Our rest day at Bandelier National Monument (26 May)

After a wonderful Skype session with the Hürlimann Family and wishing János and Amélie good luck on their bike races tomorrow, we enjoyed a big breakfast and a pleasant chat with Tom T. Then we took off for the Bandelier National Monument. At White Rock we boarded the Shuttle and rode down into the Canyon. The Park is the site of the earliest Ancestral Pueblo settlements in the mid-1200s.

An introductory movie and practical booklets explain the geography, history and culture of these people. The walls of the canyon are made up of compacted volcanic ash up to one thousand feet thick. The ash was the result of two volcanic eruptions, each 6 hundred times more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The Ancestral Pueblo people built rooms into the walls, which can be visited by means of ladders.

Only in America!!

After spending several pleasant and educational hours in the park, we drove back to the Plaza in Santa Fe, marveled at the many shops and other attractions, and dined at the La Casa Senda, which had been recommended to us by the mother of one of the chefs there (we met her yesterday in Madrid). Then it was back to our hotel for an early night. The rest day is over!

 


P.S. Here our two mountain bikers: János, not quite 7 years old and Amélie, 5 and a half years old, riding in the EKZ race series for children.

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