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Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Grand Canyon: Rain or Shine! ... Or Hail?
We arrived at the koa kampground near the canyon at about 7:30am as planned, set up our tent, and caught a few hours of sleep. When we awoke, we were extremely disappointed to find that it was raining and the sky was looking pretty dark all around! We decided to head up towards the canyon anyways, with hope that the weather might clear up for a little while so we could go on a short hike around at least part of the canyon. As we approached the canyon village, the sky opened up and it started pouring! So we went to the imax theatre to see the national geographic film on how the canyon was discovered and its earliest documentations. Who would have known that several busloads of Chinese tourists would have the sake idea?!? The entire place- gift shop, cafe, restrooms, and every inch of space was crawling with them! It wasn't an issue, except that as we were standing patiently in line at the concession stand, waiting to get our popcorn, candy, soda, etc., they kept rudely running into us and pushing us around, without even a hint of an apology! Additionally, the attendant at the concession stand was very maddeningly meek and slow and kept serving people who would blatantly cut in front of the line! To top it all off, one of the Chinese people stepped in front of everyone to ask the girl what the price was on a t-shirt... ok, a) this was a CONCESSION stand! b) the price was printed ON THE SHIRT! c) it took them at least 10 MINUTES to understand $20 and that they had to go pay at one of the gift shop registers, and d) we had already been waiting in line for 15 minutes and there were only 2 PEOPLE in line in front of us when we first got in line!!! So yes, it was quite a test of patience for us to stand there and keep our mouths shut, and even MORE to be polite when the girl told us she couldn't accept our credit cards because the machine wasn't working... a sign would have been nice, but apparently made too much sense to post... So we had to put our already-made order to the side, run out in the pouring rain to the only atm in the whole place, and then pick up our cold popcorn and get in the now mile- long line for the movie... which skipped/stopped several times in the middle of playing... Needless to say, we were not very impressed with the grand canyon imax experience and would not recommend it to anyone!
It was still pouring out when we left, so we decided to go over to the local grocery market to pick up some food supplies. Everything was ridiculously overpriced, so we only purchased some items to make sandwiches and some bottles of water. As we left the store, the sun was finally peeking out from behind the storm clouds, so we decided to make the most of it and headed up to the canyon. We were able to see part of the canyon for about 15 minutes & snap a few pictures before the skies filled in again with black clouds & the wind and rain drove us back to the jeep. On the way back down to the campground, we spotted some elk in the woods off the side of the road, so that was a pretty cool ending to a pretty crappy day. Even the 15 minutes we got of nice weather at the canyon was enough to completely erase any negativity from prior events, it was absolutely breathtaking!!
We spent the rest of the evening cuddled up in front of the fireplace at the lodge, listening to the rain gush down and hammer on the roof, wondering how much water would be puddled up inside our tent... Surprisingly, there was only a little water in one corner, and that was probably mostly from the water that poured in when we opened the tent! So we bundled up and fell asleep listening to the thunder and rain pummel the earth around us.
Throughout the night, I kept waking up because the wind was buffeting the wet sides of the tent onto me, and the rain had finally won against the waterproofing spray and was sprinkling in on us. I also believe it was hailing at one point, because I put my hand against the side of the tent, and what was falling from the sky actually stung my hand! At about 12am there was a brief pause in the hurricane-like conditions, so I got up and grabbed our spare tarp out of the jeep and staked it down over the tent. It worked amazingly well to keep us dry for the rest of the night, although it was much louder in the wind.
We awoke in the morning because heavy winds were threatening to rip the tarp right off the tent. So we got up and put the tarp away, hoping the wind and brief glimpses of sun would dry the tent before we had to put it away. We headed into the lodge for some breakfast, and by the time we were done, it was raining again! We rushed out to pack up the tent & all of our gear before everything got even more soaked, chucked it in the jeep, and hit the road again, destination: San Diego, California.
We decided to take a detour into Phoenix, and found a Starbucks where we could go online and find a place to stay in SD. While we were there, the skies cleared up a little and allowed the sun to shine for about a half hour, but as soon as we stepped outside to leave, it began hailing golf balls!! Shortly after the hail started, it seemed like someone had opened a firehose on Phoenix because it must have rained at least 4inches in a matter of 15 minutes!!!
Just as quickly as the storm started, it stopped and the sun came out again (and we think New England has crazy weather?!?), so we hit the road, hoping to escape the weather and get as far away from those dark clouds as possible! On the way to the highway, we spotted some of the aftermath of the storm, including flooded roads, piles of ice/milestones, and on a brighter note, we spotted a beautiful rainbow!
There must have been a bad accident as well, because once we got on the highway, we were sitting in the same spot for almost an hour! We were finally able to creep off to the right side of the highway and exit into a nearby town, with the intention of catching the highway further up. However, hundreds of other people had the same idea, and to make matters worse, the town we were in had lost power so none of the traffic lights were working! We eventually made it out of town and back onto the highway, and were finally on our way to the great state of Californ-I-A!
