As the plane landed in New Mexico I had an eerie feeling of arriving in "Holland". I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but the brown barren landscape that I saw from the plane, was not what I had in mind for a week with my hubby and little man Luke. In my head I recited the words "But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland."
It didn't take long to see that New Mexico was a special place. One of the most amazing things about NM were the people. They were friendly, and not just normal friendly, but Midwest friendly. Random people would approach us and give restaurant advice, sightseeing tips and ask what we were in town for. One woman actually offered to bring homemade green chile to our hotel!
While my first impressions of the landscape were brown and barren, I came to appreciate the diversity that NM had to offer. One of the first days I went to the Georgia O'Keefe museum and watched a documentary about her life. She made me start to see the beauty in the shapes and colors all around me. And if you have never seen a sunset in New Mexico, well ... you haven't seen a sunset! We quickly realized why all the cars had tinted windows, front and back.
Since Matt was attending a conference I had the days to explore Albuquerque and Santa Fe on my own.
One of the first places I went was Old Town in Santa Fe.
These pictures of Luke were taken in front of the San Felipe de Neri Church built in 1783.
The next day I took Luke hiking at Tent Rocks National Monument just west of Santa Fe. We did a short 2 mile hike, but next time I'm going to the top and so is Luke! In classic Luke fashion, he took these cute pictures next to a sign that said to stay on the trails (oops!) and then fell asleep for the rest of the hike.
One of the most amazing places we visited was Acoma Pueblo. It was a 367 foot high mesa that is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States.
We spent our last day at Bandelier National Monument. There had recently been both a forest fire and a flood at the mounment, so we had to take a shuttle to get there. (By the way - did you know that the only difference between a National Park and National Monument is that it takes congressional approval to make a National Park and not to declare a National Monument?) While parts of the monument were still closed, we were able to see many of the ruins and petroglyphs. Even though Luke was asleep, we can tell him he was in a cave dwelling before the age of 1!
I think my motto is going to be better late than never!
Have a wonderful week :)
