ljplicease | When I adventure in Bandalier and Los Alamos (Reply)

Once in Los Alamos we headed for North Mesa and the secluded spot on the side of the mesa where I proposed to Lena^[1], and is thus now a required stop when we go to NM. After enjoying the quiet solitude we headed for Rancho de Chimayó^[2]. The food there is much less fancy than Pasqual's, but honestly it is favorite.

The view from Lena's spot at the end of North Mesa.

This is Lena poking her head up over the rock near the edge of the cliff.

This is an interesting looking tree and some clouds that I noticed on the way back from the edge of the cliff.

This is what I look like when I am explaining something after two margaritas.

Don't blink! Or you might get sent back in time. Though. At least Trump wouldn't be running for president then.

(day five) Apparently you can't just drive into Bandelier between 9am-3pm, so we got up super early and had brekky burritos at Chili Works^[3], and drove into Frijoles Canyon when it was nice and quiet. We saw the main ruin, and the ladders were popular with Lena. We walked out to “Alcove House”, which used to be referred to as “Ceremonial Cave”. The other naming change I noticed is that in the guide book^[4] used the phrase “ancestral pueblo people” instead of Anasazi, which is not politically correct, since it is a Navajo word meaning “ancient enemies”. Curiously I was aware it was a Navajo word, but not of the meaning. We had hiked the entire easy touristy trails in the park and were up for some more, so we continued up the canyon for a while. The trail is not kept as well and after a while we decided to head back to the picnic tables for a nice lunch than Lena had prepared.

After the park we wondered around town, and I pointed out all the stuff that had changed and all the stuff that was the same. I moved out of town in 2000 when I got a job at The Company. In fact the movers came to get my stuff on the day before the evacuated the town for the Cerro Grande Fire. So things that have happened since I moved include 9/11, two major fires that burned part of the town, and several scandals that cost several director's jobs. Lots of stuff has changed, but the town seems to be thriving.

The (now) visitor center for Bandalier was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps before it was part of the park system.

There are of course lots of cacti in the canyon.

Bandalier's main ruin.

The other type of dwelling is where you have a cave carved out of the volcanic rock and a little adobe building expanding it in the front. None of the original buildings remain, so this is a reconstruction. When I was reading the interpretive guide we borrowed from ranger station, it said that this reconstruction was probably flawed, in that recent scientific study suggests that instead of having doorways in the front (not pictured, I probably should have thought of that), the original inhabitants would have put holes in the roof with ladders to enter from the top. It also reflected what I am assuming some embarrassment on the part of the park service for having done these reconstructions in the first part. It reminded me of a piece that Sarah Vowell did on This American Life^[5] where she describes the ill conceived cafeteria in Carlsbad Caverns and the act of Congress required every year to keep it going.

One of the famous ladders. And Lena up top delighted to be climbing said ladders.

(day six) It was supposed to rain in the afternoon, so we took several short hikes, under the assumption that we'd have to find an indoor activity soon, but each time it was like “sky looks fine lets do another one”. So we did Tsankawi^[6] which has good ladders also. Then we did Tyuonyi^[7] Overlook. Still no rain? Okay we did Upper Frijoles Canyon Overlook. What was interesting was that each hike was higher and higher into the Jamez mountains, and so with each hike the vegetation changed.

Then we went to meet Becky and Perry at Rancho for dinner. They are old friends of mine from my high school days. I will likely write more on this later, but it was wonderful to see them both. We stayed quite late.

When we got up and we were waiting for Chile Works to be open it was foggy, just like Hamlet's Castle!

View from the Tsankawi mesa.

The mesa top ruin at Tsankawi is unreconstructed, so it looks like a pile of stones.

Thankfully previous hikers had left these pottery shards for us to enjoy. Subsequent hikers will likewise get to see them.

There is a lot of gnarly dry wood at this elevation.

This is a small ruin on the Tyuonyi Overlook trail.

I let Lena go ahead on the Upper Frijoles Canyon Overlook trail in case there were bears. ONLY JOKING. You can see how much the foliage has changed at this higher elevation.

Here Lena is hugging a tree, thankful there were no bears.

This is the view for the Upper Frijoles Canyon Overlook. Lena and I sat and appreciated it for a while.

(day seven) We met Becky and her three year old son Christopher for a short 2 mile hike in the meadows of the Jemez the next day. It was slow going, but entertaining. One minute he'd be like “I'm tired” and then Becky would say “Want to be a train?” and he'd be speeding past all of us at full speed.

Lena and I did a harder hike after that on our own. Cerro Grande Route was a long slog uphill, but the view was amazing.

We met Becky and Perry for dinner again, this time in town at the beer co-op. There had never been a beer co-op in town, indeed, until this place no decent bar at all. They didn't have food, but you can bring your own, so we ordered a green chili and mushroom pizza. It was highly delicious.

Christopher's baby sitter had her limits so we said goodnight to Becky and Perry again and went to see the amazing New Mexico night sky in a secluded spot on Pajarito mountain.

The first hike was a nice stroll through a meadow basically. It went to the edge of the park.

Here Christopher was explaining something to the three of us, I imagine.

Lena observing the ascent on the Cerro Grande Route.

360 degree view from the top of the Cerro Grande Route. This is apparently the highest point in Bandalier.

Stars. Much more brilliant in person, of course.

(day eight) Today is just a travel day. We had a green chile cheeseburger at the 66 diner, and now I am waiting for the flight that will take us back to the land of the blue crab.

Waiting in ABQ for my flight to BWI.

Funny story. I am not really a “planner”, so two years ago I had the ring and a ticket to New Mexico for the long weekend of 4th of July. Then the heater whet kaput and the house became completely uninhabitable for about three weeks. The first week I was was in Orlando for the national Perl Nerds conference (whew), and the weekend after that we escaped to Ocean City to avoid the heat at home. On the Thursday before we were off to New Mexico, they crappy contractor who we had gotten to replace the heat pump finally got around to doing their thing. On the first day we were in New Mexico, we ate at Rancho de Chimayó. Lena had a vague suspicion about the reason for the trip, but I totally fooled her by not proposing that night. Actually it is totally not my style to do anything like that in such a public space, but that is another story. The next day we were hiking Tsankawi and Lena mentioned that her favorite place was that secluded spot out at the end of North Mesa, and me being the quick witted type or perhaps poor planner thought “THAT would be a good place”. The rest was history. For those of you who read the footnote first sorry, there are some spoilers because we tend to repeat activities...
Spoiler number one! Actually funny story number two. Originally we were going to Rancho for Chicken Noodle Day, but I preferred not having to drive for the day that we were in Santa Fe. Also Becky had suggested Rancho as a place to meet, and I was like sure! But I was too embarrassed to call them and make two reservations on one phone call. So my wife did this for me. Also they totally spelled my wife's last name, which is also my last name wrong. But I digress.
highly recommended if you are ever in Los Alamos at brekky time.
although most of the signage in the park had not been changed
08.17.2001 I Know What You Did This Summer, Act Three. You Can Have Your Cave And Eat It Too.
spoiler number two mentioned previously. These trips are all jumbled in my head with past and present when I try to write about them in a sequential manner.
This is the main ruin in Bandalier. The guide book says it is pronounced “que-OHN-yi”. Confusingly.