Interesting side note: the gps took us on the southern Rte.8 which follows the border of Mexico verrry closely, so we passed through several border patrol check-points... Being the proactive girl that I am, I was also thinking over my options and plans of escaping if we were to be ambushed by Mexican drug dealers or otherwise hostile border-people, and so I was prepared and vigilant for the worst-case scenario... Fortunately, I didn't have to test these plans, and we made it to our 2-star motel safe and sound!
It was still pouring out when we left, so we decided to go over to the local grocery market to pick up some food supplies. Everything was ridiculously overpriced, so we only purchased some items to make sandwiches and some bottles of water. As we left the store, the sun was finally peeking out from behind the storm clouds, so we decided to make the most of it and headed up to the canyon. We were able to see part of the canyon for about 15 minutes & snap a few pictures before the skies filled in again with black clouds & the wind and rain drove us back to the jeep. On the way back down to the campground, we spotted some elk in the woods off the side of the road, so that was a pretty cool ending to a pretty crappy day. Even the 15 minutes we got of nice weather at the canyon was enough to completely erase any negativity from prior events, it was absolutely breathtaking!!
We spent the rest of the evening cuddled up in front of the fireplace at the lodge, listening to the rain gush down and hammer on the roof, wondering how much water would be puddled up inside our tent... Surprisingly, there was only a little water in one corner, and that was probably mostly from the water that poured in when we opened the tent! So we bundled up and fell asleep listening to the thunder and rain pummel the earth around us.
Throughout the night, I kept waking up because the wind was buffeting the wet sides of the tent onto me, and the rain had finally won against the waterproofing spray and was sprinkling in on us. I also believe it was hailing at one point, because I put my hand against the side of the tent, and what was falling from the sky actually stung my hand! At about 12am there was a brief pause in the hurricane-like conditions, so I got up and grabbed our spare tarp out of the jeep and staked it down over the tent. It worked amazingly well to keep us dry for the rest of the night, although it was much louder in the wind.
We awoke in the morning because heavy winds were threatening to rip the tarp right off the tent. So we got up and put the tarp away, hoping the wind and brief glimpses of sun would dry the tent before we had to put it away. We headed into the lodge for some breakfast, and by the time we were done, it was raining again! We rushed out to pack up the tent & all of our gear before everything got even more soaked, chucked it in the jeep, and hit the road again, destination: San Diego, California.
We decided to take a detour into Phoenix, and found a Starbucks where we could go online and find a place to stay in SD. While we were there, the skies cleared up a little and allowed the sun to shine for about a half hour, but as soon as we stepped outside to leave, it began hailing golf balls!! Shortly after the hail started, it seemed like someone had opened a firehose on Phoenix because it must have rained at least 4inches in a matter of 15 minutes!!!
Just as quickly as the storm started, it stopped and the sun came out again (and we think New England has crazy weather?!?), so we hit the road, hoping to escape the weather and get as far away from those dark clouds as possible! On the way to the highway, we spotted some of the aftermath of the storm, including flooded roads, piles of ice/milestones, and on a brighter note, we spotted a beautiful rainbow!
There must have been a bad accident as well, because once we got on the highway, we were sitting in the same spot for almost an hour! We were finally able to creep off to the right side of the highway and exit into a nearby town, with the intention of catching the highway further up. However, hundreds of other people had the same idea, and to make matters worse, the town we were in had lost power so none of the traffic lights were working! We eventually made it out of town and back onto the highway, and were finally on our way to the great state of Californ-I-A!
Interesting side note: the gps took us on the southern Rte.8 which follows the border of Mexico verrry closely, so we passed through several border patrol check-points... Being the proactive girl that I am, I was also thinking over my options and plans of escaping if we were to be ambushed by Mexican drug dealers or otherwise hostile border-people, and so I was prepared and vigilant for the worst-case scenario... Fortunately, I didn't have to test these plans, and we made it to our 2-star motel safe and sound!
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Sunrise in Albuquerque, NM
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Pics
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Balloons!
We arrived in Albuquerque Thursday evening and met up with our friends from CT who were staying at a hotel in town. They were there as lemonade/food vendors for New Mexico's annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. They had just gotten back from a hike up one of the nearby mountains,, and Jay had taken a tumble... and landed in a cactus! So they were all getting ready to settle in for the night & picking thorns out of Jay's hands and feet! We ordered some pizzas for dinner, and it was shocking how impossible it was to find anywhere that would a) deliver, and b) would make a buffalo chicken pizza! so we ended up driving to pick up our pizzas and the closest we could get to what we wanted was a chicken & bacon pizza and a spinach & garlic pizza...
