New Mexico

Sunday, 10/10

Weather was good for travel.

Flew from Chicago to Albuquerque then drove an hour North to Santa Fe. Nice scenic drive with lots of mountains, blue sky and no traffic.

When we got to downtown Santa Fe late in the afternoon it was jammin. Narrow streets, lots of cars, busses and people. Parking is really rough, few garages and the streets were parked up for blocks. We finally found parking about six blocks away from the Plaza (the center of the town). No problem, we like to walk anyway,

We spent a couple of hours walking around the downtown area. Santa Fe is an artist town with tons of street vendors selling jewelery, paintings, ceramics, blankets and everything else. We went through some of the art galleries and shops, stopped by the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis Assisi had a late afternoon snack at an Asian dumpling restaurant, did a bunch more exploring and then searched out a place for dinner.

Had dinner at the Plaza Cafe. We both had New Mexican dishes (when in Rome) that were tasty.

Down town Santa Fe

After dinner we walked back to our car and headed to our hotel which was about 20 minutes North of downtown.

Monday, 10/11

Weather A perfect fall sunny day in Santa Fe.

We headed back downtown and easily found parking since it was a holiday (Indigenous Peoples Day).

Our first stop was the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. Luckily, I had gotten tickets well in advance because it was sold out.

Georgia O'Keefe is one of Kathryn's favorite artists. She was born in Sun Prairie, WI, spent many years in New York and in her forty's settled in New Mexico. She was a very influential modern artist who lived from 1887 - 1986. You can read more about her life at: Georgia O'Keefe Wiki.

A nice museum that had a self guided audio tour talking about Georgia and many of her paintings. We really liked the museum.

Georgia O'Keefe Museum

Santa Fe Plaza

After Gloria O'Keefe we spent some time around the Santa Fe Plaza enjoying the fall colors and exploring some of the street vendors. Lots of jewelry, ceramics, blankets and paintings. Next stop was the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts where we did the self guided tour. It was OK. Much of it focused on Uranium mining (500 Uranium mines had been in operation at one time in NM) and nuclear weapons testing and the impact it had on the Indigenous People and the land.

After the museum we had lunch at the Palacio Cafe. I had a salad, Kathryn stuck with the New Mexico theme and had tamales.

New Mexico History Museum

Final museum of the day was the New Mexico History Museum. This was another good museum with lots of information on the history of New Mexico and the people who lived there.

Loretta Chapel

After the museum we drove to Canyon Rd (US News top things to do list). Another narrow road with lots of street vendors and artsy shops. Unfortunately, no parking so we just drove it and headed back to the Plaza. Didn't miss much. We did some more exploring of all the arts and crafts shops down a few more streets and Kathryn did a quick tour of the Lorretta Chapel. Then had drinks at the Thunderbird Bar and Grill cafe overlooking the plaza, then did a quick grocery shopping and headed back to our hotel. A fun day.

Tuesday, 10/12

Weather 50s, 20-30 mph winds and rain.

We drove about 30 mins west of our hotel to Los Alamos. The drive had amazing scenery I had not expected. This area of New Mexico is full of mountains , red cliffs, sandstone bluffs and canyons. Wish I had pictures.

Los Alamos Labs - Bradley Museum

We visited the Bradbury Science Museum. No not Ray Bradbury... it was named after the 2nd director of the Los Alamos Lab (after Oppenheimer). This was a fascinating museum. Tons of information on the Manhattan project leading up to the detonation of Little Boy (uranium based) and Fat Man (plutonium based) ending WWII. It also had information other research conducted at Los Alamos labs today including nano technology, bio fuels, climate change, managing wild fires and more. We watched two videos on the Manhatten Project and managing the Nuclear Arsenal. Highly recommended.

Bandelier National Monument

After the museum we headed to Bandelier National Monument.

When we arrived it was raining, cold and windy. We ate our lunch in the car and got lucky. After lunch the rain stopped and we did two hikes in the park.

The Pueblo loop trail is a short hike with amazing views of the cliffs. The Pueblo Indians settled this area and we passed many ruins of their buildings. Most interesting were the places the Pueblos carved into the cliff walls. These were primarily used for storage and defensive positions. The trail was lightly trafficked.

Pueblo Loop Trail

The weather cold, rainy and windy on the exposed Tyuonyi Over Look Trail (with some snow flurries) and unfortunately had not dressed great for the cold weather. But the views were really nice so it was worth braving the elements. The trail was very lightly trafficked.

Tyuonyi Over Look Trail

Wednesday, 10/13

Weather improved today. Still unseasonably cool at mid fifties and a cold breeze but bright and sunny. Not bad weather for our planned day of hiking.

