Bandelier National Monument

Adolph Bandelier was an anthropologist who came to New Mexico to study and document the lives of the Ancient Pueblo Indians.   He studied this area extensively and thus the National Monument is named after him.   We walked a 1.2 mile trail through the Frijoles Canyon along the Frijoles Creek.   (Yes, all you Skippy John Jones fans-"Canyon of the Beans").   Generations of  Puebloans lived in this canyon from around 1100 to 1600.   There were dwelling foundation remnants in the floor of the canyon.   The picture at the right shows these foundations ringing the common area of the community.  

As we left the floor of the canyon and climbed toward the canyon wall we could see the cliff dwellings. 
Here you can see Deb climbing a ladder to reach one of the small "rooms" in the canyon wall.
The rock looked like sandstone to us, but it is not.   This was actually a highly active volcanic area and the stone is volcanic in nature and is called "tuff".   It is quite soft and easily eroded by wind and rain, thus creating the myriad of  holes which became rooms for the people.   

There were also areas where the people built up walls with adobe brick.   You can see Bob at the right looking into one of these rooms.

Both of us climbed the ladder below and entered quite a large area which included several rooms.   The picture of Deb is inside one of the rooms.

The Ancient Puebloans (which we used to call Anasazi) grew corn, beans and squash in the fertile volcanic soil of the area and many of the rooms were used for storage of their crops.   They usually tried to have a store of dried field products which would last a couple of years in order to deal with the inevitable drought years.

In the next two pictures you can get an idea of the length of the canyon.   The holes you can see in the canyon wall were where there were at one time timbers that defined "floors" of the dwellings.  In many areas you could clearly see where there had been at least three levels in the dwelling.   Deb is standing next to a beautiful petroglyph which archaeologists uncovered during one of their digs.  Apparently even thousands of years ago folks liked to have artwork on their walls!

We were making our way back to our car when there was an informational sign telling of the wildlife that could be seen.   We literally looked up from the sign and saw this guy standing literally five feet from us!

On our way back to Santa Fe, we passed through the city of White Rocks.   Deb had read about a scenic overlook from the town.   Sure enough.   It was quite amazing.   We could see the Rio Grande River flowing below us and canyons, mesas,  and mountains in all directions.

All in all it was quite a wonderful last day.     The nickname for the state of New Mexico is The Land of Enchantment and we have certainly becoming enchanted with the beauty and amazing history and culture of the area.  

We will finally be heading north tomorrow morning.      It is hard to believe our winter adventure is ending.   It has been wonderful and amazing.   

Hugs to Everyone,

Bob and Deb

More Glimpses of Santa Fe and S***!

Well, when we opened our drapes this morning, guess what we saw?   Yep.   That is snow.   Yuk.   Maybe Mother Nature was trying to gently prepare us for our destination in a few days!    It was cloudy and cool for most of the morning with flurries in the air, but by afternoon the clouds began to break up and we had blue sky by sunset.  

Of course, we did not let it stop us since this was the official "last day" of our winter get-away.   The picture below is of the present state capital building here is Santa Fe.   We were disappointed to see that it was closed today so we only got pictures of the outside.   Bob is convinced it needs a dome!

In our blog post yesterday, we had a picture of the oldest church in the United States.   Well, right around the corner is the oldest house in the United States.   Bob is taking a look.

Then we visited a really neat museum of New Mexico history and culture.   Attached to the museum is a building called the Palace of the Governors.   It housed government since 1610 when Santa Fe was set as the seat of government.   We had a great guided tour in the museum which gave us a really nice history of the city and state.   It has been such a melding of the Native people, Spanish, Mexican, and finally American people.   Bob is standing in the courtyard of the Palace.    It was a most interesting and informative morning.

We were so torn about how to spend our last afternoon.    Winery, brewery, more museums????    Well, after some quick discussion we headed back to our villa for a quick lunch and then headed off to the north for what turned out to be a great afternoon.    See the next blog for the details.

First Glimpses of Santa Fe

 We got to Santa Fe around 3:00 and checked into our wonderful villa.     We just unloaded our things, refreshed a bit, and headed out walking toward the old area of the city.   Bob made friends with this burro on our walk.


Just a block or two further we came to the plaza area which is a pedestrian friendly, park.   It is surrounded for several blocks in each direction with shops, restaurants, and historical buildings. 

 The picture on the right is one of several art museums in the city.   One of the most famous is the Georgia O'Keefe museum which we intend to visit tomorrow.


We have apparently made it out of Mormon territory, as there is a real Catholic presence here!

The first picture below is the St. Francis of Assisi Basillica.  The second one is said to be the oldest church in the United States-1610.   

The two pictures below are taken of the Loretto Chapel.   It too is very old and was the home of the Sisters of Loretto who came to Santa Fe to open a school.   The school no longer exists and the sisters are no longer active here.   The chapel is privately owned now.   The most famous and unique thing about the chapel is its spiral staircase.   As the story goes, there were no stairs up to the choir loft because men had used ladders.   But the school was for girls and they sang in the choir and wanted stairs.   Because the chapel is so small, traditional stairs would have taken up too much space, so the sisters prayed and prayed for a solution.   Finally, an unknown carpenter appeared and spent 6 months building the marvelous spiral stairs.   They are an engineering marvel as they have to central or side supports.   He disappeared soon after the stairs were finished and never submitted any bill for his services.   The original stairs had no railing, but everyone was afraid to walk up them, so railings were added later.     Pretty cool.

Tomorrow is Saturday and our tentative plans call for it to be our last full day sightseeing.   Deb is negotiating for an extra day here, but Bob is looking at the weather and seeing some nasty predictions for Wisconsin on Tuesday.   His plan is to be home by that time.   Stay tuned to see who wins out!

