Salinas Pueblo Missions

About an hour south of Albuquerque are the Salinas Pueblo Missions
http://www.nps.gov/sapu
The Tiwa and Tompiro Puebloan Indians had lived in the area for
hundreds of years, until the 16th century, when Spanish missionaries
came to the area and changed it forever. Building large mission churches
in the area, they coexisted with the Puebloans and "converted" many.


By the 1670's, both the Puebloans and the Spanish had left, leaving
nature to take over and the missions fell into ruins.


Nature took over until the mid-twentieth century, when the State of
New Mexico, and then the National Park Service, took over the three
sites of Abo, Quarai and Gran Quivira and made them a National
Monument.


Signs are present to let us know that we're not the only ones checking
out the ruins!

That's Good Eatin'!

In the mood for "comfort food", we headed to Frontier Restaurant in
Albuquerque. http://www.frontierrestaurant.com
They've been around Albuquerque since 1971 and have been serving
the community and the University of New Mexico area ever since.
Coming back from a day-trip, we had a taste for a steak but finances
for a sandwich, so driving down Central Avenue we were spying out
locations when all of a sudden, there we were. I had read about Frontier
back in May on the blog, Dukecityfix http://www.dukecityfix.com
They gave it good reviews, and I have to agree with them. Their menu
is huge, and it has a Dennys-esque feel to it, but much better food
and a much cooler feel.


Once you walk in the door, you realize how big the place is. It's got
about 5 big dining areas, including one called the Duke Room that
has a monstrous painting of John Wayne on one wall. The green
chile was recently voted best in Albuquerque and we'll try that next
time. What was most interesting was the diversity of the people
eating there. Couples, families, old, young, students, etc. Next
time on Central Avenue, give it a try.

Bandelier National Monument

Today we re-visited Bandelier National Monument
http://www.nps.gov/band
We felt a small hike was in order and Bandelier is an easy jaunt
not too far from Santa Fe, only about 45 minutes away. I was
really surprised how busy it was on a weekday. We were last
here in 1999 and had the place pretty much to ourselves. Don't
get me wrong, it wasn't anything like queing up at the South Rim
of the Grand Canyon or at Old Faithful in Yellowstone on a mid-July
day, but for a little-visited park, it seemed crowded...especially in
late October. Anyway, Bandelier is a great site for seeing a little bit
of everything about the Ancient Puebloan (Anasazi) people. There
is a fairly large traditional dwelling (pictured above) named Tyuonyi
on the canyon floor as well as Talus dwellings on the canyon walls,
although occupied at the same time, at least to me, seem almost
more reminiscent of the Mogollon culture as opposed to that of the
Anasazi.



There are several places along the walls of Frijoles Canyon where
Petroglyphs are very visible to the naked eye. It really helps to have
morning light hitting the walls to make them as visible as possible.
Luckily they are high enough on the walls to make them less
susceptible to vandalism.


The most popular features of Bandelier are the remains of the Talus
cliff dwellings that are scattered along the northeast walls of Frijoles
Canyon. Most of them weren't occupied as just caves, but had small
dwellings (now long gone) attached to the front. The talus was formed
by the volcanic ash of several huge eruptions over a million years ago.
To this day, the talus is very soft and easy to work with.
Bandelier is a great place to spend at least a half day (more if possible)
and it's a nice escape from day to day urban life.

Model Train Show

Last weekend we attended the 8th annual
Santa Fe Model Train Show. It was cheap
entertainment and we ended up having a
good time.



Of course there were lots of families there, but
there was also a good cross section of the
community there as well.



These folks take their trains very seriously and have
quite a bit of money wrapped up in their hobby. I
was most impressed by the amount of effort they put
into the miniature scenes, complete with realistic
buildings and landscaping.

Donde Viven Alpacas

While driving through northern New Mexico, we came
upon a large alpaca ranch named Victory Ranch.
http://www.victoryranch.com near the small town of
Mora. They own, breed, sell and board many hundreds
of alpacas. While you're there, you can feed them, pet
them and generally spend as much time around them as
you'd like.


We also saw a baby alpaca that was born just days before
we visited. Victory Ranch has a 3000 square foot
retail store that sells anything and everything alpaca,
including clothing, yarn, weaving looms, etc.


Generally, it's a great place for families, tourists and
anyone that enjoys animals. We had a really nice
time and it's only a 2 hour drive from Santa Fe or
3 hours from Albuquerque. The alpacas would love
to see you!

The End of the World

The end of the world is coming (maybe) to a
television screen near you. Well, not the
Armageddon type fire and brimstone scene
where small children duck and cover under
desks...but pretty darn close. I am a Cubs Fan.
I'm not ashamed of it. In fact I'm very proud of
it. At least 4 generations of my family have been
Cubs fans (except for one rebellious aunt...rest her
soul). What is the reason for my anxiety you may
ask? There is a real possibility of the white sox
making it to the World Series. Not only that...
the st. louis cardinals may be joining them there.
I know...you're saying...What's the big deal?
It's only baseball. But to a Cubs fan, it's the worst
possible thing that could happen. Three of the
four teams Cubs fans dislike most are still in the
playoffs. We also dislike houston, but not as much
as st. louis. How does one cheer for roger clemens
or that smirky craig biggio. However, if it comes to
houston vs the white sox in the World Series...I
will be the biggest astros fan in the world. Stay
tuned...blood curdling screams of angst may be
imminent.

No Surprise

I found this headline in the Santa Fe New Mexican
on Saturday. Anyone who's ever looked at real
estate in Santa Fe knows that it's outrageously
expensive and newspaper articles don't need to
spell it out. "Californians remain an important
part of the Santa Fe real-estate market".
Hmmmm...not surprising considering that's
been happening throughout the West for years.

