Rajah
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
- Messages
- 9,633
Little more of a trip report for my NM trip:
(Fri) day 1: Arrived in Albuquerque, hit Walmart for a few essentials, then found our B&B where we were greeted by the 4-legged welcoming committee of at least 4 cats and 2 dogs. Dinner at El Pinto, where I had the best burrito I've *ever* had (though they messed up mom's order
). Then back to Casita Chamisa (the B&B) where we struggled to figure out how to get one of the cats out of the room without encountering his claws. We won. 
(Sat) Day 2: Had breakfast at B&B with archaeologist Tom Windes and his wife, then to UNM to interview Tom for my project. He was very patient and a wonderful guy who waited very patiently while we struggled with figuring out the filming equipment I'd never used before (with the exception of the camera). Then hit the library to look up a couple of references, then drove to Farmington where we would be staying the rest of the week. Lunch was Lotaburger and dinner was from Grandma.
(Sun) Day 3: Over to Aztec where we met with the park ranger we'd be working with during the week and got signed up as volunteers (which meant later we had hats and vests
). Got to see a room that is off-limits to the public (but will now be available via pictures) then dig into the photo archives. Rained most of the day, but just after park closing, the clouds parted and the golden evening light of New Mexico (which we almost never get in Houston) was cast on the wet ruins and a rainbow appeared behind the ruins. Most beautiful site!! Got pictures, and also got to see some deer on the ruins, and even got a picture of "the spirits" (okay, there's a very obvious physics reason for the picture, but calling it "the spirits" is more fun ) Lunch was Lotaburger. Oh, one bit of excitement for the day was getting home. My grandparents and aunt all came with us this morning to get us settled and be extra hands, but after lunch, they all returned home. I thought I could find "home" with no problem, but it turns out there was one specific turn that I expected to have a light and be a right turn, and it was a left with no light instead, so we kept going until we ran out of road. Anyone familiar with the area -- we were going from Aztec to Farmington via a back road, but missed our turn and ended up in Kirtland!!! That's about 10-15 miles out of the way! Cell phones are great things, though once that road dead-ended it turns out I could have found my way back without the phone by going to the main highway instead of the backroad. I wasn't too worried because Farmington isn't big enough to get *too* lost in, but my mom was. Of course, I was just there last year and driving around town...it'd been something like 7-10 years since my mom was last in Farmington.
(Mon) Day 4: Drove through the snow back down to Chaco Canyon where we hiked up to the Una Vida ruins and the petroglyphs behind the visitor's center, then got a backcountry permit (free, just have to register with the rangers) to hike up on the mesa to the overlook above Pueblo Bonito and Chetro Ketl, something I've wanted to do for YEARS. Reasoning behind it was to be able to show the similarities in Great House layout between Chaco and Aztec. It was a LOT of fun, the trail is very much worth it (even though it was longer than I'd expected since it's been a while since I've done a 4 mile rt hike). Only problem was it was *cold*, and as we were walking back, we encountered a few snow flurries. If we'd been about 20 miles north of where we were, we would have been in fairly heavy snow, sleet, and light hail, but we lucked out during the hike and only hit that weather on the drive home. Dinner was at Si Senor.
(Tues) Day 5: Meant to go up to Mesa Verde and meet with a ranger there to see Cliff Palace, but the roads were icy so we decided to work entirely through email instead (arranged all of that through a phone call). So we pretty much took the day off since we were all tired after our hike at Chaco the day before. Slept in and spent the morning being lazy. Did some shopping and got some nice pueblo pottery (two tiny bowls from Acoma, and I forget where the larger (3") pot came from but I'll find out when my grandparents ship it) in the afternoon. Then about 3, returned to Aztec and got into their Teacher Resource Kit, which has replicas of a lot of things the Ancestral Puebloans used in their time. It was very much worth the time to see. We returned to Si Senor for dinner again.
(Wed) Day 6: Back to Aztec again where we were taken into the Museum archives and allowed to photograph some of the artifacts that are in storage. Some excellent examples, and got to see some really, really neat stuff. It's amazing what the Ancestral Puebloans (new name for Anasazi) were able to make and do! Lunch was Lottaburger again. After the museum photos, we hit the archives for historical photos again. Later we had an interview with the archaeologist at Aztec (again very informative), then went home.
