In the end of May, 2019, Mary and I did a road-trip through New Mexico. This post points out a few of the stops we would recommend, and will likely revisit on our next NM road trip, in arbitrary order, for our future selves.
In Santa Fe, the old court house, now a museum, has some lovely 100ish year old murals that are worth a visit. These two still resonate with me.
When visiting Bandelier National Monument, at the time (and probably still) we were required to take the bus to the entrance. We discovered it's much better to get off the bus a couple of stops early, at the top of the canyon, and walk down the trail to the main entrance, having the wonders of the place unfold in front of you.
If you are visiting Bandelier, or Chaco Canyon, or any of the other old Pueblo sites, try to get to Taos and take a tour of the Pueblo there. In pre-columbian times, the Taos pueblo was the farthest outpost of a vast civilisation, perhaps centered at Chaco canyon. However, unlike the "main" cities which are now in ruins, Taos has remained continuously inhabited for over a 1000 years. The ruins of the old cities make much more sense once you visit Taos, and see how people actually lived in what are now ruins. Part of the "reconstruction" of the old sites includes tourist friendly modifications that make them easier to visit, but harder to understand in context.
Digression
Our tour guide, who grew up living in the Taos Pueblo, was giving tours as a way to earn extra cash while working toward a degree in english Lit. As the tour was ending and most of the group had wandered off, I commented how difficult it must be to study English Literature from a perspective that was so different and hostile to ones own culture and upbringing.
The conversation that ensued was quite enlightening: I learned more from that conversation than the rest of the tour (and the several books I read about the Pueblo culture before starting the road trip) combined.
Taos Pueblo
Chaco Canyon was my favorite stop on the road trip. As it is several hours away from the nearest motel/AirBnB, it's a long drive to get there and back, and has too much to explore for only one day. Get a spot in the on-site campground and stay for a few days. We didn't, so we could only see a little bit.
Make sure to visit Alta Pueblo by taking the trail along the top of the buttes.
I was a bit concerned about descending the butte via this staircase, but was relieved to learn it has been decommissioned for at least a half century, and there is now an easier (but less spectacular) way down to the valley floor.
The views from the top are spectacular.
There is even a slot canyon to walk through!
Abiquiu - home of Georgia O'keeffe
We took the tour of the Georgia O'keeffe home. It was informative, but the tour group was kept on a tight leash by the guide: several times I was scolded to get back with the others after lingering a bit too long. Other than that, I quite enjoyed it.
Once you are in O'keefe's neighborhood, it makes sense to visit Ghost Ranch, where she did many of her paintings. As I recall, the "ghost" part comes from an attempt to scare wandering eyes away, lest they linger long enough to find the rustled cattle.
The flat-top mountain in the background (Cerro Pedernal) is a fixture in many of O'keefe's paintings and several Hollywood movies. We thought about climbing to the top, but with a short class 4 section, we decided to save it for another visit.
Be sure to take the short drive to the
Dar al Islam property to explore
Plaza Blanca, a 500' tall white limestone rock formation!
On the NW edge of Bandelier lies the
Valles Caldera, a 14 mile wide volcanic crater (same type as Yellowstone, but a bit smaller). The huge expanse of land and sky are breathtaking (or perhaps it's just the high altitude). No crowds there, just lots of sky, aspen groves and high elevation streams to hike along.
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