Seeley Great Adventure 2022

 We arrived in San Antonio today. We are safe, but our Venice neighbors are in danger still. We have no word on their safety, nor on the condition of their houses and other property - nor on ours. All of us are resilient. We will get thru this. Peace be with you.

 New Mexico is a state rich in history and tradition. In addition to being the Chile Capital of the World and the home of the Pueblo people, it is also the birthplace of the nuclear bomb. We decided to take the Tram from the base of the Sandia Mountains outside Albuquerque all the way to the top, a trip of more than 4,000 ft of elevation gain to a final height of 10,300 ft, for lunch and a view of the valley below. Drinks and lunch in the mountaintop restaurant were great, and the view was good, too! Then the trip down, with more sites….including this hang glider, who must have been up at 11-12,000 ft. We followed this up later in the day with a stroll outside the Albuquerque History Museum. And then we went inside for more interesting stuff……. The caption on the painting below reads: The Three Graces, by Delmas Howe  ca. 1990’s “In many depictions of cowboys, the figure is shown in action, dressed in stereotypical clothing, and surrounded by the grandeur of the Western landsc...

Our first day in Cortez, Colorado was spent at Mesa Verde National Park. First we hiked over steep and narrow steps down to the Cliff Palace on the Chapin Mesa and enjoyed several Rangers talking about the settlements’ construction. This included an explanation about the multiple uses of the kivas, which were round structures dug into the ground and covered with a roof. A hole in the roof allowed families to enter by climbing down a ladder. The roof opening also served to vent a fire pit located in the center of the room below. This became a meeting place for the family and later evolved into a place to hold gatherings, celebrations, religious services, and occasionally even for the temporary storage of food. The Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. It grew to over 150 rooms and more than 20 kivas; the estimated population at its peak was around 100 people.  Built in roughly 1190, it was abandoned about 1300 CE.  Of the nearly 600 cliff dwellings in the...