Blogs from Bandelier, New Mexico, United States, North America

Slept in even a bit more than yesterday, breakfast at 9:30 at the hotel then off for a day in the Mountains. We covered a lot of ground today, 175 miles in the car, and 3 miles on foot. The Jémez Mountain Trail. The Jémez mountain trail is just northwest of Santa Fe. It is a circular route that takes you through the Bandelier National Monument, Caldera National Preserve, the Jémez National Forest and Jémez Indian Reservation. It was a very diverse drive with dramatic changes in both landscape and weather. The day started with clear skies and as we rose higher in elevation turned to snow. The first stop was White Rock Overlook. This offered a dramatic view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the Rio Grande River. From there it was on to ... read more

Today I got to be a passenger as Uncle Bill did all the driving. We headed Northwest of Albuquerque, initially on the same highway we drove in on, for our 4th National Park experience of this trip. Bandelier National Park is another site where very old dwellings of ancestral Puebloans were discovered during the 20th century. Bill and Marcia had been there once years ago and they were happy to go again. The drive was longer than I expected, but we had plenty of time to explore everything of interest. (I also was reminded that I'm likely to get a little car sick when I'm not the driver or front passenger...the very curvy roads prompted me to request a seat change.) One might think that exploring ancient ruins would get old, but so far we've found ... read more