Ain't you glad you gotta dream called Santa Fe...

The second night we camped in Las Vegas, NM, at a state park called Storrie Lake. We arrived really late and there was a storm brewing so we didn't get to see the lake until the morning. But it was really pretty!

There's a little glimpse of it through the trees.

One of the picnic areas. Everything was adobe!

Ethan, my ever faithful little poser!

Our camp out spot. Ethan's telling Dawna some story he concocted!

Our own little house, just for us! $14 a night with electrical hookup and showers! That's a deal! Plus the workers were extremely nice!

Some NM prairie!

Another shot of Storrie Lake.

On the road, Body Guard #1 poses.

On our way to Santa Fe we see some lovely prairie and rolling hills! We're almost there!

Scrub brush. Can you imagine driving cattle through that?

Vermilion Mesas!

Now we're just outside Santa Fe after an agonizing drive. This is a gas station! Can you believe it? A gas station!

There's Santa Fe! Way out there! I was so excited I could hardly stand it!

"Hey, it's Indiana Bill! Paparazzi's going wild!"

"There she is! Here am I! There is nothing can keep me away from lovely Santa Fe!"

This was a mall!? A Mall! There wasn't just one mall!

I apologize for these next pictures. I was still experimenting with exposure.

It was just everywhere! And we were loving it up!

The court yard.

Don't your just love the look! I couldn't put my camera down for a sec!

There was hardly anyone there. Which was surprising.

Two beautiful ladies bask in the New Mexican sunshine. :)

Mom and Dad scout out a campground.

They found a loverly one, too. Santa Fe Skies or something poetical like that! Seven stall showers! Fancy! We never had it so good! :D

It really wasn't yellow in there, I just liked the sunset effect on my camera. :)

Mirrors! Amateur Photographers latest passions. :D

Like...lap of luxury! It even had a permer chair there! :D

The walkway around the office and bathrooms. I couldn't get enough of anything!

The patio out back of the office. I so wanted to have a cook out back there and watch the sunset. But it began raining again at night, so there was no sunset! Farewell to thoughts of warm, sultry New Mexico! Must be reserved for HOT Arizona! :D

A New Mexican maiden against the adobe.

Our camping spot. We were squished between two huge RV's which made our's feel quite small. We consoled it by saying it was terribly comfortable! :D *grimace*

Cramped, but comfortable!

Do not be fooled by the adorable look on his face! Tis fake! Tis vile! But wins oh so many cookies and kisses from big sistors!! :D

Dawna and I were given the task of locating the garbage. It was pretty easy. All you had to do was follow the yellow footprints! (As if you couldn't find it yourself!)

The task finished we move on... This was a...thing they used to carry water from the Rio Grande. Quite impressive. :)

Yay! Let's all get pictures by the garbage wall! Truly, this work of art was used to cover up the garbage bends!

After lunch we all proceeded to the suburban for the purpose of traveling yet again to be typical tourists! Off we go to Bandelier National Monument!

Oh, Mama! There's that weird girl again! And she's smiling. What did you do NOW?

A sweet face is a joy forever! Love you Hannah!

Hannah gets a shot of Dad in the mirror. Nice one, dear! :)

Sweet faces cease to exist. Very amusing, darlings! Not bored! Never bored! Only boring people get bored! We are experimenting with self entertainment!

Aw, sweet faces again! Someone loves Kayla's camera, meanwhile...

The owner sleeps there-during.

And we all know we love self portraits! Are we there yet?

Yes! We're there! And after browsing through the loverly vistor's center, we're to visit ancient cliffs, bespeaking of times in the past, evil and dark, of a people with cause to hide!

It had pretty rest spots all along the way.

The ruins arise....And the sweat pits...appear. This should give you an idea of how...looming they were. They were huge and foreboding, but mysterious and intriguing!

On hands experience! Can you see Joseph and Ethan up in there?

