With F not on her class trip, I decided to keep things low-key but still have a nice day out.
I had to do a tree survey for one of my projects (listing height, spread and caliper) so I enlisted F to help me; it's what I would have done anyway if she'd been on the trip. We had to enter through the "no trespassing" gate which made her nervous, but I assured her that since this is my project site, we're not actually trespassing. Then we parked the car and had to tromp across what was used for many years as a dump (people tended to just chuck things into arroyos). There were lots of sticker-bushes and old bottles. Even an entire stove and armchair. They've filled in the arroyo with dirt but it's loose and sandy, so we had to watch our footing. When we got to the other side, it was much easier, but we had step over an old barbed-wire fence. This also made F nervous, but it was all fine; we had on good shoes and she is an experienced hiker (since she could walk!).
I think it was good for her to have to confront these kinds of very mild risks (trespassing! cacti! tumbleweeds! rusty fences!) given some of her fears.
After we were done, and I'd closed the "no trespassing" gate, we headed up to Tsankawi, an American Indian ancestral site from about the 1400s. It was windy but beautiful. I thought a hike, being outside, would be good since that's what her classmates are doing, and I think being outside clears your head. The hike was incredible. Not too long. It includes trails heavily grooved into the rock by the former residents, other trails along the mesa top and two kiva-type ladders.
It was a good opportunity to talk about things, and also to think about the people who used to live here. What would it have been like to be a kid back then, living here in a cave in the rock? There were petroglyphs and pot shards, too.
After the hike we stopped for lunch at one of my favorite taco places in Pojoaque. It was 12:30 and it was packed! We got a seat at a table for four, but I saw two women who came after us who were waiting to sit and there were no tables, so I asked them to sit with us. It turned out they were from Picuris Pueblo (one of the 19 Indian pueblos in our state) about an hour from where we live, and they'd been in Santa Fe for the day and were heading home. We chatted about all kinds of stuff (one of them grew up right near where we live).
Before we all went on our way, they invited us to the Picuris Pueblo feast day in August. Such a great opportunity! I know a lot of people go to the Feast Days, but I feel weird if I'm not invited.
It's good to make a connection with people, and I think that's probably exactly what F needed today. Because this is a finance blog, the day cost $35 (that's for lunch and trail passes) and we have a ton of leftover chips and guacamole!
A Northern New Mexico Kind of Day... (with a few photos)
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