Kim: Day 10
From our homebase, we ventured south today, exploring the Acoma Pueblo, Petroglyphs National Monument, and the city of Albuquerque. We even had time to relax at the hotel too.
The Acoma Pueblo tour began at the Sky City Cultural Center where we learned about the etiquette involved in visiting a pueblo on a reservation. Then they took us up to the top of the mesa (with no electricity or running water) where the Acoma people still call home. There are actually only about 40-50 Acoma members who live there full time, but many come for the day and they all come for monthly feast days and celebrations. We learned about their history, culture and traditional artwork - what a fascinating tour.
As we traveled back toward the city, we saw beautiful views all around - it seems that that is the case each and every day on this trip.
Unfortuantely our good weather luck only lasted through 9 1/2 days of our trip - we hit clouds and rain on the way to Petroglyphs National Monument. This meant more time exploring the visitor center and gift shop as we waited the storm out and less time in the park. By the time the rain stopped, most of the trails were closed. We did find one area still open and explored in a backcountry sort of way - raw beauty at Baco Negra Canyon and saw a few petroglyphs, but nothing like the main part that was closed.
Nature abounded all around us though.
Because of the still threatening rain clouds, we took the quick and easy driving tour of Albuquerque, catching a few sites of Historic Route 66 as well as Old Town Albuquerque, which had very similar flavor and setup as Historic Santa Fe, but with a New Orleans French Quarter sort of feel.
Historic Rt 66
Old Town Albuquerque
Tonight we fortunatey searched for the sunset from the quiet of our hotel room. We have a nice view of the mountains too.
