Stonehenge in Northern New Mexico

The Sangre de Cristo Livestock Group had its annual picnic meeting at a beautiful ranch near a village not even labeled on Google maps.

To get there we traveled around this mountain range. The clouds built up, but it didn't rain.

 

We ate ranch picnic food: brisket, potato salad, green salad and pies, cakes, brownies, fruit, and cookies. Kids bounced on the trampoline and played chase, little dogs visited among the guests, while big dogs barked from their kennels.

Adults listened to a visitor from El Paso sing beautiful ballads in Spanish. And a little black cockapoo sang along.

Rocks are plentiful in this part of the country, and the ranch's owner truly knows how to utilize their artistic potential. He's made a mini Stonehenge in his back yard:

The acequia, or water ditch, has been beautified:

I like the rock bridge in the background, as well as the steps down to the water. Below, the water continues, through a waterfall, a pond, and, eventually, to the fields and pastures for irrigation.

Driving back down the old dirt road back to the highway, I looked at the old adobes in the village.

I wondered how many picnics they had seen, food shared by old and new friends, traveling balladeers with little dogs singing along, and children chasing each other through the mountain air, their small voices carrying up into the pines.

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