October 10, 11 and 12, 2008
Drove from Arizona to New Mexico
Staying at Rancheros De Santa Fe Campground, Santa Fe, NM
On the 10th of October, we drove from Show Low, Arizona to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We stayed at the Rancheros De Santa Fe Campground. It was a few miles out of Santa Fe, which suited us fine. Less traffic.
We saw a lot of windmills on our drive to New Mexico. A lot of them had storage tanks located next to them. This one was in the middle of nowhere with a cattle pen in front of it.
Taken on the drive into New Mexico.
Another windmill in New Mexico.
I have seen a gazillion trains since we have been in the western states. There are times we see two on tracks side by side. I thought this one looked nice with the beautiful cliffs in the background. This was also taken on our drive from Arizona to New Mexico.
There are a LOT of these rock cliffs in Arizona and New Mexico. The sky was sooooooo blue that day. I could just have taken pictures of the sky and been happy. :>)
I love the cattle pens. We saw a lot of them. Actually probably more pens than cattle. LOL
We would occasionally see some horses in the fields on our way to Santa Fe, NM.
We would go for miles and see nothing but fields and grass. Ocassionally there would be a road with a gate or a fence across it.
I loved this "butte" or whatever you want to call it. The colors were so pretty against the blue sky!!
This was taken as we were going through Albequerque, NM. Look at that sky!!!
And, of course we saw LOTS of Casinos along the way. A lot of the indian reservations have casinos and there are LOTS of indian reservations out here. I wish I could remember all of the different names of the reservations, but I can't.
On the 11th of October, we stayed in the campground for some R&R. Chuck did our laundry. Yeah!!! Carolee did some sewing and I did NOTHING!!! It was raining and cold, so it felt good to stay inside and watch tv and be lazy. We had biscuits and gravy for supper. That's what Merrell and Chuck wanted and it was easier to fix than a lot of things would have been.
On the 12th we toured downtown Santa Fe. It was a beautiful day. We thought it was going to be cold and put our coats and sweaters on, but we ended up carrying them.most of the day. We went into some of the little shops in dowtown Santa Fe, but the main reason we wanted to go to Santa Fe was to see the Loretto chapel with the "miracle" spiral staircase and the oldest church and house in the US.
The biggest percentage of the houses and other buildings we saw in New Mexico were small adobe buildings with flat roofs.
Miracle Spiral Staircase. As best as I can remember the story, the church (Loretto Chapel) was built and there wasn't a way to get up to the choir loft. The nuns prayed and a stranger appeared and built the spiral staircase and then disappeared without payment. It took him six months to build it. There are no visible means of support and professionals from all over the world have examined it to see how it was done in the 1800's with the minimal amount of tools available to carpenters.
Chuck and Carolee in the chapel with the miracle spiral staircase.
This statue was inside the church with the Miracle Staircase. Isn't it beautiful?
The oldest church is the San Miguel Chapel and right beside it is an adobe building that is on the historical register as the oldest house in the US. It is the La Casa Vieja de Analco. The house was built on part of the foundation of an ancient Indian Pueblo dating to around 1200 AD. The pueblo was abandoned sometime around 1435 AD. The house was built in the 1600's by the Spainards.
The San Miguel Chapel, which is the oldest church in the US. I had to stand across the street to get the whole church in the view finder. The sun wasn't where I wanted it (teeheehee) so the picture didn't turn out very well.
Donna and Merrell in front of the oldest house in the US. There was a gift shop attached to one end of it. The actual house was very small. Two extremely rooms. Each room had a very small fireplace and a window. Rough exposed ceiling beams. From the outside it looked like there was a second story, because we saw two small windows up above the doors, but we didn't see any way to get upstairs. There were two exterior doors side by side. Each door was short, but the one to our right was very short. Almost like it was for a child. It sure made me appreciate my big rooms!!!!! It even made me appreciate the four room house we grew up in. It was huge compared to this one.
After we toured the churches and house, we went to the outdoor Indian Market in front of the Governor's house. They were selling handmade jewelry, quilts, rugs, pottery and too many more things to remember. The jewelry and pottery were beautiful. I didn't find any that I couldn't live without. The stuff I really liked was the most expensive. OF COURSE!!!
