Day 4 - Bandelier National Monument, December 22, 2021

After a hearty breakfast, we picked up our very fancy rental car (Toyota Corolla…), more than used up with plenty of miles and not particularly well maintained in terms of cleanliness and covered with all kinds of dings. The only positive thing was that it’s a Toyota and those cars are mechanically reliable and tend to run forever.

After a quick stop at a grocery store for some fruit and lunch snacks we headed toward Bandelier National Monument. A pleasant drive through high desert, mesas, cliffs, and small towns. Luck was with us as the weather wasn’t too cold or windy. When the sun was shining it was actually warm enough to remove our jackets.

Jim Takes Pictures On The Road To Bandelier National Monument
Spontaneous Photo... Breathing The Fresh Air Of New Mexico!
A Modern-Day Pueblo Horno

A horno is a mud adobe-built outdoor oven used by Native Americans and early settlers of North America. The horno uses wood as the heat source and is still used by American Indian tribes in New Mexico and Arizona. Bread, cakes, corn, and meats can be cooked inside a horno.

High-Angle View Of Pueblo Indian Ruins

Bandelier is the home of ancestral Pueblo Indians going as far back as 10,000 years ago. They started to live inside the cliffs in natural caves (called cliff dwellings) that they enlarged when possible, and then migrated to building adobe-style homes at the bottom of the cliffs.

The Cliffs of Bandelier... can you see the Dwellings inside the Cliffs?

Jim takes all kinds of photos with his cameras and lenses. With his telephoto he can really get tight close-ups of the cliff dwellings.

Walking the Pueblo Loop Trail to the Cliff Dwellings

We walked the Pueblo Loop Trail all the way to the Long House Cliff Dwelling. It took us over two hours as we stopped so often to take pictures and admired the beauty of the scenery.

With three cameras, we took our time to compose artistic photographs of the dwellings and nature all around, capturing the rays of the sun playing hide and seek with the clouds.

We were very lucky as it was sunny and not too cold and made our stroll among these amazing cliffs very pleasant.

Tree Shadows on the Cliffs
Sunset on the Surrounding Mountains of Bandelier

On the way back, we took a slight detour up a mountain peak to capture the sunset and then headed back to Santa Fe.

Wrapping up our Day with a Glass of Wine by the Fireplace

After a full day out, we decided to have dinner at the hotel. We found just enough energy before bed to download our photos on our computers. But not enough time to write up the day’s travel blog. Another time!