new mexico – Brightside Nomads

Adventure

Tumbling out of Santa Fe

By mamawanderer March 21, 2018

Santa Fe

Downtown Santa Fe is a fun place to wander around with many little shops. It’s not as fun with kids, at least the shopping part, but we still enjoyed bopping around. Pop your head into St. Francis Cathedral, it is a beautiful space with spectacular designs.

Petroglyph National Monument

I’m taking over for Katie for this section as she was gone to Colorado for a super fun girls weekend. The kids and I decided to head out and see some Petroglyphs. These marking are 600-800 years old and were used as detailed signposts by the native people. The meaning is a bit more spiritual than that, but hopefully, you get the basic idea. There are numerous sites around Albuquerque where you can view the petroglyphs in the National Park. We just hit one that had a few different stops. The glyphs are awesome to see. We all felt the cool sensation of watching something that was written when the land was still desolate and the people were few. On the sadder side of things, I also used this as an opportunity to talk to the kids about vandalism. Many areas within the park have been vandalized and stupid people have cut their names or dumb sayings into the rocks. It really hit home with the kids how bad this practice is and I think it’s a lesson they will take with them in life. ( at least the older ones). It was great spending the day in the hot sun, doing school (Junior Ranger), hiking and having some laughs.

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument

What a hike! Tent Rocks is such a fun adventure and the geological formations you see blow your mind. Looking from afar is impressive but when you make your way through the narrow passages of the slot canyon to the tent rocks the views are magical. A climb at the end puts you above the rocks on a plateau looking out over vast land which seems to extend to the edge of the earth. Spectacular views and well worth the travel.

Chimayo/Taos

I read about the weavers in Chimayo and really wanted to check out this art. We ventured off on our way to Taos and what we found was amazing. We happened to stop in the Trujillo Weaving Shop first and we probably didn’t need to go anywhere else. The work was beautiful, we were able to see weaving in progress and the colors, yarns, patterns and finished products were all stunning. As 7th generation weavers, their story, tradition, and preservation of an art form is truly amazing.

From Chimayo, we took the scenic road to Taos which equated to lots of winding around, by the time we arrived Colette didn’t feel great. We didn’t stay long but the drive was beautiful and worth the curves to the top of the mountain.

Folk Art Museum

There are a group of museums on “Museum Hill” in Santa Fe which is a pretty neat place. We choose to check out the Folk Art Museum and it was well worth the visit. It is hard to describe all the amazing things here, art from around the world and a really great hands-on section for the kids. One cool thing, we noticed a weaving created by the weavers in Chimayo we had just visited the day before.

Adventure

Tumbling into Santa Fe

By mamawanderer March 16, 2018

Santa Fe

We made it to Santa Fe and were super exciting our Airbnb was an adobe house. We had cactus in our yard and it’s really feeling like the west. Our stay here was extra long because Matt was going on a ski trip with his friends and on his return I was heading off for a girls weekend to Denver. Before Matt’s trip, we had a day to get acquainted with the town and it sure is cute! It was also small enough that I was comfortable driving our huge vehicle around so that was good.

Rollin’ with the tumble weeds

Santa Fe Children’s Museum

The Santa Fe Children’s Museum was just a few blocks from our Airbnb and we had an afternoon of fun there. Most Children’s Museums I’ve been to are amazing but pretty controlled, this one was wild and free. There was an art center with fabric, paper, beads, glue, feathers etc. and you could make whatever you wanted. There was also a water area, blocks, gardening section, and the highlight for our kid’s face painting! (Oh and making big messes is encouraged!) To be able to paint their own faces was such a treat and their individual personalities shined through perfectly with their paint choices!

Bandolier National Monument

We decided to venture out to Bandolier National Monument on our second day without Matt. 90% of the time he drives so I was in charge of driving which isn’t a problem and navigating which I will be the first to admit, I think I was born with a broken compass in my head. The good thing is phone navigation makes things relatively easy nowadays, the bad thing is sometimes in the middle of nowhere navigation doesn’t work. We made it there and back safely. The drive was beautiful, I love this desolate land, all the blonds of nature, the miles you can see in front of you. It is also amazing how you can be driving along in what seems to be flat land for miles, make a turn and there is a big canyon. We popped up on Frijoles Canyon as we entered Bandelier National Park and then wound down switchbacks until we came to the visitor center. A short hike from the visitor center with Junior Ranger books in hand brought us to cliffs in the distance where the Pueblo people made their homes. We made our way past the Kiva, then to the ground dwellings and finally to the cavates (alcoves carved into the canyon walls). Wooden ladders allowed you to climb inside and check out these small houses. I will say it is pretty cool to perch inside these dwellings and imagine living with a family here 800 years ago. This area once was covered with 1000 feet of volcanic ash which turned into tuff. Over time, in areas with less density in the rocks, hollows formed, and then Native people used tools to carve out these holes for dwellings. We also saw petroglyphs carved into the rock which is always astonishing to imagine the hands that carved these lines and the stories they were telling. The kids loved our adventure, they all became Junior Rangers and we had a great day to tell dad about.