(Thurs) Day 7: Once again, we returned to Aztec. This time we got some ruins photos since it was the first day of no rain. Got a few 360-degree shots. Lunch this time was A&W, kinda like a Sonic drive-in though with A&W Rootbeer. Pretty good, but their rootbeer was the best!! Rushed through that so we could set up for our interview with one of the head rangers at Aztec early-afternoon. After the interview, we were taken over to the East Ruin (mostly unexcavated and off-limits to the public), then up on the terrace above the ruin to see some of the mounds up there and the view. Then back home to rest up until time to run to the airport there in Farmington to pick up DH.
(Fri) Day 8: Last day at Aztec, and it was a beauty. Great weather. Got to show DH around the ruin, and he (with a first-timer's perspective and a much higher experience and knowledge level with videos and stuff) suggested a *lot* of photos that we hadn't gotten before, mostly more 360-degree shots. That was a lot of fun, though we got some strange looks from some guests and got asked lots of questions about the ruins. I was very glad I'd done my homework before going out there, because I could intelligently answer their questions. In the last hour, we got really rushed. It took a lot longer than I'd expected to get the photos, so we only had an hour left to get some historical photos and the photos in the visitor's center that I really wanted. We got them all, though. Barely. 
Lunch was Lottaburger one last time, and dinner was Tequila's, a Mexican restaurant.
(Sat) Day 9: Return to Albuquerque by way of Chaco Canyon again so DH could see Chaco for the first time. He loved it! This time we stayed with just the main ruins trails, and we got to see Casa Rincanada, Peublo Bonito, the petroglyph trail between Peublo Bonito and Chetro Ketl (the petroglyphs behind Una Vida are better IMHO, but they're also harder to reach), just a little of Chetro Ketl, the prehistoric staircase, and Fajada Butte. Oh, and some neat / strange petroglyphs behind the Wetherhill Cemetary. Then drove in to Albuquerque where we had fun trying to find our hotel -- ended up going straight to it, but we didn't know for sure we were going the right way. Dinner was in the Cuba Cafe in the town of Cuba, and wasn't that great. Used to be the best green chili anywhere, but they've changed cooks and it's now not much better than TV dinners.
(Sun) Day 10: Said goodbye to DH, whose conference work started this morning. Mom and I met with some cousins for brunch, then found our way to Old Town to do some shopping. Very cute. Then it was back to the airport and home.
(Fri) day 1: Arrived in Albuquerque, hit Walmart for a few essentials, then found our B&B where we were greeted by the 4-legged welcoming committee of at least 4 cats and 2 dogs. Dinner at El Pinto, where I had the best burrito I've *ever* had (though they messed up mom's order
). Then back to Casita Chamisa (the B&B) where we struggled to figure out how to get one of the cats out of the room without encountering his claws. We won. (Sat) Day 2: Had breakfast at B&B with archaeologist Tom Windes and his wife, then to UNM to interview Tom for my project. He was very patient and a wonderful guy who waited very patiently while we struggled with figuring out the filming equipment I'd never used before (with the exception of the camera). Then hit the library to look up a couple of references, then drove to Farmington where we would be staying the rest of the week. Lunch was Lotaburger and dinner was from Grandma.
(Sun) Day 3: Over to Aztec where we met with the park ranger we'd be working with during the week and got signed up as volunteers (which meant later we had hats and vests
). Got to see a room that is off-limits to the public (but will now be available via pictures) then dig into the photo archives. Rained most of the day, but just after park closing, the clouds parted and the golden evening light of New Mexico (which we almost never get in Houston) was cast on the wet ruins and a rainbow appeared behind the ruins. Most beautiful site!! Got pictures, and also got to see some deer on the ruins, and even got a picture of "the spirits" (okay, there's a very obvious physics reason for the picture, but calling it "the spirits" is more fun ) Lunch was Lotaburger. Oh, one bit of excitement for the day was getting home. My grandparents and aunt all came with us this morning to get us settled and be extra hands, but after lunch, they all returned home. I thought I could find "home" with no problem, but it turns out there was one specific turn that I expected to have a light and be a right turn, and it was a left with no light instead, so we kept going until we ran out of road. Anyone familiar with the area -- we were going from Aztec to Farmington via a back road, but missed our turn and ended up in Kirtland!!! That's about 10-15 miles out of the way! Cell phones are great things, though once that road dead-ended it turns out I could have found my way back without the phone by going to the main highway instead of the backroad. I wasn't too worried because Farmington isn't big enough to get *too* lost in, but my mom was. Of course, I was just there last year and driving around town...it'd been something like 7-10 years since my mom was last in Farmington.(Mon) Day 4: Drove through the snow back down to Chaco Canyon where we hiked up to the Una Vida ruins and the petroglyphs behind the visitor's center, then got a backcountry permit (free, just have to register with the rangers) to hike up on the mesa to the overlook above Pueblo Bonito and Chetro Ketl, something I've wanted to do for YEARS. Reasoning behind it was to be able to show the similarities in Great House layout between Chaco and Aztec. It was a LOT of fun, the trail is very much worth it (even though it was longer than I'd expected since it's been a while since I've done a 4 mile rt hike). Only problem was it was *cold*, and as we were walking back, we encountered a few snow flurries. If we'd been about 20 miles north of where we were, we would have been in fairly heavy snow, sleet, and light hail, but we lucked out during the hike and only hit that weather on the drive home. Dinner was at Si Senor.
