I started writing this last week, but didn't have time to finish.
For the first time in our entire college career, Tony and I took a spring break trip. During undergrad we never took a trip first of all because we didn't have the money, and secondly, because everyone else left we were always able to pick up more hours at our jobs.
We were lucky that our spring breaks were at the same time this year, so we decided to take advantage of it.We first went down to Las Cruces to stay with Amy. It was a 10 hour drive, but it really wasn't bad! We got there on Saturday night and went to High Desert, where we met up with Patrick and LeeAnn. High Desert is a micro brewery that we frequented when we lived in LC. It was great - although extremely crowded. It was just so nice #1) to be with Amy again #2) to catch up with P & L.
Las Cruces has grown so much! We hadn't been back in about 5 years - and we were pretty surprised at the size, but the mountains were just as beautiful as we had remembered. On Sunday I went to Mesilla and met Trisha for coffee. This sounds like it's not a big deal - but it is!!!! We have been friends for years now, through the internet, so it was great to finally meet in person! We could have talked for hours!
My folks drove down on Sunday and we went to eat at La Posta - mmmmmmmmm, La Posta. Best sour cream enchiladas ever!! Then we roamed around the square for a little while and just got to spend the whole day together as a family. It was beautiful.
It also made us realize how much we miss New Mexico. I mean, the whole trip did that, but especially those first couple of days. We have such fond memories of Las Cruces...and I know that you always forget the bad stuff and only remember the good times. When we left NM we were so ready to get out!!! Now our memories are fonder and we realize how special New Mexico is. But who knows what the future holds for us. Perhaps we will end up back there.
The next morning we drove up to the Gila Wilderness. The drive was hard, as the road between Hillsboro and Silver City is long and winding. Plus we encountered a snow storm.
We had been up to the Gila before to go camping when we lived in Cruces, but never up to the Cliff Dwellings. I had booked us a night at the
Wilderness Lodge B&B, just 4 miles from the Dwellings. Well, here is where I made a small mistake - I hadn't looked at where the B&B was exactly, and I thought it was in Gila, a town west of Silver. We got to Silver around 1 and figured we didn't have enough time to make it up to the Cliff Dwellings, then drive back to the B&B before night fall. So we went on a hike to some petroglyphs outside of Silver City. Then went to dinner. Then I realized the B&B was next to the Cliff Dwellings!! Ahh!! We could have been up there hiking the entire time! Oh well....
The lodge was beautiful! It is an old converted school house that was moved from Hurley up the mountain. Now this is another curvy road and I cannot imagine moving a building up it. But it was a really pretty drive. We stayed on the second floor which had 5 bedrooms and a shared bathroom. I know some of you are going to cringe at this, but we have done it a few times in the past and it usually saves you around $30. It is not bad at all (at least in our experience). I mean, if you are going to stay at a B&B full of people, you are not going to have the most privacy in the world anyways.
I love it up in the Gila's. It's calm and beautiful. The Lodge had natural hot springs in the front yard, so we got in those for a while, then just spent the evening relaxing and reading. The other people staying there were wonderfully nice, as well as the inn keeper. Everyone was really friendly and in the morning at breakfast everyone just sat around talking. There was just a really nice feeling up there, that matched our personalities. How can I put this? If you are not from NM it's hard to understand the diversity of this state. There are lots of free spirits. Hippies started coming in the 60's. A lot of people moved to Western NM for the remoteness and the ability to live on very little. It is still apparent in the area. Especially up where we were. People are laid back and are just happy to share what they have. Such openness. For example, the hot springs at the lodge had just a small wall that seperate the pools from the front of the house. And the house rules were that if you forgot your swimsuit - no biggie- no one minds if you want to get in au natural.
The next morning we hiked to the Cliff Dwellings and took some great pictures. It's amazing to think that these caves were inhibited so many many years ago (1200's) and are still standing there.
From the Gila we drove up to Jemez (pronounced Haymous) Springs. It was a long day because of all the driving. But we made it up there before dark and got checked into the
Jemez Mountain Inn. The owners were so wonderfully kind. Once again, hippies of the working sort that had been going up to Jemez Springs for years and years before deciding to buy the Inn. They were so warm and gracious and made us immediately feel welcome. There was a resturant/bar right across the street from the Inn and we were very thankful for it. Jemez Springs is a tiny little town and everything else was closed. By everything else, I mean the two other places to eat. The bar was full of locals and had very good food.
On our way out of town we stopped at Soda Dam.
This was an unexpected treat! It's a natural dam that was formed over thousands of years from the mineral deposits brought to the surface from the hot springs underlying the area. The smell of sulfur was very strong and apparently there are places among the river were you can put one hand in really cold water and the other in steaming hot water, but we didn't find that.
We continued driving up Hwy. 4 on our way to
Bandelier National Monument. I had read about some natural hot springs that were off of the highway, back up in the mountains. All I knew was that the trail head was located between mile marker 24 and 25 and that there would be a place to park. It also said not to leave any valuables in your car...isn't that disappointing that people are so untrustworthy? So we stopped between the mile markers and found the trailhead. The hike was only 1 mile to the springs. But it was a difficult hike for about 1/2 mile of it. At one point I was almost on all fours trying to scramble up the unkempt trail. But we made it up to the Springs. It was a shame how people had littered the area though- that always pisses us off! It's just so disrespectful. Plus there were clothes lying around - and that's just weird. Did people hike down naked?
So I got in (of course - modesty doesn't have any part of my life), but Tony decided to hike around and take pics. The water wasn't overly warm, but it was nice. I went further back in the small cave where the source was and the water was much warmer. I only stayed in for about 10 minutes, then we hiked back down. What a way to start off your day in healing hot springs.
Bandelier was really crowded - I guess it was a lot of families' spring break. So that took from it somewhat - it just seemed commercialized. But we still got in some really good hiking. At one point you can go up 2 30 foot ladders to some upper dwellings. If you at all have a fear of heights this would be a terrible idea. The cliff dwellings were very cool, but I can say we have had our fill of them for a while.
We took off from there and went to Chimayo to spend our last night in NM. The Inn there was the nicest of all 3. The grounds were beautiful and once again, everyone was so friendly! We spent the evening relaxing in the hot tub and reading. The next morning they had an amazing breakfast - green chile souffle! We went to the
Santuario de Chimayo, a place I have wanted to visit for so long. It's an amazing Catholic church. Click on the link to find out more about it and the healing dirt.
It was a great vacation and I'm so glad that we went. It was relaxing and just what I needed - to get away from work and school and daily stresses. Tony took a lot more pictures on the DSL, but they are uploaded on his computer, so once I get around to putting them on mine I will upload some.
