After a couple of days in and around El Paso we headed north for a brief day of sightseeing on our own in Santa Fe. Neither of us had ever been there before and it was surprisingly beautiful. The old town square was picturesque with it's old buildings flanking a park on all sides. We walked around the square taking pictures, people watching and shopping.
Did I mention the shopping? I actually passed on getting anything for myself, but still enjoyed the hand made jewelry and art. I never knew that Turquoise comes in lots of different colors.
This old building actually had a little park in the middle of it. After walking through a door off the main street our eyes were just assaulted with the details of the old building and the bright plants.
After a few hours wandering old town Santa Fe we drove out of town a ways to see Bandelier National Monument. Ancestral Pueblo people built homes and lived here until the 1500s. I was excited to visit this monument as it appears to be one of the only ones that allows you to explore right in and around the structures rather than view them from a distance. In the photo below you get a good view of Frijoles Canyon and you can see some square shapes on the left against the cliffs, which are some of the dwellings.
The volcanic tuff is soft and relatively easy to carve with tools made from harder rock. The people made bricks out of it to form a dwelling and also carved out the cliffside and used vigas (wooden stakes) to support ceilings and had two and three story dwellings along the walls of the canyon. We climbed ladders and into small cave like structures that they lived in. 
This room was on the canyon floor and was a public building, not a dwelling. 
More cliff dwellings. Because these were smaller and closer together than the others we just climbed through we joked that this was the projects of the pueblo.
Petroglyphs were still visible and paintings were faint but noticeable.
The canyon floor had a creek and was surprisingly lush.
After hiking around for a couple of hours (could have spent a couple of days there!) we worked up an appetite and decided to try a place that a couple of different locals had recommended. Tomasita's is in an old train depot building and has apparently been in business forever. The wait was a little long but we were afraid to leave and have to start over somewhere else so we stuck it out. I noticed some other guests whispering with the hostess and getting her camera out of her purse. I had read on the menu that this was a favorite of country music legend Randy Travis and started getting curious. The other guests were seated and I approached the hostess to ask what was going on. I told her my husband was a big fan of Randy Travis and I promised we would not get out our camera and be tourists. She told me that he was there eating right then and told me which booth he was in. I saw his black coat from the back as well as his flippy hair do but that was about it. The guy sitting across from him was huge and had the biggest handlebar mustache I've ever seen. I shared the news with Tim who acted very cool. A few minutes later the hostess ran up to us bursting with excitement and said they were clearing the table behind him right now. I pretended to be as excited as she was and thanked her. When they buzzed our pager we all walked to the table with intentional calm. I took the seat across so that I could see and let Tim sit back to back with him. A few minutes later they started to get ready to leave and I realized I could try to take a picture with the phone and pretend to be texting and try to not look like a crazed fan. My timing was off and I took it right as Randy slid over behind Tim to get to the edge of the booth. You can't even see a sleeve. At this point I was reminded that the camera makes a noise when it takes a picture and I was too nervous to try again. I did get his wife in the background though. You can see her big blonde hair.
Just for reference....
Beside the brief fan encounter we did enjoy the restaurant. It was good Mexican food with a New Mexico twist. Note to self if I ever go back: get the sauce on the side again. It's hot!!! And off we went towards home. It was a great weekend overall and the part I most wish I could change is the length of it. A week would have been great but I'll take what I can get. I'm not sure my sister could have taken much more of the girls anyway!
