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20050512 Farmington NM Picture Link
Today was a great day. We got up at a reasonable time, ate & left Bernalillo on US-550 (four-lane, all the way) heading NW.
It was in the low 50's when we started and only got up to the high 60's. The wind finally died down to normal. Given all this, the truck purred like a kitten and got 13mpg while towing mostly at 70mph.
I guess the problems were all the wind's fault. It brought down a USAF Pave Low copter doing high-altitude takeoffs about where we were. One man, the flight engineer, was killed.
TV says the BRAC list comes out tomorrow. That will cure a lot of ulcers and start others.
The country on the way here was desert. The humidity yesterday was 9%. There were a few beeves, but no wildlife to be seen (unless you count a lizard).
We arrived early and set up the rig. Dolores opened the door to go in but only the outer door came with her hand - the screen door wound up in some intermediate position. As she lifted her leg, the door corner slashed her knee and tore up her slacks. She treated her (minor) wound with hydrogen peroxide and went on. She did yell, "Bad door!!" a few times.
So we went to the mall, to Dillards to replace the slacks, then lunch.
Onward then to Aztec Ruins National Monument. This site features the remains of a large pueblo/community built around 1000 and abandoned around 1215. The complex ran to 400 rooms built mainly of sandstone quarried locally and part of the site rose three stories. Its overall dimensions were something like 340' by 150'. I won't bore you all with details, but it was rather neat walking through spaces where the ancients lived a thousand years ago. There is a similar complex a few hundred yards east, waiting for more advanced archeological techniques to determine its nature.
We took the walking tour, then watched the video. These "Anasazi" or "Ancestral Pueblo Dwellers" (the latter is more PC these days) philosophy included that all things were alive, given by the earth. They, then, wanted to live harmoniously with the earth in all things. Sounds good to me.
We left there and drove to Bloomfield, to a place called Salmon Ruins. We drank a bottle of water as we made the drive - this is very dry country.
Salmon Ruins is a very similar ruins to the Aztec Ruins, owned for a period by the Salmon family and donated to San Juan County. Part of these ruins have been lost due to encroachment by the river, but the rest is still there. This site hasn't been excavated to the degree Aztec West has, but much of it was opened and then backfilled to wait for better archeologists or equipment.
We walked the tour here also. As we left, we drank another bottle of water.
We took a driving tour of Farmington. Much of it is the standard set of chain restaurants and stores. We decided it was a little much, hit Safeway for a few groceries, and returned to the little house.
The news came on, so we watched it while the little grill warmed. The I grilled steaks and made salad while Dolores nuked the spuds. D had Shiraz, I had Cab Sauvignon, and all was well again.
There will be some TV for Dolores, I'll finish this and read.
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