After our stay in Roswell, NM (too kitschy and touristy for our taste) we headed to our new campground at Cochiti Lake , about 30 minutes from Santa Fe. The drive was not bad, but there were long stretches of absolutely nothing besides nice scenery and some snow from the night before. We set up after we arrived and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. The following day we went to Santa Fe to do some grocery shopping. Yesterday, Tuesday, we drove to Bandelier National Monument. The monument preserves the homes and territory of the Ancestral Puebloans of a later era in the Southwest. One of the hiking trails is along the dwellings and allows a very close look. Some petroglyphs can also be seen. This area offers a lot of hiking trails and is a hikers paradise. On the way back we stopped at he Valles Caldera. It is a 13.7-mile-wide volcanic caldera in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. Hot springs, streams, fumaroles, natural gas seeps, and volcanic domes dot the caldera landscape. The whole area is very interesting and Maria and I plan to come back one day and spend more time here.