You wanna live up there? It was pretty cool! That, as Joseph dubbed it, is the chieftan's cave. It was pretty big. Hm, he must of had a lot of kids! ;)

A face in the stone. Kind of scary!

Inside one of the caves. Cool, huh? Don't you want to live in there? Betcha you would like it! You can even have a fire without having to worry about it spreading! :D And it's very fashionable to boot! ;) Everybody wants houses like these! And they come awfully cheap, too! You can't pass up this great offer!

Amongst the ruins. It was very cool! Some people say the Anasazi just used the cliffs as a battle defense against their enemies, and that they really lived down below. Which is smart, but some also said they first lived up in the cliffs then moved down. It doesn't matter, really. They obviously used both at one time or another. :)

Daddy pauses for a rest and I take advantage of this perfect moment! :) Love you, pops! :D (No, I don't really call him pops all the time, just when I'm tired-happy. :) He hasn't told me to stop yet. :D)

Ethan really took to the whole living in the cliff thing! He's adventurous in that sort of way! I'd like to live up there, too! I'd feel like the Swiss Family Robinson, only I'd be with the Dutch Family Cavemen! :D

Only some caves were a little cramped. Can you imagine what they used to make those holes in the rocks? Goodness, it probably took a long time! So if you asked the Anasazi children what they did for fun on a Saturday night, instead of throwing rocks in the lake, they'd say, "Go dig holes in the cliff face and scare my mom with how high I can climb!" :)

I don't think the Anasazi had it so good, these steps were put in later. If you ask me, we're the primitive ones. Just think how agile and strong those Indians had to be to go to bed every night! :)

An escape route is spotted, plus hand made hand and foot holds.

Caught on tape! And on picture!

Through the opening...we all goest in!

Inside the chieftan's big rock teepee, you could stand up and the walls were still blackened with soot. Dawna: Is that light ahead? Joseph: If it is, we all be dead! Hehe! (Feel free to laugh at my poor caption.) :D

This is what Dawna was really looking at. They were sticking out of the walls all the way around the cave.

Moving on, we descendest. Man, I don't mind heights, but what if one of those indians did? I guess they really didn't have a choice, did they?

More ruins...They were all over!

This was the indian village ruins on the ground. We saw a miniature of the real thing on, and it was basically a round, circular apartment type house, with each house stake on top of each other, sharing the same chimney. :)

Of course, we must have a picture with them! :) It was a very exciting place! :)

Ah, yes. Little rest areas again. A seat in the sun. :)

Crossing the Rio Grande! I've always wanted to do that after I watched John Wayne's Rio Grande. :D It's so exciting!

Once again in Santa Fe we quickly do the finishing touches on our trip. Once again I cannot get over all the adobe buildings. MacDonalds, Wal-Marts, Albertsons, ALL abobe and south-westernish!

Entrance to Loretto Chapel. It was so spectacular!

The Miraculous Staircase. Now, that was a sight worth seeing! Kind of makes you wonder!

Everything was so beauitful. It was relatively small, but so gorgeous. It used to be a school for girls back in the 1800's.

Dawna with red peppers! Oh, those things set the atmosphere! I wanted to bring one home...not quite sure why I didn't. I bought a blanket from Mexico instead. :)

Must get Lucy with her lamp post!

What a magnificent buidiling! I'd never seen anything like it!

It was very well kept! As you can see, I thought so, too. :)

On our way to the square, my posers stopped for a picture. :) Love you!

What it looks like going down the street. Adobe on every side! I love that style! (Readers: No! Really? I never would have guessed!) ;)

We arrive at the square! Tons of little shops all around! We had a lot of run rumaging through them. Mom and Dad sat on a park bent and were serenaded by a banjo player.

Random. Completely random. :) But then again, sometimes random things are pretty interesting. :)

The Palace of the Governors. Lew Wallace wrote some of the most dramatic scenes here from his book Ben Hur.

Preciousest!

Have a wonderful evening everyone! And may all your dreams be tiggerish dreams. :)