're happy. We might just stay here for a long, long time!

Now, it's time for a huge, extra-special edition of photos. I couldn't keep this set cut down to the normal amount of sixteen shots, so here are twenty-five shots, mainly of Fort Union, for your viewing pleasure this week. First up, a shot of Monday's meal that I threw together, after stopping at the store on our way back from Fort Union, just a few things to add to a pound of hamburger...this was a three-day weekend's Sunday slow cooker meal! Next, a shot of the tarantula that we saw last week, hiding in the foliage. Then, a shot of Ela all bundled up in two coats, a scarf and a blanket after swimming...we East Coasters are only overheated when it's humid, you know! Next up are three shots of the horses coming in for dinner...I passed them along the way and was able to actually fill the feeders before they got there this time. Then, we have four landscape shots from Fort Union, observing the mountains that ring it, its ruins and old wagons, and its view out into the plains. Next, we have two critter shots from the Fort: first a much browner lizard than we are used to seeing; then a pronghorn cruising by the edge of the grounds. Then, three shots of Erin out and about at the Fort, with one of her effortless outfits and her always detail-oriented eye. Finally, an even ten shots of the fort, from inside and out, seeing its still-standing ruins and easily imagining what is no longer there. At first glance, this is no Grand Canyon and might seem easy to check off the list, but after visiting it, I can't get it out of my mind and I'm eagerly awaiting the opportunity for us to get back there!

That's it for this week. Take care!