Megan’s Take
This morning, Emmett and Emilia had a couple hours to play with their campground friends before we all left. (We “slept in” until 7 am and I was relieved that our neighbors were still there. Last night, the girls had told me they’re early risers. Emilia would have been heart broken if she hadn’t had a chance to play with them one last time.) I’m glad we had the time to let them be in their imagination and just run around playing. Ironically, Phil and I had our first real conversation with the other parents this morning, and we discovered that they’re Star Wars fans! Phil had a lot he could talk about with them. We exchanged email addresses, and Emilia’s dream is that we will have a playdate with them soon. (Sadly, they’re from Albuquerque, a long way from home.)
After we dropped our camper in Santa Fe, we visited the Pecos National Historical Park. Our favorite part of the ruins was going down into an intact kiva underground.
After visiting Salinas Pueblo Missions yesterday though, this site didn’t feel as impressive. There is also a civil war site nearby, but we ran out of time and energy for that.
Phil’s Take
Apparently Megan also ran out of energy for this post! (I kid)
We made it on the scant propane we had until just minutes before we left. The next campground sells propane and was only an hour and a half drive away, so we just went without trying to keep the refrigerator cool. That was really the only problem with not having enough propane. On the plus side, the propane was cheaper than the gasoline at $4/gal.
Megan failed to mention our first stop in Santa Fe, the Loretto Chapel that has a famous staircase that has apparently baffled architects and engineers due to its lack of support. I personally don’t see what’s baffling about it, it would just be very difficult to build it to such precision with just hand tools like was used.
The church itself beyond the stairs was also pretty, if small.
I actually thought the Pecos area was just as good as the Salinas areas we saw yesterday, and in some ways was better. The guided walk was nice, and the view was certainly an improvement. Megan took the kids on the shorter path while I went around taking pictures. This was my favorite scenic view from the pueblo.
Just behind where I took this was a hill that I was able to capture a panorama that gives you a view of the scenery and northern part of the ruins.
The church itself and the ruins around it were fairly well preserved, but I think they went a little overboard with the mortar they’ve clearly added after the fact. Maybe you can see that here.
Overall not the best of the Pueblo ruins we’ve seen this trip, but not the worst either. The highlight was definitely the two kivas we could climb down into. The kids enjoyed that, and also informed us that they wanted a ladder on their play set in the back yard.
Here’s the gallery for today.
