We also drove over to the Rio Grande River to see the Gorge and the Gorge Bridge. I’m sure this bridge is probably an incredible engineering feat as it is hundreds of feet above the river but this Puppy’s feet much prefer solid ground, let me tell you! The wind was wild and then a big rig came barrelin’ through and I definitely didn’t like that swaying and bouncing, so I took Kae for a really fast dash right back to the Pod! Later that day we drove down to the river’s edge where cooling off in the river was the best part for me.
Cokie called an old friend of hers, Asisha in Santa Fe and we drove over to have dinner and a sidewalk camp over one night. I would have loved to have gotten better acquainted with Asisha and Carolyn but they have a very territorial dog, Mollie, who sort of guards the front gate all of the time. I tried to charm her but she wasn’t having it. Instead we took some really cool walks into and down an arroyo just behind their neighborhood. 
Santa Fe is home to so many cool things like museums, art galleries, sweet churches, great restaurants, Trader Joes, margaritas and the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. The Gals went to see the largest permanent collection of O’Keefe’s work and came back to the Pod really enthused and overwhelmed. I can appreciate great work too; after all I get to see and sniff some of the greatest works of nature right here in this ‘good ole US of A!
Another very neat thing the Ladies got to do was meet up with two buddies from Grass Valley, Carol and Rosanna. They had come to New Mexico for touring, shopping and to go down to Albuquerque for the International Balloon Fiesta. So we caught up with them at their condo in Santa Fe and the Ladies took off for the Wells Fargo Special Shapes Glowdeo on the evening of October 12th. They took hundreds of pictures so we’ll just let those speak for themselves.
Then we headed out west of Santa Fe to take in some of my favorite stuff – National Parks, Monuments and Conservation Areas. I love poking around in the ruins and trails of the ‘Ancient Ones’ and sniffing out the tracks and burrows of the ‘invisible ones’ indigenous to these areas. So our first stop was Bandelier National Monument where we spent a week just poking around in Frijoles Canyon. This is the heart of Bandelier with the ruins of the huge pueblo of Tyuonyi (chew-OHN-yee) and its adjacent cliff dwellings.
Tree-ring dating indicates the construction of these structures began over 600 years ago; the caves were occupied at the same time. The cliffs are composed of volcanic tuff, a relatively soft stone into which the Puebloans carved small caves, known as cavates (cave-eights) for storage, weaving, cooking and living spaces. They also constructed rooms in front of the caves, plastering and painting the walls. These cliff dwellings now have names such as Talus houses, Long House and Alcove House with hiking trails, carved rock pathways and wooden ladders connecting them.
Cokie and Kae took a great hike along Frijoles Creek down to one of the waterfalls and the Rio Grande River. This creek is one of the few places in this arid country where water flows year around and was the major reason for the development of a settlement in the canyon. It was the life blood for the people; providing water for drinking and cooking and for the wide range of plants and wildlife.
We took a day trip over to the “Atomic City” – Los Alamos to visit the National Laboratory of atomic research and development. Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project the Laboratory continues today in its mission to enhance our national security and to research scientific and medical applications of atomic energy.??
We spent a week or so in a magical place known as Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, an ancient Puebloan site containing the ruins of nine multistory dwellings connected to the outside world by an elaborate system of roads. More than ten decades of research and excavation have only served to deepen the mystery of why these structures were built and who were the people who lived in them.
This is a harsh and unforgiving environment, yet along a ten mile stretch of Chaco Canyon, nearly a thousand years ago a thriving community built some of the most imposing structures ever seen in the ancient ‘Anasazi” world. They also constructed sophisticated irrigation systems with reservoirs, leveled vast expanses of the valley floor for agricultural fields, built observatories and a system of roads that connected over 150 other communities throughout the San Juan Basin area. Little is actually known about the uses and purposes of the Great Houses of Chaco, but as ruins they are among the most astonishing we have seen in America, so far.
Pueblo Bonito is the most extensively excavated and studied ruin featuring guided tours and explanations of construction features throughout. The sheer size of this pueblo is astounding with 650 rooms, enormous kivas and multiple stories, all constructed of native materials in planned stages between the periods of A.D. 850 - 1150. 
We visited the sites of several other pueblos in the canyon such as Una Vida, 
Casa Rinconada,
Pueblo del Arroyo
and Kin Kletso.
One theory is that these ruins were sacred public ceremonial houses for many different Puebloan tribes in the area. All 20 Pueblos of New Mexico and the Hopi regard Chaco and the Four Corners region as part of their ancestral homeland and many trace a direct relationship to Chaco, as well as honor it in prayers, songs and ceremonies. For us ‘outsiders’ it was a stark yet serene place, full of mystery and magic and we will definitely return there. 
Since we had learned about the great kivas built at various sites in Chaco Canyon, we decided to take a drive north to visit the one of the few totally replicated great kivas. Aztec is the site of the northernmost community of the Chacoan road system and was mistakenly named when early settlers thought these striking buildings were built by people from the Aztec Empire in Mexico.
Westward we went to a great sandstone promontory with a pool of water at its base. The Zunis call it Atsinna – “place of writings on the rock”. The Spaniards called it El Morro – The Headland. Anglos call it Inscription Rock. Over the centuries people who traveled this main east-west trail stopped to camp at the shaded oasis under its cliffs. 
It must have to do with mankind’s need for some sort of immortality that has compelled people to carve their lives into rock. Here at El Morro, people – from an ancient Indian’s carving of a big horn sheep or a Spanish Conquistador’s elegantly inscribed passage to the names of California bound 49’ers - have left a history book of their passing and the peopling of New Mexico and the Southwest.
Our hike to the top of the promontory surprised us with the contrasting rock outcroppings, the worn pathways, Puebloan ruins and generally stark beauty.
Our next adventure was into the El Malpias National Monument and National Conservation Area – “where sharp lava meets smooth sandstone.” El Malpias means “the badlands” in Spanish; apropos for a landscape dominated by lava flows, mountain ranges, mesas, jagged spatter cones, a lava tube system extending at least 17 miles, and fragile ice caves. We three poked, sniffed, hiked and peered into natural wonders for several days there.
We were on our way to some sites around Gallup, NM when we got that call to come help our friend Sharon back in Nevada City, Ca. Off we went and stayed for over three months doing what we could until she was well. So our next journal, #19, will be about heading back south and east for the remainder of this winter. Stay tuned as I try to keep you updated and informed about these gypsy moments. This is a tough winter for some of you with weird weather and all but try to keep your bedding dry and wait just a little while ‘cause spring really is coming and all those great bones will be right where you can find them again! See? Life is good!!
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