Valles Caldera National Preserve

We headed back West to the Valles Caldera National Preserve. From the web site: "About 1.25 million years ago, a spectacular volcanic eruption created the 13-mile wide circular depression now known as the Valles Caldera. The preserve is known for its huge mountain meadows, abundant wildlife, and meandering streams. The area also preserves the homeland of ancestral native peoples and embraces a rich ranching history." Pretty impressive place.

Cerro La Jara Loop

Our first hike was a short loop within the Caldera. You can see from some of the pictures lots of burned up trees. Very unfortunate but, the hike was nice and no one else was on the trail.

South Mountain Trail

The second hike was part of the South Mountain trail. The full trail is 8+ miles and we wanted to do another hike so, we cut it short after a couple of miles out and had our picnic lunch on the trail. We hiked back to the trail head. Hike was very lightly trafficked.

Ridge Trail

Our third hike of the day was a little unplanned as we had intended to do the Coyote Loop Trail but, we got to a juncture for a trail head sign that was washed out but had the last word "Ridge". That sounded good although I looked up and saw about 800' of elevation gain. I kept that to myself. This was a great hike along the ridge of the mountain rising from the Caldera. Some more pictures of the all the tree damage. Out and back it was 4 miles with 800' of elevation gain. Excellent Hike!. No traffic.

This was an excellent day of hiking on a cool sunny day. We hiked about 9 miles with 1000' of elevation.

We had a long drive from the preserve down to Albuquerque. The scenery was worth the drive. Snapped a couple of pictures along the drive as the lowering sun lit up the red cliffs.

Thursday, 10/14

Weather crisp and sunny, high expected in the mid sixties but we are taking a tram up to the top of Sandia mountain with the temperature at 29deg and high wind on the summit.

Tram Ride to Sandia Summit

Just outside Albuquerque is Sandia Mountain which dominates the view to the East. We took the Tram to the top of the mountain which took 15 minutes. It is the longest Tram in the U.S. and at its highest point we were 900' above ground. It wasn't nearly as cold and windy as we had anticipated on the summit.

Sandia Summit

First stop was for lunch at the Ten 3 Restaurant (named for being 10,300' above sea level). Lunch was very good.

We spent a lot of time enjoying the views from the summit and did some short hikes. You can spend as much time as you like on the summit and then just queue up for the next tram down when you are ready.

Friday, 10/15

Weather has improved, sunny and clear, upper fifty's to low sixties.

Petroglyph National Monument

Just outside the Western suburbs of Albuquerque is the Petroglyph National Monument. There are over 10,000 petroglyphs in the area most attributed to the Pueblo Indians with dates estimated to be from 1000BC to 1700BC. The Geology was Volcanic Rock and Climate Class Arid Dessert. We did three hikes in three different sections of the monument.

Rinconada Canyon Trail

Easy out and back trail, lots of Petroglyphs. Lightly trafficed.

Boca Negra Canyon Trail

We had lunch and did a short but straight up the lava flow hike. Lots of Petroglyphs and nice view of Albuquerque from the top. Lightly trafficked.

Piedras Marcadas Canyon Trail

Easy loop trail, lots of Petroglyphs. Lightly trafficked.

Albuquerque Old Town Culinary Tour

Later in the afternoon we walked to old town (about a mile) and met our Culinary Tour Guide in the Albuquerque Hotel.

The first restaurant was Gardunos in the hotel. We had a Cactus Pickle Margarita, a Chicken Taco a chicken burrito, beans, rice and Sopapillas Bread. All with red and green chilis as is the tradition in New Mexico. Already quite a meal. All was very good.

Our next restaurant was High Noon. We had another margarita paired with red chili beef bites and shredded beef taco. The next course was a green chili, potato and chicken stew. Tasty!

Our final stop was Church Street Cafe a 300 year old restaurant for a small vanilla cream dessert.

Our tour guide, Jose Lopez, was very good. He talked about the people and history of New Mexico and, of course, the food of New Mexico. He was a good guide. Very good tour, lots of good food and information along the way. We really enjoyed it.

Saturday, 10/16

Weather: Another nice fall day.

Rio Grande River Hike

Our flight was a little later in the afternoon so we did one final hike. I am pretty sure I parked in the correct parking lot to access the trail along the river. We started walking along a canal which I assumed would lead us to the river. After a couple of miles we had to turn around and head back to the parking lot never actually seeing the Rio Grande. Oh Well. No pictures as it was just a canal! We ate our picnic lunch and headed to the airport.

Flight was on time and Jake picked us up at the airport. A good trip.

Home Sweet Home.