We made two stops - the first on Canyon Road. I took two pictures of the sculpture Walks Among the Stars. The blanket looked like material but is actually metal. It was absolutely beautiful.
I couldn't resist taking a few photos of the children sculptures. The three little girls reminded me of Kelly, Kara and Kristin. I loved the expressions on the faces.
The second stop was in the museum district to see the sculpture Journey's End which depicts wagons arriving at the end of the Santa Fe Trail. There was an audio information box and we were able to listen to the story behind the sculpture.
It was around 4:00 when we arrived back at the Plaza. I had read up on the Governor's Palace Museum and learned that all the museums are open for free from 5-8 p.m. every Friday night. Some of the galleries have wine and appetizers too.
We decided to have a drink and an appetizer and then visit the Georgia O'Keeffe (correct spelling) Museum, the Governor's Palace and the New Mexico History Museum. Unfortunately, the O'Keeffe Museum was having a private affair. I visited it last time I was in Santa Fe but would have liked to visit it again. So we took a guided tour with a docent through the 400 year old Governor's Palace and the new History Museum that just opened in May of this year. In no time it was 8 o'clock and time for the museums to close.
On Saturday we headed to Bandelier National Monument but first we stopped in White Rock to stop at the Overlook. There were two waterfalls in the distance and a beautiful view of the valley with the Rio Grande running through it. I told Ted if we followed it we could end up at Pepe's On The River in Mission, TX and have a pitcher of margaritas!
We continued our drive to Bandelier near Los Alamos. This area was the ancestral home of the Pueblo people around 1200 AD. It was a free entrance day for everyone so we didn’t even have to use our Senior Pass to get in. Right after we entered the park, a coyote walked across the road right in front of us and then continued down the side, not in any hurry at all. I forgot to mention that when we were driving from Provo to Moab, a red fox crossed the road in front of us. Neither animal was perturbed by the truck on the road.
We went to see the video at the visitor’s center and then proceeded to take the Main Loop Trail. The ruins of Tyuonyi are visible as a “footprint” of a pueblo village that existed many hundreds of years ago. It was a circular two or three story building of many rooms and would have housed many people.
Next we encountered the Cliff Dwellings. The many alcoves and caves in the canyon walls were used as a basis for housing with vegas to support roofs and adobe bricks to build walls that made stone homes in front of these caves. Ladders were used to get to the higher rooms.
Next was the Long House, an 800 foot stretch of adjoining multi-storied stone homes with hand-carved caves as back rooms. There is a well preserved petroglyph that is being protected by plexiglass. Also visible are the holes that supported the vegas (roof beams) and even hand holds for climbing are visible.
The last half of the trail is beside the creek at the base of the canyon. These two things – water and protected shelter, made this an ideal place to live. No one knows why the people left this area. The people of the present-day Pueblos of San Ildefonso and Chochiti say they are the descendants of those who left the villages in the mid-1500s.
When we were leaving the park we decided to turn onto the road to the campground to see what it was like. Ted stopped suddenly and said “There’s a snake in the road.” He backed up and a 4-5 foot diamond back rattlesnake was sunning itself on the road. The truck disturbed it and by the time I got the camera out, it was slithering into the grass. All I got was less than a foot of its tail. I’ve cropped and enlarged it so the resolution is bad but I wanted everyone to see the rattle on the end of the tail. That was exciting (since I was safely inside the truck!).
We passed three casinos on the way up so we decided to stop at Camel Rock Casino on the way home. We signed up for cards and were given $10 to begin play. Ted went to the video poker and I wandered around trying to find a machine to my liking. I play the penny or nickels slots but that’s a misnomer. If you play 25 lines on a penny slot and select 10x on the bet, you are paying $2.50 for each pull. So I look for ones with 15 lines or less and have a one or two bet key. I also like them to have a “bonus” feature. When certain things appear you get to play a game and win money. It makes gaming a little more interesting.
The casino had some I liked but you could not put your card in to get “points.” I didn’t care because I wasn’t going to play enough to make a difference and I’ll probably never be back. We played for two hours and Ted found me to say he lost the $10 they gave him. At that point I had lost their $10 and my $20. Ted had a voucher for fifteen cents and told me to play it on a penny machine with 15 lines. I found one and ran that fifteen cents up to $5.03. I quit while I was only $15 in the hole and we left.
Sunday we got turned around looking for church and by the time we found it, we would have been 20 minutes late. So we went to a nearby flea market and waited for church two hours later. It was a true flea market, not the ones where they are selling new stuff (mostly made in China). We were looking for a small knick knack for my mantel, something for the yard and a Route 66 hat pin for Sam. We didn't find any of those things.
Church was an adobe structure that had a Mexican look inside. It was their feast day and the statue of Mary, Queen of Peace was carried in by gentlemen dressed in Mexican costume with red cummerbunds. Also present was the "Royal Court." We still don't understand what that is all about. A girl dressed in white with a white mantilla introduced her court. One represented Pueblo Indians, another the Navajo Nation and two princesses dressed in typical Mexican fashion also wearing white mantillas. The men were all introduced as representing different conquistadors. This must be a Mexican custom of some sort. All the music was performed by a mariachi band and sung in Spanish.
We stopped for breakfast at IHOP because by now it was after 1:00 pm. We came home to change clothes and then went to El Rancho de Las Golondrinas (The Ranch of the Swallows). This is an old Spanish ranch and living history museum, sort of a Williamsburg of the southwest. We didn't have a lot of time since they closed at 4 pm. Ted liked it so much that he said he would stop in Santa Fe again just to visit this place.
Tomorrow we move to Albuquerque.
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