Our overnight at Heron Lake State Park, NM

Katie and I left Santa Fe and headed north to Heron Lake.  It's a beautiful state park and has lots of campground areas.  We haven't been there for two years, and after hearing Verizon installed a tower nearby, I was anxious to camp there again. 

We drove to Ponderosa Campground, where Ryan said he got good connections when he was there (before the storm - lightning? - took out the tower), set up in a nice site and took a little walk around. 

The weather was perfect! See us on the right in the photo below?

Right up the road I spotted a cactus in bloom.  I didn't think I'd see any more of these flowers this year, but this single bloom was beautiful:

We had a nice view of the lake right in front of our site.  In the afternoon when the wind came up I spotted this little sailboat:

We went back to The Palms and I set up the computer - only to find no Internet connection.  I was on an Extended Network on my phone, and when that happens, all I get is phone service, nothing else.  No Internet, no e-mail, no data of any kind.

I talked to a few people around the campground, but they either didn't use a computer, or they weren't able to get e-mails on their phones.  So...  I guess this was going to be an overnight stay and then back on the road to Las Vegas NM to wait out our six-days out of Storrie Lake, then back to Storrie Lake State Park.

I was really disappointed!  We drove 2+ hours to get here, it was a beautiful park, great weather, loved our campsite, and we were leaving.  No Internet is a deal breaker for me.  (There is also no antenna TV here, but I can live without that.  Nice to have, but not a deal breaker.)

I watched a movie on the computer, played some games, listened to my Sirius/XM radio, and - I hate to admit it - but I was kind of bored.  I NEVER get bored.

When my kids told me they were bored, I told them only boring people got bored - find something to do.  Then recently I heard a better thing:   The feeling of being bored is God's (or the Universe's) way of telling you to slow down, think about things, look around you and enjoy your surroundings.  Think of something nice you can do for someone, or think of something nice that's been done for you.  That kind of thing.  I like this way of explaining boredom. 

I did all those things, and I was still bored; I was packing up in the morning and driving back to Santa Fe.  I had stayed at a Wal-Mart on Friday, Heron Lake on Saturday, and I had four more nights before I could return to Storrie Lake.  I stopped when I had a connection again and found two casinos and one good Wal-Mart and Sam's Club in Santa Fe that allowed free overnight parking.  Then on to Storrie Lake again.

As the sun started setting, the mountains across the lake were lit up:

The sunset Sunday night was gorgeous.

It was so quiet and dark there at night, nice and cool, great for sleeping.  In the morning we drove out of the park, and on the way saw a deer.  I haven't seen a deer in probably two years.  Pretty cool.  These photos were taken through the truck window - I was driving on the road and luckily there was no one at all coming in either direction, so I stopped to take the pictures.  I was afraid if I unrolled the window or got out of the truck either she would run away or a car would come up behind me.  So, these are the best I could do to reduce the sunshine and shadows on the glass:

Katie was very interested, she didn't bark at the doe, but she sure watched her until she was out of sight.

So I drove further along, and spotted a male and female Osprey sitting in a nest.  I got some good photos of them, and also the nesting mom and baby in another nest - I'll post those next time.  I got a lot of photos just driving out of the park. 

I stopped at the Visitors Center on the way out, and they said there was a big storm a few days ago that knocked out the tower, but I also talked to people who hadn't gotten a connection before the storm, so who knows.  If and when I know for sure that a 3G phone can get a good Verizon Internet connection in the campground, I'll be back.  It sure is a nice campground.

From me and Katie, have a great Tuesday, everyone!  :)