Our first impressions of New Mexico have been terrific. A giant cavern, a whopper of an alien tale, and the delightful taste of New Mexican cuisine all made for a great experience as we cut a diagonal line across the state. The state sign features the claim that this is The Land of Enchantment; I wouldn’t disagree. While difficult to see, Caroline is pointing to the spot on a map where we currently are, which is at one of the boundaries of the Navajo Reservation.

I searched high and low, trying to find where we were passing through, but I came up empty. I’m fairly certain we are in Colorado, as our next stop was at Mesa Verde National Park. This was an unscheduled detour as we found that with just 100 miles to drive today, we had plenty of free time.

And here we are at Mesa Verde. After we visited this profound site, we had to head south again back into New Mexico as we were staying in a cabin over in Brazos.

When we arrived after dark to check in to the Honeymoon Suite, we couldn’t find anyone at the front desk. The lights were out, and the door was locked. So we just hung out a bit, trying to figure out what to do. After a short wait, someone emerged from the darkened front office and apologized for not opening it. It turns out that in the seconds before we drove up, a black bear was right in front of the door and had been wandering around camp. Needless to say, we were somewhat disappointed not to see any sign of the bear though we were a little nervous as we made our way in the dark to our cabin.

But the story didn’t end there. In the middle of the night, well after we’d all gone to sleep, Axel had to get up to use the bathroom. Having finished taking care of business, he went to leave the toilet and like people are apt to do, he was turning off the light in the instant before he opened the door. In that quickly fading light, he saw his wife Ruby. Axel hit the floor like a bucket of water being dumped out from above, smack. Ruby screamed, thinking Axel had just had a heart attack, and from his gasping for air Caroline and I were seriously frightened by Axel’s condition. He tried to tell us what was going on, but he gasped and couldn’t get whole words out. He stuttered with, “I, I, I…” but that’s all he could say. Finally, he croaks, “I’m okay.” We are all frantic with the situation and demand to know, what do you mean, “you are okay?” With his breath returning, he starts to tell us that when he sleepily opened the door, there was just enough light for him to see the BEAR. He didn’t see Ruby; he registered seeing the bear that was still on his mind and fell absolutely limp with what was likely the biggest adrenaline rush of his life up to this point. We finished our midnight adventure in hysterical laughter and were still laughing about it the next day.