This was sure to to be a big and exciting day! We were taking a "day trip" WEST of Santa Fe, leaving around 8AM to visit Bandolier National Monument first and then move on to Tent Rocks. Although they are relatively near one another, due to the mountains and poor roads, we had to come all the way back past the hotel in Santa Fe to go south to Tent Rocks in the afternoon.
Bandolier didn't disappoint - it is an exciting part of Native American history near Los Alamos which preserves the homes and territory of the Ancestral Puebloans from 11,000 years ago. It is filled with petroglyphs and dwellings carved into the soft rock cliffs. It truly was ideal time of the year to visit because normally, you have to be bused into the visitor's center where you begin the 1 mile trail to The Alcove House. We arrived at the 9AM opening and had front row parking, Thanksgiving Week. The kids loved getting their Park Ranger booklets and worked diligently on them with the goal of getting a Junior Ranger Badge. We watched a short movie about the history of the of the canyon to gain a better idea of the history and what there was to see.
On the easy trail to the Alcove House, the kids came across their first snow of the trip and we had fun taking pictures at the base of the 4 wooden ladders up the 140 foot accent to The Alcove House. It's hard to imagine the family members making this climb with water and supplies on a regular basis but sure would be a safe place to take shelter.
We arrived at Tent Rocks at 3PM and had just over an hour to get as far up the slot canyon trail that we could before the Park Ranger started the descent from the top at 3:30 and we met up with him a little after 4PM. It was such an amazing place and we all were so glad that we made the effort to get there. That evening and the following day, the kids said that Tent Rocks was their favorites because they could just run and climb which is their absolute favorite thing to do at these ages.
Honestly, looking back, I can't believe we had so much energy left on this 3rd evening of our trip but we packed the 10 of us in B.O.W. and drove the 100 yards across the parking lot, in the below freezing weather, to the sister Hilton property to have some fun in the pool and hot tub. When we realized the hot tub was broken, we enjoyed the wine and steamy indoor pool. Blake and I both mentioned this evening what a fun day and night it had been, noticing how sharp and intuitive Addison has become as she figured out dad was saving mom the last cookie and she was playing along, with a big wink. ;)
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