Back...continued

We also visited the Chimayo sanctuary, which is the site of religious pilgrimages-It seems as though a cross was found buried here and a church (of adobe) was built...the dirt from the spot where the crucifix was found is considered holy and pilgrims make their way here.

I looked forward to seeing/experiencing this place, but I felt nothing during my visit-s'pose that's because I'm a non-believer.

Ojo Caliente hot springs was another stop-for $16, you can partake in their mineral-tainted springs-choose from an iron, soda or other sorts of hot baths-pretty enjoyable, although you could do a real study on the people that come here...maybe I'm just being cynical. I met a guy there who must have been 70-he had very long hair in a dreadlock style-totally white-he came off like an Indian mystic and perhaps he was...the funniest part of this was my bathing suit-it retains air so that when you plunge into water, it bubbles up-go too fast and the whole thing sounds like you have just let go of the biggest fart the world has known...I entered several pools and it seemed to me as if the folks who were there before me left rather quickly thereafter-was it something I ate?

We also stopped at Cordova-home of families of woodcarvers. We stopped in a gallery and an individual's home-can't say that we were too impressed with the work, but the idea behind the whole thing was great...they use a lot of Cottonwood out there-I wanted someone to point the tree'bush out to me, but I never got to see it. The town was really great-winding dirt roads with many houses cobbling together with little bits of nothing-it was easy for me to be a spectator as Cara did all of the driving-I had to restrain myself from asking her to go down this road or that, but I really did want to see just what was around the bend.

Tinkertown was a tourist destination within the Sandia mountain ski access road. This was a folk art environment and a museum assembled by a man (Ross Ward) who "did all this while you were watching TV." Gotta love that byline! Much of the environment was collected and a lot of it he carved, but you have to see the whole effect: http://www.tinkertown.com/ . The site is, unfortunately, not very expansive and doesn't give you the scope of the place. I'll leave you with the idea that it is worth a visit.

On our way to Bandelier state park, we went to White Rock and got our first view of the Rio Grande from above. Later in the trip, when we were going across a barren stretch of highway, I looked down and screamed, "expletive deleted!-expletive deleted!-expletive deleted!"...ok, that's not what I said. But many, many feet below us (as in, those people look like ants-except, there were no people) lay the twisting and turbulent Rio Grande. We pulled off to the shoulder (and off the bridge)-I summoned up my courage and walked back over the bridge-which was windy as hell and vibrated like a plucked string whenever a heavy truck rolled by-some guy said "I bet there's a lot of baseball caps down there"-yup. What a view. Both of us shot a wooden crutch that lay many feet below us-the temptation to throw something over was strong-signs warned that this was punishable by law and that there were rafters on the river-you coulda fooled me, but then again, my eyesight ain't so good and the river was a long way down.

Bandelier was a full day in the sun, but truly worth it. Petroglyphs, caves, ruins of adobe structures... we did not climb ot one of the biggest caves, where assemblies took place. I'm sorry that we missed it, but by then, we were more than tuckered out. On driving back, we went through Los Alamos-a non-descript suburban mountain town with laboratories as opposed to small factories...stopped into the science museum (briefly as it was late and they closed half an hour after we arrived) and then home to Santa Fe.

The towns of Nambe (reservation), Pojoaque, Tesuque, Las Truchas, Cochiti had great names, but we spent no time in any of them-just sped past them. Route 66 seemed the same way-almost non-descript, except for a part in Albuquerque, which had the old Adobe-style motels, formed into a tight square or rectangle...one of these motels claimed to be the oldest, still operating since the 30's-but this place, sadly, was recently boarded up and chain link fencing was drawn around its perimeter.

The photo: one of the petroglyphs we saw at Petroglyph Monument, where Cara saw a roadrunner and I did not!