Last week we spent in Santa Fe and hiked Picacho Peak (which means peak peak) three times, did a 15 mile day hike in Bandelier and went to Pecos to see the ruins and the Civil War Trail, Albuquerque to see the museum of natural history, and ate a lot of Mexican food. Good thing we did all that hiking. On the way back we toured Acoma, the sky city. By the by, Winslow has the BEST chili rellanos in the world at El Pueblo.

Since we spent all week studying the Ancestral Pueblo, this weekend we decided to load all the stuff in the car and hike to Keet Seel. Haven't been there since Robert was a wee young thing. Probably at least 15 years. 8.5 miles in, wading in a yucky creek full of cow. The ruins were nice as always, and a nice little ranger took us on a private tour for an hour and a half. We were the only people in the campground. It was sooo quiet. No water running (you have to carry in all your drinking water), no wind, just some little animal that kept rustling the leaves, probably seeing if he had left anything for it to eat.

Apparently there was a cow stuck in the mud on the "low" route. We took the high route, and on the way out four trucks, a horse, and an ATV were on their way in to get the cow. Everyone asked about it, and we had to say, nope, didn't see it. I wanted to say: just the tips of some horns and a little note reading, "Help me, help me", but I didn't.

Met a gal who was hiking in the day we were hiking out, so I told her to bring me a Cherry Pepsi, and she did! It was HOT climbing that last sand hill, too.