Visiting in Santa Fe

We arrived in Santa Fe late on Thursday night. We left the Colorado Plateau temporarily after our visit to Mesa Verde. We drove into the Rockies through Durango and Pagosa Springs. We crosssed the Great Divide camped at Big Meadows campsite.


The following day we drove down through Del Norte and Alamosa.







Rather than drive directly to Santa Fe we took a scenic route. (In Scenic Driving NewMexico these are drives 32 and 33) The first part called Valle Vidal is a 69 mile drive through the high meadows of the Sangres de Cristo mountains. It starts at the village of Costilla. The road is not sealed but was good. After passing through a gorge we passed into high meadow country with a beautiful stream. Just before the end of this section the others got a flat tyre. The spare was a space saver so the rest of the trip was a bit slower. We returned to sealed road at Cimarron. Cimarron was a rowdy place- a stop on the Sante Fe trail. The guide book mentions that a Las Vegas newspaper once wrote "everything is quiet in Cimarron. No one has been killed for three days." We found somewhere to put more air in the spare tyre on Richard and Christine's car. The Cimarron Canyon is a deep wood canyon though volcanic rock - the Palisades Sill.

We reached Taos just in time to have a meal at El Pueblo cafe and wreckers. ( Perhaps we can rename the Blue Lily?) We reached Santa Fe about 10.30pm.

Friday was spent sorting out tyres and the basics of living, with a visit in the afternoon to Santa Fe Plaza.






On Saturday we packed up drove out to White Rock Overlook to see the Rio Grande before driving on Bandellier National Monument. After morning tea and a nice play in the creek we walked to the peublo ruins. There was a large building on the flats and then many cave dwellings that we were able to climb into. We walked on the the Alcove House which had 4 ladders to climb. Madeline would have liked to go up but I managed to convince her the creek was fun. On the way back we drove throguh Los Alamos and visited the Bradbury Museum for about half an hour. While the science is interesting the whole Nuclear bomb thing is scary.

On Sunday mornng Liam and I went to the Santa Fe Children's Museum - we went again with Madeline on Friday. This is a great place with lots of interactive activities. In the afternoon although it was raining at first we went for a walk in the Sangres de Cristos mountains. We took a trail called the Borrego Trail - it was route used tomove sheep. The rain stopped and we had a pleasent 4 mile loop walk.

Richard had to return to work. So Monday the rest of us went up to Taos to explore the plaza. It was good to see the Rio Grande Gorge route in the daylight after driving it at night. We at a look at the Rio Grande walking across the bridge with a 1200 foot drop and returned to Santa Feover high plateau with some spectucular lighting in the distance.

Tuesday with an outing day that Liam had planned. Grand-dad Liam and I caught the Santa Fe Southern to travel 19 miles to Lamy. This train has a open flat car so we could be outside and get a view. We were very lucky as it was very clear. We had lunch at Lamy bought on the station and eaten under a shady tree. We had had a look at the Last Chance saloon which is a rebuilt example of what would have been there when train was the means of travel.

Wednesday was the shopping and final look around day for Anne with Christine and the children; this included a visit to Liam's school. Murray went for a walk in the ski area reaching Lake Peak 12400 feet.