This morning started early, partly because we were still on east coast time and partly because we had a busy day ahead of us. The day started with breakfast at Del Charro here at the hotel, because, free. We both had some variation of the classic breakfast plate…eggs, toast, breakfast meat. Breakfast was solid and did the job.
After breakfast we gathered what we needed for the day, realized the one item from my lengthy packing list that I’d forgotten was a hat, and we got on the road for today’s exploring. It was about an hour (and very scenic without photographic evidence) drive to our first destination of the day: Bandelier National Monument.
At Bandelier, we headed into the visitors center and found Kim and John exploring the exhibits. They had a small but very well done museum style visitors center. We all explored the exhibits and then, after a quick bathroom stop, headed out on the trail. We did the Main Pueblo Loop Trail. This took longer than we expected, but was well worth it. This is a cliff dwelling so it was really fascinating.
It was lunch time by the time we returned to the visitors center, so we looked at the options in the cafe. I think we all got burgers, and they were surprisingly fantastic. Pricey, but delicious.
After lunch and a successful visit to the gift store, we headed for the parking lot. It was now beyond full. During peak season Bandelier actually requires visitors to use a shuttle from a satellite lot between roughly 9 and 3, because of limited parking at the visitors center. We were not there during peak season and we got to Bandelier just about 9, so we were all set, but the parking lot still completely filled in, with folks circling the lot like it was the mall at Christmas. Get to Bandelier early. It’s SO worth visiting. But parking is limited.
We said goodbye until tomorrow to Kim and John. They were headed over to the Valles Caldera National Wilderness visitor center before continuing to Los Alamos. We went straight to Los Alamos because I knew that if I got over to the Valles Caldera, I’d want to drive around to see the scenery and we wouldn’t have time in Los Alamos. And all of the Manhattan Project sites were high on Nick’s list.
So on to Los Alamos! It was a short drive from Bandelier to the visitor center parking lot for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. We paid a quick visit to the visitor center, then walked around town. Nick fanboyed by the Oppenheimer statue, and we were both really impressed by the Los Alamos Museum. Shortly before the trip Nick had had me watch Oppenheimer, so while Nick was the fanboy, both of us really appreciated the history here.
Once we’d explored the town (which was a relatively quick stop), we worked our way back to Santa Fe, stopping to take some pictures along the way.
Back in Santa Fe, we decided it was time to start our unofficial tour of the Santa Fe Margarita Trail (yes, it’s a thing), so we headed to Coyote Cantina for some rooftop margaritas. I think we both had the turquoise trail margarita. They were great.
Margaritas consumed, we wandered the historic area a bit, getting the lay of the land, then headed for dinner at Pantry Rio.
And this is where things went south, no pun intended. I actually really enjoyed my dinner. I had chicken stuffed sopapillas that were fantastic. Nick had brisket tacos. He struggled to eat them, because they were “dry as shit” and he was having trouble not gagging on them. The server noticed that he hadn’t eaten much and the manager comped us his meal. So great service, and some of the food was excellent. And Nick didn’t seem to think the issue with his tacos was entirely on the restaurant.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel where I crashed early. Nick had a very restless night, because unbeknownst to me at that point, he was still incredibly nauseous.
No comments:
Post a Comment