That about sums up my first month here at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico. When I arrived in late September, the sunflowers were still in bloom as daytime highs still hovered around 90 degrees. One month later, Autumn is now in full swing as we begin to welcome back our famous winter residents.
I was born in Missouri, and went to college there too. Growing up, we had countless family trips to the “Show Me” state to visit my grandparents. So, I’ve always felt like I’ve had a pretty good familiarity with the state. But there was still a large swath of northern Missouri I’d never explored, so I took the opportunity with my end of April trip to quickly do so.
Passing through St. Joseph, MO with the highway towering over the Missouri river to the left and historic downtown to the right, I really wished I had allocated more time to explore this storied city, once the last bastion of civilization before pioneer wagon trains and Pony Express riders headed out into the great Wild West.
But the focus of today’s trip was to check out 2 of Missouri’s National Wildlife Refuges – Squaw Creek and Swan Lake. So, St. Joe had to settle for a few quick “windshield shots” and a promise that I’ll explore it more next time.
With medical issues now settling into boring old recovery mode (yeah!), it’s now time to catch the blog up on my final month at Bosque del Apache NWR this past April.
As I looked out my RV window one evening at the beginning of April, a brilliant rainbow filled the big New Mexico sky.
The month was off to a great start!
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is well-known for its large migratory flocks of Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, and ducks that call Bosque “home” from mid October to mid February. At peak, there can be over 50,000 of these birds snuggled together on the Refuge, and it is a top destination for photographers, birders, and crane-lovers.
I originally visited Bosque twice during those winter months (take a look here and here) and came away with some nice photos of the signature flocks. But what would there be to see and photograph during a non-prime season at Bosque, specifically in March?
I would soon find out!
After 2 months in Mexico, crossing back into the U.S.A. can feel like you’re suddenly living an episode of Robin Leach’s “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”
Ursula must have felt the same way as she popped open a bottle of champagne to celebrate our return to the land of excess and abundance, and our successful completion of 2,000 miles on the infamous Baja Highway 1.
Our winter in Baja had so many magical moments on or in the water-- kayaking the gorgeous Bahía de Concepción and Balandra Bay, snorkeling Cabo Pulmo, swimming with sea lions at Isla Espiritu Santo, and touring Land’s End at Cabo San Lucas.
As special as each of these experiences were, they could not come close to our final , incredible day on the water-- when we would each get to touch (and be touched by) the gray whales of Laguna Ojo de Liebre just south of Guerrero Negro, on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur.
Some days, I struggle to come up with adventures that are blog-worthy…but this day was certainly not one of them! Hans and Ursula had been reading the online forum of La Paz Gringos that had glowing reviews of the Espiritu y Baja Private Tour group and their day trip offering to Isla Espiritu Santo just off the northern coast of La Paz. After friends Wendy and Bobby graciously offered to dog-sit Millie, and finding a few calm, sunny days in the forecast on WindFinder.com, we booked our all-day tour for the coming Saturday.
I was not too sure about the “swimming with sea lions” part of the tour. I didn’t have my own wetsuit or snorkel gear, and rental equipment didn’t sound very appealing. But, when we arrived to the Espiritu y Baja office along the La Paz malecon, all our worries immediately began fading away.