After we left Santa Fe, we went to the Bandelier National Monument. It was about a 45 mile drive from Santa Fe. It's a National Park and we hiked to the cliff dwelling and pueblo ruins inside the park. It was an awesome experience. It's hard to imagine anyone living like they did. All I can say is they must have been SMALL people to fit through those small cave openings. They also had to be very agile to climb up to them. I'm still sore from my puny attempt to climb them. I made it to the top of the ladders at the first two caves that only had the short ladders to the entrance. After that we hiked to the Alcove House. Now, the first two ladders were enough for a normal person. To get to this one you had to go up five, count that one, two, three, four, FIVE, ladders to get to the reconstructed KIVA. A Kiva is a ceremonial cave from what I could gather. The ladders here were a LOT taller and straighter (by that I mean STRAIGHT up). I made it to the top of the first of the five ladders, but I could NOT make myself step over the top rung to the top of the cliff. I thought I was gonna die. Merrell was going to help me over the top rung, but I just could NOT make my foot step over the top rung on the ladder. I BACKED all of the way down the ladder and when my foot finally hit terra firma, I wanted to kneel down and kiss the ground. Teeheehee Merrell and Chuck went all the way through the five ladder thing to the top and didn't die or anything. The sign at the bottom (first ladder) said that if you were afraid of heights or not in good physical condition that you shouldn't attempt the climb. Well, I should have heeded the sign!!! I knew that both of the warnings applied to ME and ME alone.:>) After Chuck and Merrell went on their merry way, Carolee decided she was going to try to go up again (she had been behind me when I chickened out). She made it up the first ladder and over the top and on to the next ladder. I was sooooooooooo proud of her. She said it was TALL and STRAIGHT up. She made it part way and decided she didn't want to die that day and backed back down and came back down the first ladder and we waited on Merrell and Chuck. I was PERFECTLY happy waiting at the bottom and enjoying the peace and quiet of the woods. LOL We had taken so many pictures that our main camera batteries died and we had to switch to the camcorder photo function to take the last ones of the day. They aren't as clear as the better Kodak cameras, but at least we got pictures.
Merrell in one of the cliff dwelling rooms at the "small" ladder........................
Merrell climbing down the "small" ladder.
Donna and Carolee at the "small" ladder.
Donna climbing the "small" ladder!!!! Look Ma ONE HAND!!!! :>)
Here is PROOF that I actually climbed to the top of one of the short ladders!!! I even amazed myself.............................
Donna at the TOP of the small ladder. Yeah, I made it and didn't fall and kill myself. I could even smile (when I didn't look DOWN)
Carolee at the "small" ladder. Brave, ain't she???
Carolee climbing down the "small" ladder. Merrell is in the cave to her left.
Carolee in front of one of the "cave" openings.
Walkway around the cliff dwellings. The "holes" in the rock face are the dwellings............. Can you just imagine living that life??? And we complain about having two kids in one bedroom!!! These rooms are barely big enough for one person, much less a family..........................
This picture was taken on our walk through the park to the cliff dwellings.
One of the tall ladders leading to the Alcove house.
Another view of the ladders up the mountain to the Alcove House.
Chuck climbing one of the five ladders to Alcove House. Merrell was UP TOP taking the pictures since I chickened out and wouldn't go up.
Chuck in the Alcove House after he had climbed up the FIVE ladders!!! :>)
Donna standing at the bottom of the first ladder going to the Alcove house. Merrell had the camera and zoomed in a LOT to get my picture.
Merrell at the Alcove House after HE had climbed the FIVE ladders. I would have been lying on one of the rocks!!!!
This is the ruins of the "long house" at the base of the cliff dwellings. Each small area was a separate room in the "house".
Chuck and Carolee walking back to the car after climbing down from the cliff dwellings.
It was almost dark when we left the park and headed back to Santa Fe. We were all tired, but had a wonderful day. Merrell had always wanted to see the cliff dwellings and to be able to climb up and actually go into the caves was one of the highlights of his trip. Chuck and Carolee had been to some cliff dwellings about thirty years ago, so Chuck had climbed up them before but I think he enjoyed going this time too, EVEN THOUGH his shingles have reappeared. They have been coming on for about three weeks and he's been itching pretty bad, but fortunately he's not in much pain. He thought he was over them when we first left on our trip, but unfortunately he was WRONG!!
From here we're heading towards San Antonio. Mae and Regena are already there and Howard and Irma will be there on the 15th or 16th. We'll spend two or three days there and then head up to see David and Chuckie, Carolee and Chucks sons. It's a two day trip from Santa Fe to San Antonio. I think it's 700+ miles. I hope the weather stays as nice as it is now. We've been so luck in the 3 + months we've been gone, we've had very little rain.
I'm tired, so I'm gonna hit the sack. Catch ya later,
Love, US
