Bandelier

We spent a day at Bandelier National Monument and it was fantastic. The canyon has a stream running through where they grew maize, beans and squash. There are at least 3000 sites in Bandelier but not all were occupied at the same time. Ancient footpaths made for some rugged and tight climbing. There are many dwellings, some with as many as 40 rooms. The "Long House" is an 800 ft stretch of of adjoining multi-storied stone homes with hand carved caves as back rooms. Many of the rooms are reached by pole ladders but you can see on the cliff wall the round openings where poles supported upper floors and roofs. There were also at lot of drawings and some of the rooms showed signs of being painted and decorated. We camped next to some folks from Taos that we had met a day earlier right after they had just bought a Eurovan. We spent a lot of time visiting with them and enjoying their advice on journeys we should take and local camping sites. We hope to see them on the Peninsula this summer when they make a trip to the West. On our way out we saw a brown bear and her cub in the middle of the road, but by the time we grabbed the camera she was on her way over the guardrail.