Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday: I spent the day shopping in downtown Santa Fe.  Amazing shops!  I met some wonderful local artists…and I’m sure it goes without saying; I acquired some wonderful pieces. :-)    

Wednesday: WOW! I had an amazing day today!  I hired Santa Fe Walkabouts to be my hiking guide. The company is owned by married couple; Sue (a transplant from New York city) and George (a transplant from Paris, France) they met 4+ years ago in Santa Fe while on vacation. They went back to their respective homes dated long distance and after a year of that, they decided to marry and move to Santa Fe to start and outdoor adventure company. George was my guide today; he is very knowledgeable about the city, the Pueblo Indians (whose reservation we drove through) the plant, animals, and the terrain.

We drove out to White Rock Canyon and hiked the “Pipeline Trail” AKA the “Blue Dot/Red Dot” trail (if I can figure out how to load my photos onto my blog, you will see the blue/red dots sprayed on the rocks to mark the trails).  It was a 7.5 mile hike in old lava fields.  We started at 7000 feet with temperatures in the low 30’s and hiked down 800 feet where the temperatures went up at least 20 degrees. At the bottom we found a nice spot next to a small double waterfall to eat lunch.  After lunch we continued to follow the Rio Grande River for a total of 2 miles then hiked 900 feet back up the other side of the mountain.  I saw amazing things; 800 year old pictographs carved into the stones. Several millipedes (dead and alive), lots of beautiful dragonflies, praying mantis, and a huge tarantula! Yes a BIG brown/tan furry tarantula! It was truly amazing!!

I’m planning a horseback riding trip tomorrow…I will let you know how it goes!

sorry...no photos yet! I cant figure out how to get them from EasyShare to the blog.