The Turquoise Trail

We just left Cochiti Lake which is about 45 minutes SW of Santa Fe.  The campground where we stayed was an Army Corps of Engineers campground and was very nice.

Sunset at Cochiti Lake Campground

The perfect combination of spacious sites, beautiful views and very clean.  We met a very nice couple across the street from us with two beautiful labs that we got to love on.

Santa Fe was an interesting place.  It was fairly spread out without any tall buildings or "big" city feel.

Mariachi music in the park.  Excellent!

The Plaza was once the center of the city and possibility still is,  There were some very pretty adobe architectured buildings in the plaza and lots of vendors selling their jewelry creations. Turquoise is everywhere and is the signature stone in these parts.  

After exploring around the city, we took a day trip up to Los Alamos up in the mountains NW of Santa Fe.  We went to visit our new friends we met in Alamogordo a few weeks before and also to go to Bandelier National Monument.

One of the many staircases to the top at Bandelier

This monument evolved from the same volcanic eruption that had a part in the sculpting of Tent Rocks and was a glimpse into the lives of the people who lived there many years ago.  They carved their homes out of the volcanic tuff and some of them were so high I had weak knees after climbing up there.  The most direct descendants of the Ancestral Pueblo people who lived there are the residents of Cochiti Pueblo, where we were camping.

The girls after the very long climb to the top

We were able to meet up with our friends, the Judd's, for dinner that evening.  The kids played and the adults visited.  So nice :)

Near our campground was Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and it was a very cool day hike to the top.  Luna was under the weather, so after getting her settled in with a blanket and PBS, Sofia and I headed off.

Tent Rocks with a google photos finish

Sofia and I had a nice time and were actually able to have a some quiet time on the hike, which doesn't happen often.  So now we know who does all the talking :)  Made it to the top with my palms a little sweaty and had a snack.  My favorite hike so far on the trip.  It was a great balance of challenging, but not so much that the kids are whining.  We enjoyed it so much we took Luna and Diego back on Saturday.

The whole group at Tent Rocks

We ended our week with a trip down the Turquoise Trail.  Heading from our campsite we stopped by Los Cerillos and came upon what felt like a ghost town.  There is a state park office right in the center of town we stopped in for some info about the area.  We saw some beautiful houses in the middle of this what seemed like deserted town.

Beautiful door we saw in Cerillos.  There are still some people.

It was a boom and bust town that centered around mining for gold, silver, and lead and went bust around 1900.  The lady at the State Park office said that some years after it busted a bunch of hippies moved in :)  So now you have a mix of natives and hippies.  We made the town tour and stopped by an odd little petting zoo.

Next we headed down the trail to Madrid.  Another boom and bust town that was centered around coal mines back in the day.

A great restaurant called The Hollar.  Awesome food with a southern flare.  They had grits y'all :)

The part of town that we saw was all along Hwy 14 (Turquoise Trail) and lined with cute little shops selling turquoise jewelry and other nice things.  My favorite store was one with all "recycled art" made by local artists.  The creativity was amazing and even I could have bought something.

In the end, Diego and I got hitched

We found some of those hippies :)

And the girls ended up in jail.