Santa Fe

With IMMENSE gratitude for Nana and Zayde, we got our very first baby-free vacation, and we flew to gorgeous New Mexico for some relaxation and adventures.  We learned that Santa Fe has sunshine 300 days a year, has the cleanest air quality of any city in the country, and is home to the oldest house in the United States - perfect setting for our getaway! The area around Santa Fe was breathtaking to observe and even more interesting to hike and learn about. We had a great time!

On the first afternoon after we arrived, we had an hour long drive between the airport and Santa Fe, so we were happy to enjoy a yummy local eatery that had been recommended to us.

Walking along Canyon Road, we spent hours venturing in and out of amazing art galleries. We were especially fascinated with this guy, titled "Fat Happy," not to be confused with his smaller relative "Baby Fat Happy" inside.

The next day, we drove to Bandelier National Monument, which was a beautiful mountainous park preserving the homes and territories of the Ancestral Pueblo People. Some of the structures dated back to the 1100s and 1200s.

This circular structure would have had hundreds of rooms built 3-4 stories high with a central common area in the middle.

climbing up into the caves

Having climbed straight up 240 feet of ladders (cue the scared, heavy breathing), we made it to a gorgeous lookout and home to some more ancestral Native Americans.

On Wednesday, we drove to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument which, among other beautiful natural landscapes, featured cone-shaped tent rock formations as the products of volcanic eruptions that occurred 6 to 7 million years ago. It was another beautiful day for a great hike...another hike that featured some uphill climbing!

If you look closely enough, you can see a tiny mini-Jon.

On Thursday, we explored Pecos National Historical Park that was home to Pueblo and Plains Indians, until Spanish conquerors and missionaries came in the 1600s to convert and assimilate them, which started the eventual downfall of what had been a strong Native American community.

heading underground into a reconstructed 'kiva,' which was a common room used for education, religion, and other communal activities

beautiful snow-capped mountains in the distance

Who knew that New Mexico was home to the western-most Civil War battle? Who knew that we'd drive out to go explore the "battlefield" only to read about it as we walked along what would otherwise be described as a lovely trail?

Before we headed to the airport on the last day, we walked around the Santa Fe plaza which had a memorial erected in honor the the men who died in the Battle at Glorieta Pass that we had learned about the previous day.