It is still Sunday morning. Kellie and I left the Jemez Springs historic site around 11:00. The rain has stopped, and the skies are clearing. In the town of Jemez Spring, a young man on a bicycle decides that the best method of riding a bicycle is to swerve back and forth in the right lane so that car traffic cannot possibly go around you without fearing that you might sideswipe them and get hurt, so we follow this strange person for a three quarters of a mile or so. Finally, he pulled off the highway. I presume to get a drink of water, and we resumed our journey at a regular car driving speed.
Our next stop was at the Jemez Pueblo Walotowa Visitor Center where we purchased tickets to walk the 1.5 mile through Red Rocks, which is a bunch of Red Rocks, exactly as advertised. The picture below gives you a pretty good idea of what Red Rocks look like from a distance. I notice that the sky is not clear even though I said it was earlier.
And below is what Red Rocks look like when you get closer to them.
Here is what Red Rocks look like whey you stand right below them. See the blue sky! I wasn't telling a fib. It did clear off momentarily.
Once we got past the first jutting column of Red Rocks, Kellie and I discovered that we were in a whole valley of Red Rocks. They were everywhere. Red Rocks, galore!
There were places where the trail went between the Red Rocks, and we got really close to them. Now, where is that picture of Kellie walking through the Red Rocks?
Here she is! Who knew that one could do so many things with Red Rocks?
But, hikers beware? Sometimes, bridges sneak up on you so that you must be warned of them. Here is a sign that let us know that a bridge was coming up in about twenty feet.
And, here is the bridge that we were so dutifully warned about.
I am glad that we were told that it was a bridge. It seemed an awful lot like some 2X4s nailed together edgeways and laid on the dirt.
After this picture of the "bridge," I put my phone in my pocket. There was nothing to take pictures of besides Red Rocks. The trail led us between two cliffs of Red Rocks, and the canyon that they formed narrowed down to as narrow as arm's width. We proceeded through canyon and started hearing voices. When we got to the end, a young couple was having their wedding photos made. The young lady's white dress against the Red Rocks and the blue sky was probably quite stunning. Kellie and I left them to their business and walked back toward the trail end. As we exited the Red Rock canyon, we notice that the sky had blackened to the south and west, the very direction where the clouds would be that were headed our way. We picked up our steps as we had half of the mile and a half trail left to hike.
Luckily, for us, we only got sprinkled on a bit before the end of the trail. We even had time to stop and buy a loaf of bread from a road side stand run by some tribal folks from the Jemez Pueblo before the rain hit. We ate the bread with our Thanksgiving dinner a few days later.
Back in our car, we drove toward Bernalillo where New Mexico Highway 550 meets Interstate 25. We could see the hard rain coming across the valley toward us and watch the lightning dancing on the mountaintops, and we just got on the Interstate when the deluge struck. People will still drive 80 on an interstate road when you can't see the signs because it is raining so hard. Anyway..
Back in Santa Fe, we ate some "authentic" Asian food at a place called Dumplings and watched the rain continue to pour. Later, we drove to the square in Santa Fe and did some souvenir shopping as the rain turned to a blowing, biting snow. Of course, since it was blustery and freezing, we each had a dish of ice cream from the Haagen Daas store. Surprisingly, even with the flooded streets, the icy winds, and the sleet-like snow, the square in downtown was packed with tourists like us.
By around 4:30, we had had enough of the wind and snow and over-priced souvenirs, so we went back to our VRBO and sat watching the snow, which was heavy at times, and an NFL football game. I never captured any of the snow on camera very well, but I did get one picture of the snow on the mountain behind the house. I don't remember who played in the football game. Here is the picture of the snow on the mountain.
Tomorrow, I will tell you about the only day on the trip that it didn't rain, but also, the one on which I left my phone at the VRBO. Uh, oh! That means no pictures from me until the afternoon. Maybe, Kellie can give us some.