Dear Maia, Isaac, and Virtual Wanderers,

Happy Easter! It’s fun when Easter falls on a road trip!

Today, we started the day in Grants, NM. The sun was out and it felt amazing. We took I 40 to S bound Hwy 6, then Hwy 47 to US 60. Yes, I avoid cities. Our destination: Salinas Mission Pueblos National Monument.

It was an interesting drive through the New Mexico terrain. It took about 2 hours to get to the 1st site, Abo. I laugh about discovering these ruins about 10 years ago when Maizzy and I “winged” our trips together. We ended up at a motel in Socorro and they had a picture of Abo on the wall. I did a web search and we found it! This is our 3rd visit.

There are three ruin sites. It’s 20+ miles between the sites. I consider the ruins a hybrid of the traditional Ancient Pueblo sites, like Chaco Canyon, and the Spanish missions. The Pueblo Indians built the ruins for the Spanish. It was a time of cultural conflict then, as it is today.

We hiked around Abo in the wind (no snow) for about an hour. Then we headed east on 60 to the town of Mountainair. We stopped at the Salinas Mission Pueblo Museum, then north on Hwy 55 to Quarai. This huge mission reminds me of a photo I got of her here. Her tiny size showed how gigantic these ruins are.

The last site, Gran Quivira, is a 25 mile drive from Mountainair. We always seem to be running out of time before we get here. This site is south of Mountainair on Hwy 55. It’s a long drive through grasslands but the enormous ruin is worth the drive.  Just be sure to allow enough time to explore inside some of the buildings.

When we were done we had another 90 minute drive to the motel. It was a long day with a nice 4 hour side trip. I’m beat so I’ll stop for today. Need some shut eye.

Love ya’ll, Cathy H

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