We have had a nice dinner here in our villa using up some of the food we had left in our fridge in St. George.   A couple glasses of wine have helped to get us pretty mellow.  Bedtime is looking pretty good.

Hugs to Everyone.

Bob and Deb

Famous Route

 Our trip east since we got to I 40 by Flagstaff has taken us right along the famous Route 66.    Most people just zoom along on the interstate, but if you get off the highway and travel local roads, many small towns along the route celebrate and acknowledge the path of that well-traveled road running from Chicago to California.  

If you look carefully beyond the rusty car, you can see the row of telephone poles that follow the original roadbed.  

Petrified Wood, More Petroglyphs. And the Painted Dessert

Friday morning we left our hotel in Holbrook, Arizona after a very nice breakfast there.   We headed to Petrified Forest National Park which was only about 20 miles away.   There was a loop through the park with many stops along the way to view different things.   Of course, the petrified wood was the biggest draw.   As you can see in the first two pictures, some of the logs were huge.   Sadly, this did not become a national park until much of the petrified wood had been confiscated by people visiting the area.   Not only has the wood turned to stone over the centuries, but the center also becomes crystallized and is very pretty.

There was a large pueblo ruin there as well.   The information we got told us that as many as 200 people lived in the complex which was made up of a large square of small rooms with common open area in the center.    There were also many areas containing that wonderful Indian art-petroglyphs.

The drive through through the park-about 30 miles-reminded us of the Badlands.   Very rugged, almost no trees, and just scrub vegetation, but with quite amazing rock formations and mesas.
The north end of the park loop bordered on the Painted Dessert.   The pictures below are of the vistas from that area of the park.   This would be looking north.

Guess Where?

Sort of hard to see on the sign, but I'll hum a few bars....


"Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see....."

Making Our Way To New Mexico

We are sad to say we had to leave our comfy condo in beautiful St. George this morning.   We got on the road at 8:15 and headed southeast toward Flagstaff, Arizona.   As we drove along highway 89, we realized that we were just about 30 miles from the entrance to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.   Even though we have visited here before, we just could not resist!

We just turned that car around and before we knew it, we were standing on the rim!

We stopped at several overlooks that we had not seen last time we visited the canyon.    One of them had this neat tower.

After we had our fill of the fantastic views of the canyon, we retraced our steps and headed south toward Flagstaff.   We had researched an area close by of ancient Anasazi ruins and also a volcanic area containing Sunset crater.       You can see the ruins and the crater in the pictures below.  It was a very worthwhile side trip.   Both places were pretty neat.

 We made it to Holbrook, Arizona just after sunset and are settled into our hotel here.   We will head to Santa Fe in the morning.   We are anxious to spend a couple days there exploring the area.  

Hugs to Everyone,

Bob and Deb

Farewell

Today is Tuesday and it is Kenn and Karen's last day here with us in Utah.   We have had a busy and fun time together.   They got to see a lot of the natural wonders of southern Utah, and get a little idea of why we like it here.    It is not so different in climate from their home in Texas, so not is much of thrilling change as for us.     But they enjoyed the different kind of beauty here as well.

They are now headed to Las Vegas.   They will stay there tonight and then fly home tomorrow morning.  

So we say farewell to them and we try to get our minds wrapped around the fact that we have to leave in 2 days!     It is hard to think about hauling out our totes and bags to begin the packing up process.   The weather is supposed to be 70-75 here this week, so we are going to try to soak up as much of it as we can.   Not really looking forward to cold, ice and snow back in Wisconsin!

Toodles,

Deb and Bob

A Visit to The Other Nolls

On Sunday morning we had a quick breakfast and then headed north to visit our son Scott and his family.   Kenn and Karen had never been to their home and ranch.   We had a very pleasant afternoon and evening visiting with them.   We played games and just hung out together.

We stayed in a motel in Nephi and then Scott, Sam, Katie, Hunter and Ben joined us for breakfast on Monday morning before we headed home.  


We got back to St. George around 1:00 and it wasn't long before the guys had that far-away golfing look in their eyes!   Sure enough they decided to take advantage of their last beautiful day.


Hugs to All.

Deb

We Found a Winery in Southern Utah

For those of you who are familiar with the Latter Day Saints religion, finding a winery in the state of Utah was a most surprising event!   Of course, we had to check it out.   It is called Iron Gate Winery and B & B.   It is in the city of Cedar City, which is about 40 miles north of St. George.     They do not grow their own grapes, but they had a nice little tasting room and the bed and breakfast is very charming.   We tasted many of their wines, and truth be told, we not terribly fond of any until the very end of the tasting.   They do not make a sweet wine, so most of them felt a bit short of our comfort level.   That was until they broke out the late harvest zinfandel! It was quite yummy.   It was a nice relaxing Saturday here.   Before we went to the winery, Karen did a couple loads of wash and helped Deb make an apple and pecan pie.   The boys went to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls.   After we returned from the winery, we had a nice supper and played Mexican Train dominoes.  

Tomorrow morning we head north to visit Scott, Sam and the kids.   We hope to get there by lunchtime.   We will spend the rest of the day with them and stay in Nephi at a hotel.   We will head home on  Monday morning after breakfast.

We are nearing the end of the Paulini's visit and also our own stay here in St. George.   Kenn and Karen will head back to Las Vegas on Tuesday as their flight leaves from Vegas on Wednesday morning.  We leave St. George on Friday, March 7.    We are just dreading heading back into the deep freeze and the snow!    It is amazing how quickly we became used to the mild weather here. 

Happy Weekend to Everyone.   

Bob, Deb, Kenn and Karen