On Our Way Home From Farmington

After a great day yesterday and a good night's sleep we slept in this morning and it was 9:00am before we left the hotel and started our journey back to Santa Fe. We left Farmington and stopped to fill the car with gas in Bloomfield before hitting US550. We drove for a short distance and then turned into the Angel Peak Scenic Area. I had clues for three boxes in the area (later I found out that there was another box) at three different places. First we stopped at Sage Picnic Area and found C4's Angelic. A quick find, but I had to kick the rock loose since it was a little frozen. I sat in the car to stamp in because the temperature was in the teens. After replacing this box we continued up to Castle Overlook and found Sunny Delight's Castle Rock box. Again this one was frozen a little but I was able to loosen the rock and get the box. I sat in the warmth of the car to stamp in and then returned the box to its hiding spot. Then we drove all the way to the end to Angel Peak Campground and parked at the picnic area. We started following the clues but I got confused almost immediately. The clue says to go to the lookout tip and I figured either there would be a sign or the path would lead to only one spot. I was wrong on both accounts. There was no sign anywhere for a 'lootkout tip' and the path went in a couple of directions. We did try and look around at three areas that seemed to match some of the clues but we came up empty handed. We spent about 25 minutes looking for this box but gave up because we got too cold. We did spend a little time taking pictures and enjoying the peace and quiet - we were the only ones there on a cold Sunday morning.

From Angel Peak we got back on US550 and headed to CR7900. As we made the turn we noticed a woman selling bread and biscochitos.  We bought one loaf of bread and one package of biscochitos and then continued on CR7900 to look for three boxes. At the intersection of CR7900 and CR7950 we parked in a parking area near the first box and Thomas waited in the car while I went in search of Macao in Chaco. I made it to the spot only to find the box exposed and open. The logbook was laying next to it and there were three crayola markers in the box but no stamp. I picked everything up and looked around the area but I was unable to find the stamp. I put everything there back into the box, covered it and then put it back in its hiding spot. When I returned to the car I made a note on the clue sheet to contact the placer about the mess. We then continued on CR7900 for two more boxes. First we stopped at a windmill and found BFF - a quick and easy find, I stamped in the car and rehid the box and then we were on our way. The next box was a few miles down the road near a small hoodoo that the placer described as a turtle. I quickly found Chaco and took it back to the car to stamp in. After replacing the box we turned around and made our way back to US550. Along the way Thomas noticed some hoodoos off to our left so we pulled into the area and took a few pictures.

When we got to Cuba we made a stop to see if we could move the frozen rock to find the box we missed yesterday but it was still being obstinate and we called it quits ad moved on. We continued our drive and somewhere around San Ysidro we stopped at a pullout with a great view of Cabezon Peak and found ArnoldZiffel's New Mexico Centennial Stamp. After stamping in and getting a couple of pictures we were on our way again. In Bernallio we stopped for a late lunch and the completed our drive to Santa Fe. It was a great overnight trip and it was nice just to have a little getaway.