Indian Country

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Forget the pc press, the Indians in New Mexico that we met are proud of their heritage and call themselves Indians. The little village is Laguna-Pueblo. It was the opening day of Elk/bow hunting, and the Lagunas had religious ceremonies going on so the town was "off-limits" to non-Indians. Just outside the town we met a silver artisan while driving on Old Route 66. We would recommend his jewelry to any one. Funny, his father is from Canton, Ohio and his mother from the Laguna tribe. He was dressed in Indian garb, and an Ohio State tee-shirt! If you get off the main roads and let your curiosity navigate the road you can really be pleasantly surprised by what or who you find!

We camped around Albuquerque for 3 weeks expecting to see the balloon festival. It turned out that the balloons didn't fly for part of the time because of rain, then gale-force winds. Our last 3 days in the area we camped overlooking the Rio Grande River at a Corps of Engineers campground which was breathtaking.

On to Verde Valley Thousand Trails Resort in AZ. Of course our first several mornings the Hot Air Balloons decorated the skies (hear that Albuquerque?) Then to our surprise Javelinas came up from the river at dusk looking for good eats. If the picture I have here is blurry it's because I was a little nervous at their proximity to me! After Tom had a great check-up at the heart doctor we cut our stay short and drove South through Phoenix.

We're now at the Lost Dutchman State Park in the Sonoran Desert. We did the tourist thing while here and visited an old Ghost Town which had Wild West Actors and a tour of the original bordello (believe me the tour guide was not part of the original town.) Camped at the foot of Superstition Mountain, the beauty of the desert is all around us. Tom is going to dirt bike school this week to see if desert biking will be his next great adventure! (Double click a picture to enlarge it.)

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