Day 8 in New Mexico with Scott was interesting, to say the leaste. It started out ordinary by us doing a little shopping and sight-seeing in Old Town Santa Fe. I love that place! The Indians in the street market have always held a special place in my heart every since I visited Santa Fe with my parents when I was a young child. I was determined to bring my children back a souvenir from New Mexico that was hand-made by one of these Indians… only problem was that I knew exactly what I wanted and couldn’t find it. So I walked away empty handed from Santa Fe. But my feet sure were hurting. I did manage to grab a few shots while we were walking around shopping and eating the most amazing fajitas ever!
The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi was beautiful! I’ve never seen anything like it!… (well, I say that but to be honest our Sewanee Chapel is pretty amazing here in Tennessee). But the ceiling of this place was as high as Heaven! The stain-glass windows were beautiful, and the hand-carved statue in the center of the cathedral is unlike anything I’ve ever seen!
If you’ve been reading my previous blog postings as I’ve posted about my days in New Mexico, then you already know that I’ve developed some sort of love and appreciation for the various doors and windows that are located throughout New Mexico. This one was fabulous! Notice the face that is in the window? And these doors… I don’t even know what to say about them! I’m in love!
And what is a trip to Old Town Santa Fe without a picture of the monument covered with pigeons?
After leaving Santa Fe empty handed, Scott and I headed out to visit the Puyue Cliff Dwellings. It amazing me how the natives of this land were able to carve their houses into the side of these mountains. People who lived in the 1100′s made a home here. This land is still inhabited by ancestors of the present day Santa Clara people who now live in the Sant Clara Pueblo. I would have given anything to be able to see these cliff dwellings, but guess what? THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN! We got there right as the place closed down.
The welcome center, where tickets are sold, was located inside a convenient store at the entrance to the street. Scott and I went inside to grab a coke and some chocolate, and we asked the store clerk if we could just drive through the land without getting out of our car. His exact words to us were, “You can try. But you won’t be able to see anything.” Thinking back now, we realize that his answer had more meaning than we realized at the time. As we were driving through the land, we passed a pickup truck on the side of the road. A few seconds later, this pickup truck came speeding up behind us with flashing lights! So we pulled over very quickly, all the while feeling like we were about to get hauled off to Indian jail! The Indian “cop” (not really sure what to call him) asked us what we were up to, and we told him that guy in the store gave us permission to drive through. Unfortunately, he very quickly asked us to turn around and leave. We didn’t put up a fight at all.
So while I didn’t get any pictures of the actual dwellings or the Pueblo, I did take a few shots of the surrounding area! The beauty of this place really amazes me! Some of the mountains around here had some of the most amazing shapes!
Like I said before, this day started out fairly ordinary. But having our little run-in with the Indian police on the top of the mountain located on the Indian reservation was exciting, yet scary. I do have to say that he was very nice! But he made it clear that we were not welcome. LOL!
If you would like to read about previous days spent in New Mexico, you can click here to begin with day one. I hope you come back to see more. I have a couple of more days to tell you about and show pictures… inlcuding me climbing a mountain 140 feet into the air with no safety harness!
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