Trips

Our first excursion after we joined the RV Rally group was to Sandia Mountain where we took the tramway up to the top. After the 15-minute ride in the 50-passenger gondola, we took pictures and walked the nature trail off of the Crest Trail. It was beautiful up there at 10,380 feet.

Sandia Tramway

Lower header station for the Sandia Tramway

Looking back on the way up

Fall colors

Fall colors and our shadow

Balloon Fiesta park from Sandia Mountain

Just below the center of the picture is the RV park with some campers in it

Dancers at the Indian Cultural Center

On Sunday we went to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. We looked at the "Gathering of the Clouds" exhibit of modern (recent) textile weaving, pottery, and basketry done by the 19 Hopi pueblos in NM. The next exhibit featured the saints of the pueblos and described the combination of native and Catholic religious concepts and traditions and featured Hopi icons of their saints. Outside, a group of native dancers including a five-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy performed dances. The little boy sure knew how to work the crowd!

On Wednesday, we took a field trip to Santa Fe. Since we have been there several times before and are familiar with Old Town, we went to check out our favorite shops. We found a nice restaurant, Tia Sophia's, west on San Francisco St. We plan to return there next time we are in town.

Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe

"Miracle circular staircase" at the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe

At the farewell dinner the entertainment was a pair of really good marimba players who had some of the group come up and try their hand at a septet. Gale got her big chance.

One of the most interesting excursions was to Sky City on the Acoma Pueblo west of Albuquerque. We rode in small buses up to the city on top of a mesa. The city existed here since the mid-1500's. Ten or 12 families live up here now and maintain the traditions of the old culture. They use porta-potties, carry up water from the valley, and have no electricity. (One house uses a generator for a TV to watch football games!) Cell phones don't work here.
We toured the "City" and our guide told us about the history and culture of the Acoma people - how they used to live, what the Spanish did to them, and how they rebuilt and continue to live here. Acoma people are exceptional potters and the craft continues today. We had many opportunities to buy things the individuals had made either up on the mesa or down in the valley. We bought and ate some fresh made fry bread that was light and delicious. We opted to walk down from the mesa using the old hidden path through the rocks that the old people used to access the city in the sky. It was eerie using the handholds in that narrow slit in the rock formation that had been used so long ago.