Dear Blog! Here are some of our experiences from Thursday, May 9, 2013. One of the cool things about traveling around the country is having the opportunity to stop and visit friends and family. One of Katie's dear friends, Melanie and her husband, Gunter, are now living in Santa Fe, while Gunter finishes his doctorate. Melanie has been awesome in providing us with lots of insider information on the Santa Fe area.
We met for lunch at one of their favorite places - Tune Up Cafe. Dave ordered the Pupusas. If you want to check out the restaurant, you can watch the You Tube Video from Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, which happens to be one of Kathy's favorite TV shows.
DUST DEVILS - We've seen dust devils off in the fields or out in the prairie. It is pretty cool to watch them dance along. They usually don't last long. We've never been up close and personal with one until today. We're driving to meet Mel and Gunter for lunch. We're stopped at a traffic light just a mile from the restaurant, when all of a sudden from across the street a large dust devil, probably about 10 feet wide, crashed into the side of Great White. The dust devil did not survive the impact, but Great White was no longer white after the brief encounter with all that red desert dust.
TENT ROCKS: One of the day hikes Mel recommended was the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. It took a little digging to find information on this area. It is not well publicized like most of the national parks or national monuments. While managed by the Bureau of Land Management, it is operated in partnership with the Pueblo de Cochiti, which is the name for the indian reservation which borders the monument area. The Keres people of the Conchti Pueblo are direct descendants of the ancestral pueblo people who occupied this area for some 4,000 years. Kasha-Katuwe means "white cliffs" in the traditional Keresan language. The cone-shaped tent rock formations were produced when volcanic eruptions left behind pumice, ash and tuff deposits over 1,000 feet think. Years of erosion have left behind a number of hoodoos with boulder caps, hence the name "Tent Rocks." Some of the tent rock formations loom over 90 feet high.
The Canyon Trail takes you through a slot canon all the way to the top of the mesa. Here is our first view of the mesa.
As we proceded up the trail, you couldn't help but imagine the power of all that rushing water as it came crashing down the canyon carving some amazing shapes into the walls.
Where there is water, there is life. We passed a number of trees, perched precariously along the side walls of the canyon.
At one point, the slot was so narrow, you had to squeeze through. If you look really closely, you can see Kathy poking her head around the far corner of the slot.
Here Kathy is checking out the various layers in the rock. Some erode faster than others.
As you climb higher and higher out of the canyon, you can look back and get a better look at the hoodoos with their tent like peaks.
Once on top of the mesa, you can enjoy an amazing 360 degree view.
Here's another view of the tent rocks.
Coming back down, it's time to squeeze back through the slot.
You've just got to love this tree. It's probably been here for hundreds of years just hanging on. Several feet of dirt has washed away from the roots causing them to grow bark.
On the way back to the parking lot, we took the Cave Loop Trail, so we could check out a caveate used by the ancestral pueblo people when they lived in this canyon.
The pictures really don't do this area justice. It really has an "other worldly" feel. You could definitely use this place for a location shoot in the next Star Wars or Star Trek movie.
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