Babymoon

Two weeks ago we went to New Mexico for our "babymoon".  It was a fabulous week and much to my surprise New Mexico delighted me.  We spent part of the week visiting family and part of the week exploring NM on our own.  New Mexico is beautiful, the food is amazing, and the people are super friendly.  I found as we moved north the sites, the food, and the people only got more spectacular. 

We started off in Albuquerque to cheer my dad on in his New Mexico marathon.  While there we explored the Petroglyph National Park as well as the National Museum of Nucleur Science and History.  We ate at several different New Mexican restaurants.  I have to say I don't love New Mexican Cuisine, but we did eat at one restaurant, Sophia's Place, that was outstanding.  The other restaurants were just ok in my book.

 

We climbed a mound of volcanic rock that was filled with petroglyphs.  They say this mound was probably a spiritual place for the Native Americans that lived near by in the Rio Grande Valley.

 

One of many rocks with petroglyphs on it.

On Monday we said good bye to my dad, stepmom, and brother and made our way to Santa Fe for three nights.  And this is were the food really started to get spectacular!  Vingerette and Pasqules were the highlights.  Along with great food we explored the Puye Cliffs, old town Santa Fe, and Tent Rocks National Monument.    

 The Puye Indians migrated from Colorado to these cliffs where they lived from 1200 - 1400.  In the 1400's changing weather patterns forced them to migrate further into the Rio Grande Valley were they still live today in the Santa Clara Pueblo.

  

 

Our two hour tour of the cliffs was guided by a Puye Indian who lived in the Santa Clara Pueblo.  She did an amazing job of blending the history of the cliffs with the current day culture of the Puye Indians.  This photo shows the cave a family would have lived in.  It still shows the residue from the fire they would have burned.

 

 If the Puye Cliffs were my favorite site, hiking Tent Rocks was a very close second.  These beautiful formations were formed out of wind and water erosion.  The soft volcanic rock crumbles at the slightest disturbance.  

 Bill and I at the top of the Tent Rocks.  

I felt great on the 3 mile round trip hike and got many compliments from passers by. 

These curved canyons reminded me of the movie 127 Hours.

After Santa Fe we headed further north to Taos.  Bill's brother Mathew has lived in Taos for the last couple of years.  He is there to snowboard and works for a tree service company to support his snowboarding habit.  It did not take long for me to realize why someone would pack up all their possessions and move to Taos.  Taos is a quiet town surrounded by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and filled with great food and great art.  I decided that when I return to New Mexico I'll go straight to Taos!

The Rio Grande Gorge just outside of Taos.

 Mathew and I hanging out.

 We went to New Mexico at the perfect time.  The Aspens were a brilliant yellow.  

This picture hardly does the mountainside justice.