Sabbatikos

We set off early for the hour-long drive from Santa Fe to Bandelier National Monument, just as the snow began to fall. Despite being late April, Santa Fe’s high elevation of over 7,000 feet made the unexpected snowfall seem natural. I had hiked Bandelier’s Pueblo Loop Trail the previous year but hadn’t made it to Alcove House, a cliff dwelling I was eager to explore. Today, Clara and I were determined to complete the full hike and finally reach the ancient Alcove House. The fresh snow added a magical touch to our adventure, transforming the dusty desert landscape before us.

On our way out of town, we made a quick detour to Camel Rock. As we approached, the snow began to ease, and the skies started to clear in the direction we were heading. The striking rock formation, with its camel-like silhouette, stood out against the brightening sky, creating a stunning and serene moment in our journey. It felt like a good omen for the adventure that lay ahead.

We descended from the high plateau into the enchanting Frijoles Canyon, once the thriving home of the Ancestral Pueblo people, or Anasazi. These ancient inhabitants flourished in this valley for about 400 years, from approximately 1150 to 1550 AD. We parked and started our hike into the valley on the Pueblo Loop Trail. As we ventured deeper into the canyon, we encountered the remnants of their sophisticated dwellings carved into the cliffs, intricate petroglyphs, and communal structures. Each step brought us a step back in time to a history of these remarkable people and their way of life. It was reminiscent of our trip to Mesa Verde on our Great American Roadtrip of 2013. One thing that is unique to Bandelier is the ability to ascend ladders and enter into some of the cave dwellings. It is magical to think you are standing and sitting where a community once thrived off this beautiful and stunning land.

Further along the trail were many petroglyphs and more dwellings carved into the soaring cliffs.

From here we started our hike on towards Alcove House, a cave dwelling located 140 feet above Frijoles Canyon requiring an ascent up four tall ladders. It reminded us of the ladders we had to ascend/descend on our backpacking trip along the Washington Coast. Alcove House didn’t disappoint. The views and the history were amazing.

It started to snow again as we left Bandelier and started our drive on to Los Alamos. We wanted to stop there and see the Oppenheimer house, and visit the Bradbury Science Museum to learn more about The Bomb.

We were on a backroad to Los Alamos passing by several high security and surely secret LANL locations when were came to a checkpoint and were asked to show our IDs before being allowed into the town of Los Alamos. It was unexpected, and it was snowing hard. We were waved ahead and made our way into town and found some lunch at Boese Bros Brewery for lunch.

After lunch we went to the Oppenheimer House which was closed, but we could look through the windows and imagine how he and his family may have lived. Next door was the Hans Bethe House, which was open as a museum. We went in for a look around before heading to the Bradbury Science Museum for a short film about the Manhattan Project and replicas of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which killed an estimated 226,000 people. It was sobering.

We left Los Alamos behind and drove back to Santa Fe for an afternoon treat at Kakawa Chocolate House of hot chocolate, prickly pear and mezcal truffles and some delicious coffee ice cream. We highly recommend a stop here. It is tiny and crowded.

To walk off our treats, we wandered up to explore the many galleries along Canyon Road. We saw some great (and some not so great) art. Here were a few of our favorites

It was cold and windy along Canyon Road so we walked back into town and went to a little bar we had seen earlier, Los Poblanos Farm Shop and Bar Norte where we had a few craft cocktails and far too many olives. 

We had reservations at the famous Santa Fe restaurant The Shed for dinner. It was good, and reasonably priced. We walked around Santa Fe and went for a nightcap at Secreto, getting there for last call (which is about 9pm).

We decided to call it an early night and retreated to our hotel to unwind. Settling in, we watched It Follows, an engrossing 2014 horror film that blends suspense and psychological terror. The movie’s unique premise—a relentless, shape-shifting entity that pursues its target until death—gave us just the right amount of dread to fill our dreams and leave us both thoroughly creeped out.

Tomorrow we would go to the bizarre art installation that is Meow Wolf and see Caroline Rose perform!