Welcome back!  Hope your week-end was a good one.  Our weather here was absolutely beautiful.   I do believe that we’re making the seasonal turn to Autumn—and that is very welcome.

Day 4

For years I have been fascinated by the history of the Anasazi Indians—the precursors of what we call Pueblo.  For your edification, a couple of years back we stopped calling them that (it was a word that meant “enemy”) and at the request of Pueblo natives began to refer to them as Ancestral Pueblo People.  Much better.

Human presence in the area has been dated to over 10,000 years before present. Permanent settlements by ancestors of the Puebloan peoples have been dated to 1150 CE; these settlers had moved closer to the Rio Grande by 1550.  Elevations range from 5,000 to 10,000 ft. Frijoles Canyon contains a number of ancestral pueblo homes, kivas (ceremonial structures), rock paintings, and petroglyphs. Some of the dwellings were rock structures built on the canyon floor; others were cavates produced by voids in the volcanic tuff of the canyon wall and carved out further by humans.

Visitors are delivered via shuttle from one visitor center in Los Alamos to another inside the park.   A 1.2-mile (1.6 km), predominantly paved, “Main Loop Trail” from the visitor center affords access to these features.  The trail first takes you by some kivas and long-houses on the ground, then climbs you on up to what’s left of the cave dwellings.  I would love to have seen what they looked like when they were intact.

August, 2016

August, 2016

We spent the morning wandering around the ruins, then set off for Santa Fe.   I loved Santa Fe—so much that I didn’t take as many pictures as I should have.  First off, I was captivated by the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assissi.  These pictures are not nearly as beautiful as the Real Place, and there was a Vibe that I can’t capture in a photo or describe in words.  Something like Peace…

August 2016

Second, I loved their Plaza, with the old Governor’s House on one side and plenty of room to roam around.  Their shops were quality, the choice of food was intriguing, and the air was as clean as it gets.  There’s a quality I can’t put my words to, but they call themselves “The City Different”.  I guess that’s it.

We strolled and sat and watched and finally ate a nice Tex-Mex dinner overlooking the square.  It was a wonderful day–no falls, no storms, no delays…    Relaxing on the balcony above the Plaza, I noticed a young lady on the corner, playing Real Good for Free…

 We were back at camp by sunset and got a good night’s sleep in preparation for our next adventure:  Dodge City, KS.

See you tomorrow!