Tucumcari and Route 66

Rt 550 On the road from Farmington to Bernalillo

The trip to Farmington NM from Bernalillo NM and back is magnificent scenery every mile!

Cottonwood Trees

I fell in  love with Cottonwood Trees 

In the photos some are several hundred years old. The bark of these elder trees have interesting shapes and faces!

 

Chaco Access Road washboard and cows

Chaco Tour

Loop Tour Chaco

More Chaco

Visiting Chaco Canyon. 
We rented a car to do the dirt access road to Chaco. From the moment you see it, you can feel an overwhelming peaceful energy.
Once there, the visitor center has a beautiful film featuring many pueblo and Dineh people as well as the historic and scientific views.

Then there is the loop, paved road that loops around the remaining structures. Here you can take in the energy, the architecture that has constant relationship to its environment, windows to the heavens, windows to the land, doorways in succession that mirror back on themselves, and this helps give you a minute speck of a large place 
arranged honoring the spiritual beliefs and their importance in daily life of the people who came or lived here. In the film, the pueblo people mention they come to Chaco as a retreat a place to regroup.

Visiting Santa Fe Plaza on Sunday March 25th. It was a beautiful sunny spring day! We had lunch with a Plaza vendor, visited the Native American Market, walked around town.Various musical groups came to play in the Plaza center. A Spanish style guitar with soulful singing drew large applause from the onlookers.

Sunday March 25 we visited Santa Fe Plaza on a beautiful sunny spring afternoon. We had lunch and listened to various musical groups. One of them included a Spanish guitar with soulful singing that drew huge cheers from the onlookers. We went to the Native American market and visited with some old friends. Then took a stroll around town to look in the galleries and at the murals.
I also found some bizcotitos at the bakery. Yummy.

in Santa Fe we are going to meet up with our friend Patrick Barrow. He invited us to a lecture by a Buddhist Lama the night of March 23.We enjoyed the lecture and meeting the people from the Santa Fe Tibetan Buddhist community...one of them was even from Vermont! The next day we made a visit to the Stupa where there are rental apartments  and bungalows, a garden, temple, and store. It was a beautiful day and the apricot tress were in full bloom. The setting peaceful and we had good conversations with members of the community. A memorable day!

Today its Friday March 23, we are on the way to Santa Fe For the weekend. On the road up we can begin to see the snow covered mountains. It is cold at night in the 30's and warm in 60's by day.Many people in Santa Fe use bicycles for transportation. We are going to stay at Trailer Ranch three miles from the Santa Fe Plaza where we can get the bus to get around town.
On the way into town we are checking out the neighborhood and find some stores we know will have things we like .....El Piasano  Mexican Groceria with bakery and restaurant was a big favorite throughout our stay!

Arrived in New Mexico on March 20. Registering at the campground, we  learned the sad news that our favorite breakfast burrito cook, Sam Martinez had died in December 2010.
The next day we reunited with friend Roy Skeans who lived in Medway and retired to Placitas.
Roy always finds excellent restaurants for us every visit. Here we are at El Pinto in Almedia NM not far from Bernalillo where we are staying.