A Saturday Drive

Spring is arriving in Albuquerque with leaves starting to sprout out, pink, white and yellow flowers appearing on trees and shrubs and those spring bulbs appearing above the warm soil even if there is still a bit of snow on the ground.  However, weather here is very unpredictable and we could have a major snow storm with snow on the ground before we see the middle of April. 

With the weather so warm, last Saturday we decided to take a trip to the east side of the Sandia Mountains north on Highway 14  to visit Tinkertown but found it closed for the winter season opening again on April 1 so will try again after that date.  What is Tinkertown?  Wait for a later blog and you will find out.

Returning to the Highway 14, we stopped at a local restaurant called Ribs for some lunch.  It is a small place but the food is quite good.  Ron had ribs and fries and I had a half hoagie bun filled with pulled pork covered in sauce and potato salad.  Portions were just right and delicious.  Across the shopping center we found the Watermelon Gallery which houses some lovely paintings by local artists.  While a number of paintings were appealing, the prices and lack of wall space in the RV kept us from making a purchase.   

Following the highway toward I-40, we crossed under the freeway and headed south toward the Manzano (means apple in Spanish) Mountains where there are numerous hiking trails, Cibola Forest picnic grounds, houses and several small communities.  This is a good two lane highway with adequate shoulders which at times wind here and there.  The road does wind but is a great road even for large RV’s with toweds.  The local Elks Lodge has a Refuge Campground in the area which is quite nice though somewhat primitive.  In the summer it is a good place to get away from the heat of the city.

We drove as far as the community of Chilili which does not really amount to much except a very, very small General Store.  On our return trip, we stopped at this old church (Iglesia de San Isidro) in the town of Escobosa (in Spanish it means the grass used for broom making). 

As we drive back toward I-40, we noticed there was a Tijeras Pueblo Archaeological Site behind the Ranger Station  in Tijeras of which we were unaware.

A short 1/3 of a mile trail took us around the many mounds, etc. where we found many signs about the people that lived here in the 1300’s; however,  we were disappointed to find that there is really not much to see other than the signs.

 Between 1971 and 1976, the Dept. of Anthropology at the Univ. of NM excavated the area and many artifacts were found.  However, it was backfilled afterwards to protect the area from the elements.  Too bad as seeing the actual excavated sites are far more interesting.  Below is info found on line about the site and a picture of what they think the site looked like when occupied.

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Pre-Historic Background The Tijeras Pueblo site had two main occupations.  Tree-ring date research places the dates of overall occupation of the site from 1313 to approximately 1425 AD.  There is speculation that these peoples were part of the general migration from the "four corners" area (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado), but there is no evidence to solidly identify any exact previous location.

The pueblo was initially built up in the first part of the 14th century to include a main structure consisting of 200 rooms, arranged in somewhat of a U-shape.  A large ceremonial kiva constructed in the center of the pueblo area may indicate that it could have been important in the lives of members of nearby communities.  Archaeological evidence indicates that Tijeras Pueblo was at least partially abandoned in the 14th century.  It appears that around 1360, perhaps up to half of the occupants left.  The reasons the population left the site may relate to drought and related land use issues, but this is not proven fact and other factors may have possibly been in play.

A nice day to get out and enjoy the outdoors.  I tend to be what my mother called “a hot house plant” since I spend so much time inside doing my crafts, sewing, reading, etc.  It’s not as if I don’t like the outdoors, it’s just too easy to stay put.  Hopefully, getting on the road again will give us incentive to see what is outdoors along the way.