New Mexico!

Here are some pictures from our trip to New Mexico! We flew into Albuquerque and explored a bit to start things off. After a couple breakfast burritos with red and green chile, we headed to Petroglyph National Monument. It was quite cold and windy!

Dave = all bundled up.



Kate's hair was being thrown around by the wind like crazy!

Here is one of the petroglyphs we saw, left hundreds of years ago by Native Americans. Of the many we captured on film, this was Kate's favorite.

Looking over Albuquerque.

Then we headed to Santa Fe. When we arrived, it was SNOWING. That lasted only an hour or so, and after we got a few crepes from the french pastry shop in Old Santa Fe, we walked around a bit.

St. Francis Cathedral -

The Miraculous Staircase at the Loretto Chapel has no center support beam, yet does two complete 360-degree turns.

Sunset over Santa Fe.

We spent one afternoon exploring Tent Rocks National Monument. Very interesting geology!

Walking through the canyon at Tent Rocks.

A view from the top - you can see the mountain range in the distance.

Kate looks on in awe!

The day before we left, we visited Bandelier National Park. In addition to some amazing rock formations, the Native Americans built settlements here right into the side of the cliffs.

Some of them can be reached by ladder. We explored!

One of the areas high into the cliff was used for ceremonial purposes. You have to climb three tall ladders to get there - a few people realized their fear of heights along the way and turned back. Not us, though!

Here we are inside this settlement area.

Kate looks on in awe (again)!

An extremely fun trip! Aside from the national parks we saw, we also visited the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, strolled along the shops and galleries, and ate some great food. Very fun.