Books Books Books

Shortly after arriving in town, we got our library
cards for the Santa Fe Public Library.
http://www.santafelibrary.org/ Today was
our first official visit with our new cards.
The Santa Fe Public Library is in a beautiful
old building that used to house City Hall.
The people are friendly, it is easy to find
things and the hours are great. However...
I would like to see the State of New Mexico
to spend a bit more on their public libraries.
Santa Fe is building a nice new branch library
on the south side of town and it looks like it will
be a great place to visit. But some sections of
the Main library are lacking a bit in areas that
are important to me ... such as travel books. Many
of the books are very dated and that can make a
big difference if you're using these books to plan a
trip. My wife enjoys knitting books and found
exactly two! There are dozens of books on
weaving and beading (I know these are important
crafts in the area) but it would be nice to have
books for other peoples' interests also. I guess
I'm just spoiled. I have lived in places where the
state governments valued libraries, including
several cities where their libraries ended up on
the HAPLR Index:
http://www.haplr-index.com/HAPLR100.htm
So ... Come on State of New Mexico legislators...
Give libraries like Santa Fe's more money to
make a good thing even better!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my Mom's birthday!
She is something something years old today.
This picture is of her and her cousin Greg,
sometime during the early 40's getting ready
to go fishing on my Grandma and Grandpa's
farm in Northwest Indiana.

Valles Caldera

While taking a long drive, we came upon an
impressive place called Valles Caldera.
http://www.vallescaldera.gov/
It's the site of a collapsed volcanic crater
that erupted about a million years ago and
was 500 times more powerful than the
Mount St. Helens eruption. It's only 7 miles
west of Los Alamos and easy to get to.


It's hard to get a feeling in photographs
exactly how big this place is. Kind of like
the Grand Canyon, pictures don't do it
justice. It's 89,000 acres big and was a
privately owned ranch until 2000, when
the federal government purchased it and
saved it from development. Right now,
it's considered a Preserve, but is loosely
affiliated with Bandelier National Monument.
Fauna include huge herds of Elk, numbering
in the hundreds or thousands. They look
like tiny dots on the horizon.


While enjoying the view, we met some
interesting folks from Long Island who were
traveling throughout Arizona and New
Mexico. It turns out, a friend of theirs
was someone who also works at McMurdo.
A small world indeed. We plan to go back
in a few weeks to hike inside the valley and
soak up more of the emptiness and nature.
Maybe during the elk rut.

Balloon Fiesta

On Friday evening, we attended the Albuquerque
International Balloon Fiesta.
http://www.balloonfiesta.com/
It's a yearly event attended by thousands of
people from around the world. We wanted to
see the "Special Shapes" balloons and Friday
night they had something called a "Glowdeo".
This is when they wait until dark, and fire up
the gas flames inside the balloons, illuminating
the entire balloon.


It took a while to get started. Since Wells Fargo
sponsors the Glowdeo, they get to inflate their
balloons first. They took a little longer than
expected, but when everyone else was allowed
to inflate, suddenly there were 50 - 75 different
balloons of all shapes across a huge field.


One really nice thing about the Fiesta is that
everyone was able to go right out into the field,
talk to the balloon crews and get a good idea
of what it's like to be a balloonist. We spoke to
one person who told us that without the basket,
their balloon alone weighed 800 pounds!
After the Glowdeo, they had a great fireworks
show...one of the best I've seen. Overall, it was
a really good time for everyone, especially families.
The people at the Fiesta, both organizers and
attendees were really friendly and outgoing and
we'll go back again.

Settling In

We've pretty much settled into our little casita
in Santa Fe and are happy with everything.
It's a cozy and comfortable place, only 5 blocks
from the plaza on top of a high spot called
Banana Hill. It's not big, so we can't have
a lot of people over at once, but it definitely
works for our needs. We've been quite busy
the past couple of days, arranging Phone service,
DSL (YAY!), Cable TV, buying grocercies, etc.
It all makes one feel very domestic. I know
that this is rather dull and routine to most

people, but when you don't do any of this for
4 years, it's very new to us. One thing I've
discovered I like doing is going to the
supermarket to look at all of the new products
that have come out while we've been gone.
Ok, this is odd, but again, it's all brand new
to us. What is scary though is that I haven't
lost my enjoyment of actually shopping for
groceries. I could spend hours at the store
and there is a huge Albertson's nearby that
fulfills that need. What's really scary is that
we were predicting how much our total was
going to be at the checkout. I was off by only
3 cents. I need to get out more!

Welcome to New Mexico!

We made the long, 22 hour drive across the country
from the Chicago area to Santa Fe with no problems.
Well...I wouldn't say no problems. Gas prices have
given us quite the sticker shock since the last time
we were off the Ice.


It's painful to fill up the tank these days. I almost
expect to see a loan desk set up at each gas station
so that people can re-finance their homes or take
out a second mortgage just so they can fill their
tanks. I think the blood plasma people are missing
out on a good opportunity here. People could sell
plasma for gas money. The organ donor people
also might have a opportunity too!


After living on the Ice for 9 months, one gets used
to not seeing bugs, snakes or other creepy crawlies
about. As soon as we crossed into New Mexico, we
saw this neat little snake at a rest stop. He was
pretty harmless, and an older gentleman from
Kentucky was nice enough to shoo him out of the
parking lot where he definitely would have been
smashed by a tire. The next morning, I was lucky (?)
enough to see a pretty large centipede with lots
and lots of legs in the bathtub. Still no spiders
though...UGH...those of you that know me know
how I feel about them!