Christmas in New Mexico

For Christmas we traveled down to Los Alamos, New Mexico to visit my Mom, and show Jess a little more of the Southwest. On the trip down we came by way of Colorado Springs and I25. The roads weren't too bad (dry mostly) but traffic really sucked, and there were a lot of wrecks which slowed things down more. The stretch between Denver and the Springs has been a nightmare for several years now.

One of our first stops after getting to Los Alamos was a trip down to Santa Fe. We went to the old plaza where Indians line the sidewalk to sell silver, and tourquois jewelry. The Indians have been setting up shop here as long as I can remember. The building behind them is known as the Palace of the Governors, and is the original governors office in the early days when this area was first settled. The plaza is very famous, and is frequented by movie stars and other folks trying to be important. We saw some people dressed in pretty bazaar outfits. One women was dressed all in leather, with a leather bomber jacket, and a leather flyers cap circa WWI. Wild stuff. This is the best place in US to buy Native American jewelry as there is a lot of fake out there. After walking around to some of the other shops we stopped at Tomasitas for lunch. Here's me with the girls, and my Mom.

While we were at my Moms we did a little hiking near White Rock canyon. The Rio Grande river flows through the canyon, and is a short way behind my mothers house. There are a number of petroglyphs nearby, and some great views. A dubious feature just below the canyon rim is a collection of used tires that kids or other pranksters arrange into various messages. Cathy noticed that "Turkey" had recently been spelled out; most probably for Thanksgiving. Deciding to have some fun, we climbed down into the canyon and rearranged the tires into our own word. This should confuse the populous of Los Alamos for a while.

We had a quiet Christmas, and opened presents. On the way back we came up through Alamosa to avoid the Colorado Springs traffic. The drive was much more enjoyable, and the traffic was trivial. I think I will be avoiding I25 as much as possible from now on. Looks like we will be home just in time for another blizzard.