Hot, Hot Father's Day at Paliza Near Ponderosa, NM

Written on 6-21-26.

        We are the the Paliza Campground just past Ponderosa, NM, and we are at the Owl Group Site (1 of 2 group sites) this Father’s Day.  Belinda found it and booked it for the Swopertongs, and it has been incredible.  We have an entire campground all to ourselves with multiple spots, bathrooms, and a huge pavilion.  It’s a good thing we have so many spots, because we have six parties.  I’ll say who they are by the order in which they came.  The first ones here were James, Casey, and Rowan.  They picked a spot overlooking the group site.  Then Belinda, Kody, and I came and took the spot next to them.  Next came the Edgertons and the Frings.  Eric and Amanda drove here with their RV.  Matt, Becca and Ben came in two separate vehicles.   They had just spent  some time up at the cabin in Vallecito, and that’s why they had their GMC truck and their Kia.  Kyle, Mel, and Kyle’s dogs came with his Maverick and its cool, little set-up after that.  Finally, Rob and Danielle came a few hours later, since they took the long way from Santa Fe.  

All in all, six spots were taken.  Lots of choices, thankfully.  Oh, and it was...

 so hot.  Father’s Day weekend is the official start of summer, and the days are at their longest.  We went from shade to shade to attempt to stay cool and avoid the sun, but the oppressive heat was hard to avoid.  The pavilion was the spot to be, but even the air was hot there at times.

We celebrated Rob’s and Matt’s birthdays after dinner.  Eric discovered this weird, funny thing about those dates.  Eric and I have birthdays in January on the 26th and the 29th.  Rob and Matt have them in June, also on the 26th and the 29th.  Hmmmm, interesting.  Danielle made a fish-shaped carrot cake for Rob (he enjoys fishing), and we had some cookies and cream ice cream with it.  

B and I watched Rowan during the night in our Alto.  We set up his playpen in the dining area, and that worked well.  It was a rough night, though.  He woke up when we came in to get ready for bed.  She helped get him settled, but he became covered in snot and tears when it was my turn in the middle of the night.  Belinda eventually got him settled again in the playpen, but he woke once more when I went to the bathroom and Kody scampered away from the door.  He could only be relaxed when he joined Belinda in bed.  It was cute to hear him giving her kisses.

I got an awful headache, not like any I have had in a long time.  It settled over my right eye, and it made me feel nauseous.  I got overheated from the day before.  All of the sun, cake, and ice cream did me in.  Thankfully, it went away during breakfast.

The breakfast was great, too.  Pancakes, sausage, bacon, coffee, fresh fruit, and more.  It was so wonderful to have all of us together on Father’s Day.  James and I completed our opening of the Empire Strikes Back wax packs after breakfast.  I let him open the last three (series 1, 2 and 3), since I opened all of them during our FaceTime calls before.  I was able to show them off, too.  Mel was interested quite a bit since her brother loves Star Wars, too.  His name is Matt, and Rob’s brother is named James.  Another weird, little fact there.

On to golf…

It appears we will be playing golf next weekend.  Grant got a tee time at Hillcrest after all.  It’s this weekend that they are hosting the Navajo Trails Open.  Eric has already replied indicating he would like to play, so it looks like it is happening.

It seemed like he didn’t want to play at first and just do mountain activities instead, but he obviously changed his mind.  I am thrilled!

That’s it for golf news.  It’s 4:27 now.  We turned on our generator and cranked up the AC in our Alto.  It’s been a swell break from the sun and heat from yesterday.  Belinda and I are going to shower before dinner to cool off and freshen up even more.  We are cutting this trip short by one day.  Our truck didn’t start this morning, and we had to get a jump from James and Casey’s Nissan Rogue.  It worked, thankfully, but we don’t want to risk staying here by ourselves now.

We think the battery was run down when we switched the fridge to battery power on the way here.  Who knows?  I’m glad we had some help.

Until next time…