Bandalier National Monument, NM

We're still waiting for the Balloon Fiesta to begin so today we went to Bandalier National Monument.  It was a 1.5-hour drive either by taking the paved roads for 60+ miles or 30+ miles on the National Forest Service Road of gravel.  Al chose the shorter mileage route so we rode the Forest Service road until it intersected with NM-4 and on to Bandalier.  The park is small so they have a shuttle from the town of White Rocks.  Since it was a Monday we tried our luck and entered the park and we found parking within but still had to take a shuttle to the visitor center and the canyon. 

The canyon contains a nice trail that goes by the cliff dwellings built into the rock wall of the canyon.  

This park was fun because they had ladders that we could climb up into the various rooms. 

Showing some petroglyphs

A little further down the trail we got to climb more ladders up to a kiva.

View of the canyon from the area of the kiva

Climbing back down

While walking around the visitor center I noticed a lady that looked familiar.  I saw her a couple of times on the trails and realized she looked like a lady I worked with at Prudential back in Pennsylvania over 25+ years ago.  We saw her again on the shuttle back to the parking lot so I asked her if she ever lived in Pennsylvania.  She told me she lives in Horsham and I said and you worked at Pru.  It was actually her!  After all these years she didn't change much!  I didn’t remember her name so we exchanged names.  How weird to run in to someone from PA so far from away in a little park in NM! 

While at the park I completed another Junior Ranger book and took my oath.  We're finding these programs get us more engaged in learning about the various items in the parks.  And, each book so far included picking up trash as an item to complete so we're helping keep the parks clean!   

On the way back to our campsite we stopped at Valles Caldera National Preserve.  We pulled over and ate lunch in our truck looking out over the area.  Just beautiful!  There was some wildlife way off in the distance and we suspect they were deer.  Unfortunately, we forgot the binoculars to confirm. 

This weekend finally starts the Balloon Fiesta!  We can't wait!