Philmont 2019: Day 24, Finally a Day Off. Time To Head To Rayado

It finally happened.  Yesterday, (Day 23) I ended up taking care of sooooo much paperwork.  There was no more paperwork that I could do.  So I ended up driving down to Rayado where I used to work in 2004.  For those who don't know Rayado is home to the Kit Carson Museum.  It is a living museum where everything and everyone looks like it/they would fit in the years 1850-1860.

The staff dress in period costume, and give tours of the Fort.  It was actually a lot cleaner and more organized than when I was there.  I took lots of photos this time around.  Back in 2004 I only had a 35mm camera, and was limited to the amount of photos I could take.  Now I was armed with a digital camera, and I was going to take photos of everything.

Here's the entrance to Rayado.

Here's the 31 star American Flag.

Here are the Rayado crew that was working that day.  Eric, Rachel, and Cassie.

And here is Alix waterproofing boots.

Here's the courtyard.

I had to help chase the chickens back into the coop.  It gave me quite a workout.  Okay, I thought I was going to die.  I had to borrow one of the ladies' aprons so I could make myself look bigger.  That way the chickens wouldn't be tempted to run by me.  Yeah, they did that a few times before I thought to grab the old timey apron.

Guess what?  Chicken butt.

You know what really gets my goat?  Goats!!!  Okay, I love goats!

Here's the haunted piano.  Last time I took a photo of it, it came out terrible.  This one is much better.

It's located in La Sala.  Here's the long view of it.

They now have holders under the candles.  That's much smarter than what we did.  I spent a good deal of time scraping wax off the floor.   Although I must admit, I love the candelabras.

Here's a small room for a family to sleep in.

This room is a lot different than when I was there.  They have it fixed up nicely.

Then there's the skinning room.  A lot of fur trappers worked out of Rayado in the 1800's.

Here's the tack room.

And here's the giant cabinet that gave me the great story about the British Boy Scouts.

Next up is the forge.  I plan on smashing a few things in it the next time I'm here.

Moving past the courtyard they have a few new things.  They have a Teepee now.

And there's this big ole' thing.

The barracks are actually up and running.  Okay, at least one of them is.

This is La Posta, the Post Office and General Store.

This is the very haunted Lucien Maxwell house of Rayado.  Not to be confused with his house in Cimarron.

Here's the part where the guys and I stayed.  It's now in too bad of shape to stay in now.  The door on the left is where we stayed.

This surprised me.  They built a new building behind it.  It was supposed to be a dining hall, but they stopped using it for that.  The male staff members sleep there now.

The "Red Roof Inns" are much nicer these days than they were back then.

With all the rain the area has been getting, the sunflowers are coming back.  I was happy to see them starting to grow.  In a few months they will be a few feet tall.

I saw this and thought, "What a beautiful Christmas Tree!"  But then I thought, "Wait, is this a Ponderosa Pine?"  I'm pretty sure it is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_ponderosa

I saw this little purple flower, and knew I just had to take a photo of it.

The last time I was here, I took a photo of the old church across the street.  The problem was that it was dusk, and my photo was way too dark.  I made sure this didn't happen this time.

Next, I decided to take some photos of the incredible mountain ranges.

I also decide to take a short clip of the mountain range.

And that sums up my trip.  I was glad to visit Rayado again.  I wish I wasn't so sick.  That was a bummer.  But the next time I go I'll make sure to take my tools with me.  I plan on forging a copper knife.  And yes, I'm definitely going to take photos of that.