Track pants and a spare liver

Those were my instructions for going camping in New Mexico - all you need is a pair of track pants and a spare liver :) Throw in some suntan lotion and a good book, and I was set to go. We drove up near Santa Fe on friday afternoon after work to go camping for the weekend. Had some issues finding somewhere to stay...no campsites were allowing fires (which is the best part of camping) and they are a bit picky about where you can drink alcohol (also a camping necessity). After some driving, and a brief period of being lost on some way back dirt road, we found a decent place where our site overlooked a lake and the mountains. We were pretty much the only people on one side of the campground. The people on the other side were kind enough to tell us to go over there...and by kind enough I actually mean that a land hag and her yapping dogs snapped at the boys as soon as they got out of the truck that she would report us immediately if we made too much noise. Not our idea of good neighbours, so we moved on. It was a great evening. Brian is a gourmet chef even when camping. And I refreshed my memory at how to play Asshole.

In the morning (after some blackberry pancakes) we set off on the most random backroad through the mountains in order to get over to Bandelier National Monument. It was worse than any backcountry cowtrail I've ever followed in Lanark county, but the view was incredible. There was a huge gorge, rock formation that I think they called tent rocks, and a big chunk of forest where you could see regeneration after a forest fire.

The monument was incredible. It is in the bottom of Frijoles canyon (literal translation - bean canyon..hahahaha) It is the ruins from an old civilization that used natural hollows in the rocks (as well as hollowing them out more to suit their needs) to form houses and shelters. Very cool - especially when you have a personal tour by Amy!! We could see the caves, holes that had been hollowed out to anchor logs for the roofs, some glyphs, foot and hand holds carved to let them climb up to higher levels. Pretty smart people if you ask me! They also had these awesome round pits, lined with rocks, that were a sort of sacred place for them. I believe what Amy told me is that this society believed they had come to this world from a previous world, and arrived here by coming up through the ground, so makes sense that their holiest places would be in the ground itself. We also climbed 140ft up ladders and stairways to get to a ceremonial area in the side of the cliff. Not for the weak at heart - its high, and the sun was HOT.

Saturday night there was a big storm brewing that was blowing our tents over, so we wussed out and went into Santa Fe where we vegged out at a motel and watched movies. Sunday we wandered around the markets of Santa Fe and saw some amazing arts and crafts. Also visited the oldest church in the states (since Santa Fe was the first city built here, by the Spanish, hundreds of years ago). It was beautiful inside. Very unique paintings, not like you see in churches in Canada, just a totally different style.

And now I'm 'home' again in Roswell for my last week here. We saw Wedding Crashers last night. I highly recommend it. Laughed so hard I thought I was going to die :)

I miss you all.

Lots of love
Pamela