(Tues) Day 5: Meant to go up to Mesa Verde and meet with a ranger there to see Cliff Palace, but the roads were icy so we decided to work entirely through email instead (arranged all of that through a phone call). So we pretty much took the day off since we were all tired after our hike at Chaco the day before. Slept in and spent the morning being lazy. Did some shopping and got some nice pueblo pottery (two tiny bowls from Acoma, and I forget where the larger (3") pot came from but I'll find out when my grandparents ship it) in the afternoon. Then about 3, returned to Aztec and got into their Teacher Resource Kit, which has replicas of a lot of things the Ancestral Puebloans used in their time. It was very much worth the time to see. We returned to Si Senor for dinner again.
(Wed) Day 6: Back to Aztec again where we were taken into the Museum archives and allowed to photograph some of the artifacts that are in storage. Some excellent examples, and got to see some really, really neat stuff. It's amazing what the Ancestral Puebloans (new name for Anasazi) were able to make and do! Lunch was Lottaburger again. After the museum photos, we hit the archives for historical photos again. Later we had an interview with the archaeologist at Aztec (again very informative), then went home.
(Thurs) Day 7: Once again, we returned to Aztec. This time we got some ruins photos since it was the first day of no rain. Got a few 360-degree shots. Lunch this time was A&W, kinda like a Sonic drive-in though with A&W Rootbeer. Pretty good, but their rootbeer was the best!! Rushed through that so we could set up for our interview with one of the head rangers at Aztec early-afternoon. After the interview, we were taken over to the East Ruin (mostly unexcavated and off-limits to the public), then up on the terrace above the ruin to see some of the mounds up there and the view. Then back home to rest up until time to run to the airport there in Farmington to pick up DH.
(Fri) Day 8: Last day at Aztec, and it was a beauty. Great weather. Got to show DH around the ruin, and he (with a first-timer's perspective and a much higher experience and knowledge level with videos and stuff) suggested a *lot* of photos that we hadn't gotten before, mostly more 360-degree shots. That was a lot of fun, though we got some strange looks from some guests and got asked lots of questions about the ruins. I was very glad I'd done my homework before going out there, because I could intelligently answer their questions.
In the last hour, we got really rushed. It took a lot longer than I'd expected to get the photos, so we only had an hour left to get some historical photos and the photos in the visitor's center that I really wanted. We got them all, though. Barely. Lunch was Lottaburger one last time, and dinner was Tequila's, a Mexican restaurant.(Sat) Day 9: Return to Albuquerque by way of Chaco Canyon again so DH could see Chaco for the first time. He loved it! This time we stayed with just the main ruins trails, and we got to see Casa Rincanada, Peublo Bonito, the petroglyph trail between Peublo Bonito and Chetro Ketl (the petroglyphs behind Una Vida are better IMHO, but they're also harder to reach), just a little of Chetro Ketl, the prehistoric staircase, and Fajada Butte. Oh, and some neat / strange petroglyphs behind the Wetherhill Cemetary. Then drove in to Albuquerque where we had fun trying to find our hotel -- ended up going straight to it, but we didn't know for sure we were going the right way. Dinner was in the Cuba Cafe in the town of Cuba, and wasn't that great.
Used to be the best green chili anywhere, but they've changed cooks and it's now not much better than TV dinners. (Sun) Day 10: Said goodbye to DH, whose conference work started this morning. Mom and I met with some cousins for brunch, then found our way to Old Town to do some shopping. Very cute.
Then it was back to the airport and home.
