Day Ten: Santa Fe, NM to Albuquerque, NM
Bandelier National Monument. the scenic route. hay for the horses.
Sunday, 9.30.01

Santa Fe local favorite Horseman's Haven Cafe

Got up, checked out, and drove next door to Horseman's Haven Cafe, which you really really need to experience if you're ever in Santa Fe. If I hadn't read about it in the Lonely Planet guide, I never would have realized that the abandoned Texaco station next to the hotel housed the finest family restaurant ever. Run by the Romano family since 1981, and I'm not sure how long the gas station was abandoned but it looks like it may have been at least that long, this place is the real thing. There's maybe a dozen tables inside, and the menu is simple, and the food is very very real and incredibly good. I had coffee and the first real huevos rancheros on this trip and it was so delicious and there was a lot of it. I bought the $15 t-shirt they were selling because it was real like the food and the people. They were so excited when they asked where I was from and learned someone in New York City would be wearing their t-shirt. Seriously, if they saw what half the people in New York City were wearing they probably wouldn't have so many illusions about my ability to validate their already-impressive business by wearing their shirt in New York.

the ruins of Tuyonyi

After a short drive I arrived at Bandelier National Monument, which I've been told is the one thing you must do in New Mexico if you only do one thing in New Mexico. Paid at the park entrance and drove to the visitors center, where the park rangers were friendly and helpful in dispensing advice on what to see. They were excited to learn that I read about the park in an extensive NY Times article, so I gave them the copy in my notes. Stocked up on water and set out on the trail to the monument, passing signs warning about bears.

A short hike leads to Tuyonyi, the remains of an Anasazi village. There's not much to see other than the foundation of about a hundred buildings joined together in an enormous circular pattern. Follow the path farther up to the base of the cliff-face, which is pock-marked by small caves. Some of the caves are accessible by wooden ladders, and visitors can climb up and see where the Anasazi cliff-dwellers lived. I'd question the necessity of all the signs telling people not to do obvious things like deface this centuries-old national landmark, but then every available surface inside some of the caves was covered with the scratched-in names of hundreds of idiots.

Bandelier National Monument cliffs	petroglyphs

Bandelier National Monument cliffs	ladder into cave homes

view from ceremonial chamber waaaay up top

Farther along, the trail passes a series of petroglyphs carved into the cliff and a bat cave with lots of bats, but no cool car. Visitors who hike farther along get to see the best part of the park, which appears shortly after the sign warning people with a fear of heights or respiratory problems not to climb the four ladders to the Ceremonial Cave. This is definitely worth the climb, though if you have a fear of heights you probably don't want to try it. It's tricky navigating the tall wooden ladders, and there's very little room between ladders to let other visitors pass you by. But the climb to the top is rewarded when you reach the huge ceremonial cave with a kiva you can descend into, and a great view of the surrounding landscape.

this wood's on fire

I took the scenic route to Albuquerque, which took the rest of the day but was a nice drive. Drove past the area where huge forest fires made national news last year, leaving behind a mostly blackened forest. Drove past aspens turning a brilliant yellow, and through a spectacular valley of untouched grasses and trees. Stopped in the very small town of Jemez Springs for lunch at the Laughing Lizard Inn & Cafe, where I had a good raspberry chipotle burrito and black coffee. Drove through depressing Native American pueblos that weren't all happy restored adobe like the one outside Taos, but were more like crumbling buildings and automobile carcasses and rotting garbage similar to villages I've seen in Mexico.



Eventually I drove into Albuquerque, which is beautifully situated at the base of enormous mountains and surrounded by plains on all other sides. My decision to stay in Taos and visit the pueblo yesterday meant pushing off Bandelier to this morning, which in turn kind of knocked Albuquerque off my list of places to see. And because I stayed in a B &B outside of Albuquerque I never actually got to see the city. But I can tell you it looked good from a distance.

happy horses

Arrived at the Cedar Crest Lodge around sundown, which is in Cedar Crest, just outside Albuquerque. The guys who run the place are really cool and live here with their three dogs and two horses, and rent out the spare room to visitors. I played with the dogs and fed the horses, and had dinner with Brad and his mother who was in town from Chicago. This was by far the most comfortable place I'd stayed.
That's day ten. And since day eleven involves waking up around 6:30am and struggling through traffic to get to the Albuquerque International Airport and subsequent experiences with security lines and a transfer in Houston, I'll spare you the remaining details and say I arrived home in NYC that evening.

back to Day Nine, Taos, NM to Santa Fe, NM:
tourist rant. Taos Pueblo. party in Santa Fe.