as we continue west ready for new adventures not really having a detestation only a direction we head to Albuquerque where i knew mary would enjoy shopping in Old Town square

San Felipe church
mary looked at local native artists works located around the square

Native american artist
while i went around the square looking for photo ops becuase i’ve been there before.

sunflower

chillies

Navaho traditional oven
details everything is in the details

Shadows
it’s not that i am not into native crafts matter of fact i have baskets from all over the world but i found this leaning against one of the churches columns.

Church yard native arts
and this madonna imbedded into the church yard tree, who would do this

madonna in tree
you can see albuquerque does have a sense of humor looking at this fire hydrant

cherry on top
along with an interesting native american cultural center which doesn’t allow pictures oh well

mural at Indian Cultural center

Indian Pueblo cultural center mural
albuquerque has lots of interesting places around it one being in the suburbs Petroglyph National Monument which we climbed in a hot New Mexico day

mary

Petroglyph

Petroglyph

Petroglyph
right here in the suburbs

suburbs
pretty cool anyways and to think people lived here thousands of years ago

Petroglyph
having spent a few days seeing the sites we consulted the map where to go next and found Bandelier National Monument north of Santa Fe camping on the Pajarito plateau elevation around 7000 feet.

New Mexico canyons to Bandelier NAt’l mon

New Mexico canyons

Pajarito_Plateau
campsite

me

mary
oh it does rain there very heavy at times but rainbows abound

inside car

selfie
we were almost alone in our campsite given the time of year but people did come through. we learned about another close by site Tent Rocks national monument a close drive away but i listened to a park volunteer who sent us around the long way, took four hours but pretty. a cafe along the way

wedding dress cafe in Jemez springs NM

masks in cafe in Jemez springs NM

mary at Jemez springs NM
the masks are made by a waiter at the cafe who sells them there. there is no camping at Tent Rocks Nat’l so it’s a day trip, because of the changeability of weather it can be a challenge, as you can see by our pictures

blue doors adobe building
going from this sunshine to these clouds

Tent Rock national monument NM

Tent Rock national monument
really cool so we began up the trail hoping for the best

Tent Rock national monument
then the clouds blew away

Tent Rock national monument



rocks

spires at Tent Rock national monument
this is all formed from rain and wind pretty cool huh?
so now we continue on our journey west on interstate 40. i hope you are enjoying these posts as much as the boys at work whom i sent text messages from my phone.
we encourage everyone to explore this beautiful country it truly inspires.