Super STEM Saturday

While watching the Olympics Colette saw a commercial for “Super STEM Saturday” she declared we had to go. To be honest I didn’t want to make the drive to Albuquerque but when your kids are that excited about science how can you not. We got up and headed out early and it was more than worth the trip. Super STEM Saturday, full of amazing science experiments, robots, math challenges, Bob the Science Guy, and Star Wars! It was so much fun to see such excitement and so many kids enjoying the wonders of science.

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

Santa Fe, the land of Georgia O’Keeffe. I was so happy to visit this museum dedicated to her work. I loved that they gave the kids sketchbooks to create art while in the gallery. This kept them occupied while I enjoyed the paintings. I cringe at Lennox with the phone in the gallery but I consider it insurance against us ending up with a multi-million dollar destruction of artwork and a front page news story. He wasn’t as thrilled about browsing O’Keeffe paintings as I was.

Kakawa

A shop dedicated to sipping chocolate, wow! We stopped in for a treat and found an extraordinary gem. From sipping chocolate to truffles and even ice cream this place serves the finest flavors and its atmosphere is amazing. We all fell in love with this soul-warming experience.

Meow Wolf

Ok, where do we even start… if you bottle up creativity and put it in a building and shook it vigorously you would have this amazing place. It is so crazy and cool it is pretty much indescribable and all I can say is go! If you ever have a chance get there and soak up the experience, I know I did. From giant robots to playing music on the ribs of a wooly mammoth skeleton, glow rooms and eyeballs of all sorts staring at you from the walls, climb into a washing machine or walk through a refrigerator, places light up and sing, tight spaces, shrinking walls and dance party rooms, you will never want to leave. Enjoy a taste of the magic.

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Adventure

750ft Below the Surface of the Earth…and Aliens

By PapaWanderer March 13, 2018

San Antonio to Carlsbad

This section of the trip took us from civilization to no man’s land. Well, that’s not entirely true. There were an awful lot of oil men drilling for black gold. It was a beautiful drive until we hit the last hundred miles to Carlsbad. This is where we turned on to a two-lane road with posted speed limits of 75mph and potholes that could rip the tranny out of a monster truck. There were semi’s barreling by and an uncountable number of F150’s. All these trucks were there to service the oil derricks that dotted the landscape like toothpicks on a party tray. Oh, and did I mention that the winds where gusting 25-30+mph which is really fun in a big land yacht with a topper on it. We made it just as the sun was setting. We tucked into our hotel and got ready for a fun day deep underground.

The Caverns of Carlsbad

The caverns aren’t actually in Carlsbad. (FYI) You need to drive about 30 minutes. It is well worth the effort. After a beautiful drive through the park and up to the cavern entrance, you’re greeted by a breathtaking vista of the Chihuahuan desert. On the way up we got to see a type of Bighorn sheep which was a cool surprise.

The visitor center is well staffed has an excellent museum to get you oriented. Once you’re ready to visit the caves you have two options. A quick 1 min elevator ride or a 45 min hike into the cave system from the mouth at the surface. We opted for the elevator on our first day as we had a guided tour we needed to meet. The next day we decided to hike in and it is AWESOME!

But I digress, day one we went to a cave system called the King’s Palace. This was a guided tour and was wonderful. The cave system was well lit and had thousands of stalagmites and stalactites, rock curtains, and impossibly thin rock tubes called soda straws. Truly an awe-inspiring experience. The guide also turned the lights out half way through so we could feel the intenseness of complete darkness. Colette and Sienna both loved the excursion into this hidden world. On day two we hiked into the cavern from the surface. This gives you a real sense of what it must have been like to first come upon these caverns and explore them. We highly recommend hiking in one of the days if you visit this place. Once at the bottom we went on the self-guided tour of what they call the “Big Room“. The Big Room tour is about two hours and takes you buy some of the most spectacular otherworldy structures you’ll ever see. Carlsbad Caverns is a remote location and we’d recommend tacking it on to a bigger exploration of the Southwest.

More of the Surreal

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Guadalupe Mountains National Park

The caverns aren’t the only thing to see when in Carlsbad. About 20 minutes past the caverns lies the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We are always in awe of the national park system and what they protect and this was no different. Beautiful mountains, pristine wilderness, and Jr. Ranger Program!!! We love these.

There are a few short hikes here, but it really caters to longer overnight hikes to experience the park. We opted to drive around and get some great shots after the kids became Junior Rangers at the museum.

Believe…….

We spent about three full days in the area exploring and found that to be a good window of time to experience a taste of the caverns and mountains. On the way to our next destination, we needed to make the pilgrimage to the town made famous by the alien spacecraft that crash landed there 72 years ago. Roswell, NM is a surprisingly big town, much bigger than Carlsbad. Our only focus for passing through was to visit the UFO Museum and have space lunch. The museum is a fun place to visit and does a great job recapping the history of the alien crash investigation. There’s are lots of fun and cool art and exhibits to enjoy as well. I love Aliens! So making the effort to land here definitely was a check off my bucket list. I’m not sure if Katie felt the same way, but the kids had a blast. A worthwhile place to spend an hour and get some lunch. Though space lunch was not found we did have a nice bite at a deli up the street. Our next stop is Santa Fe for a couple weeks.