Santa Fe and the Bandalier National Monument

The drive from Amarillo, Texas over to Santa Fe was very windy, the poor RV really was tossed around the road.  However, we love New Mexico!  Sunny, warm days, perfect for hiking and doing what we do.

We spent a few days in Santa Fe before going camping out at the Bandalier National Monument. Santa Fe is a really pretty town with lots of galleries for art, jewelry and rugs as well as plenty of places to get yummy Mexican or Tex-Mex food.  This adobe architecture predominates all over town, and it blends in with the landscape and mountain backdrop.

 San Miguel Mission is the oldest church structure in the US.

 Oh oh, a rug shop.  This is always a problem.

We drove about an hour out of Santa Fe to Bandalier National Monument for camping and hiking.  Great spot!  I was hoping to see a few cousins here, (I don't think Phil and Chris shared my enthusiasm) and we didn't, however we spotted quite a few mule deer and a puma.  Do pumas eat bears??

The deer must be used to all the hikers because we were pretty close to them and they weren't bothered by our presence. 

Phil and Chris have decided that they need to be fit for trekking into the Grand Canyon, so they went hiking several days.  They spent a day down in the canyon looking at an interesting archaeological site where indians lived for centuries in caves along the canyon walls, as well as in adobe dwellings built on the canyon floor and up along the walls.  The site is well preserved and they were able to climb up into the caves.  One cave was 140 ft up the wall, reached by 4 ladders and some stairs.

Phil is sitting on the edge of a kiva up in the large ceremonial cave, and below, Chris is climbing out of the kiva.

 The next day they trekked all the way into the canyon from where we were camping and then down to a waterfalls near the Rio Grande.  Last year there was a huge fire and then a flash flood down in the canyon, so some of the trails are washed out or too difficult to do, and the trail all the way to the Rio Grande was closed.  

The next day they had a little rest from hiking and went to Los Alamos to see the museums in this very historic town where the first atomic bombs were created.  The National Laboratories are still in this area and the RV was searched before and after visiting Los Alamos.  Additionally, they suggested that we didn't take photos.  It was a really interesting visit.  On Friday they again hiked down into the canyon and back, just for the exercise (are they nutters or what?!) and then headed back to Santa Fe.  I hope they get some more photos of pretty Santa Fe so I can add them to this post later.