Friday morning we woke up and the lemon crew went to finish setting up their stand, and we headed to the Rio Grande Nature Park. It was a nice day for a nature walk, and we got to sit on the side of the Rio Grande and listen to the quiet sounds of nature, even though we were walking distance from the city. After the walk, we headed to Starbucks for an afternoon pick-me-up and some quality internet time, and then headed back to the hotel room to hang with the crew and get to sleep early.
Saturday morning we woke up at 3:45am and got ready to attend the sunrise opening ceremony and mass ascension, aka hundreds of hot air balloons being sent off into the sky! Sunrise was at 7:00am and as the sky became lighter, we were able to watch as hundreds of balloons began to inflate and then lift off into the sky. It took 2 hours or maybe even a little more for all of the balloons to leave the ground, and it was a.truly amazing experience to watch it all happen!
After the balloons were all gone out of sight, we walked around the festival grounds to check out all the merchandise and food vendors, since the next scheduled event wasn't until 5:30pm! Somehow we kept ourselves occupied, including a trip to the store to purchase loads of glow sticks for the fireworks show which would be the grand finale for.the evening... However, around 4:00pm, some very heavy, dark, and very angry looking clouds began rolling in, and the winds began picking up. They had to cancel the twilight "twinkle glow"- where all of the balloons would be lit up and floating in the darkening sky, and it wasn't looking good for the fireworks. Finally, at about 7:00pm, just after the sun went behind the mountains, and over an hour ahead of schedule, the fireworks started! it was clearly not the show that had been planned, but rather a grand finale that lasted about 15 minutes, because the wind kept picking up and it seemed like they were trying to get the show in before the storm started. It was actually pretty cool, because the fireworks were battling with the lighting!
As soon as the show was over, there was a mad dash for the parking lot, so we headed over to the lemon to hang out with Jay & the crew until the lines to get out cleared up a little... Then back to the hotel! It was still pretty early, so we decided to go out, but we didn't know where to go, so we searched Albuquerque nightlife online, and the first search result was for Graham's Central Station! Apparently these club warehouses are all over the Midwest! So we convinced Jay to let one of the girls have the next day off so she could come out with us, and then got ready to go out while everyone else got ready for bed and another early morning...
By the time we arrived at the club, we were at peak pregame condition, and so the fun began immediately! We hopped from room to room, running and dancing through like mischievous fairies, staying in each place long enough to entertain the people on the dance floor, and then leaving before we could be approached. We even hit up the karaoke room, where Heather rocked out to the Britney Spears version of "I Love Rock'N'Roll", and the dj did the 'watermelon crawl' on the floor in silk pajamas and bunny ears! Overall, it was a very fun, exhilarating, exciting, outrageous evening!
The club closed at 2am so we caught a cab back to the hotel, but when we slid the key into the door, we found that someone had latched the security bolt, so we couldn't get in! Jay had told us not to come back until 3:30 because that's when everyone would be getting up, but we didn't think he was that serious about it! So we killed an hour and a half in the jeep, bs'ing about random nothingness and sobering up until 3:30am when we could finally lay our weary, danced-off butts down. Unfortunately, even though we waited to come back until we were told, nobody in the room was too eager to see us back, as lively as we still were, and so there was a little drama among a few of the crew members, but it seemed to clear itself up throughout the day. We spent most of the day Sunday sleeping off the remnants of the previous night, and finally got up around 3:00pm to get something to eat at IHOP! We didn't do much else until the crew came back from the lemon, and then we began packing up and getting ready to leave for the grand canyon... Our plan was to drive thru the night, arrive at the canyon koa kampground early in the morning, grab a few hours of sleep, and then hike the canyon in the afternoon... So we were back on the road around 1:30am!
Friday morning we woke up and the lemon crew went to finish setting up their stand, and we headed to the Rio Grande Nature Park. It was a nice day for a nature walk, and we got to sit on the side of the Rio Grande and listen to the quiet sounds of nature, even though we were walking distance from the city. After the walk, we headed to Starbucks for an afternoon pick-me-up and some quality internet time, and then headed back to the hotel room to hang with the crew and get to sleep early.
Saturday morning we woke up at 3:45am and got ready to attend the sunrise opening ceremony and mass ascension, aka hundreds of hot air balloons being sent off into the sky! Sunrise was at 7:00am and as the sky became lighter, we were able to watch as hundreds of balloons began to inflate and then lift off into the sky. It took 2 hours or maybe even a little more for all of the balloons to leave the ground, and it was a.truly amazing experience to watch it all happen!
After the balloons were all gone out of sight, we walked around the festival grounds to check out all the merchandise and food vendors, since the next scheduled event wasn't until 5:30pm! Somehow we kept ourselves occupied, including a trip to the store to purchase loads of glow sticks for the fireworks show which would be the grand finale for.the evening... However, around 4:00pm, some very heavy, dark, and very angry looking clouds began rolling in, and the winds began picking up. They had to cancel the twilight "twinkle glow"- where all of the balloons would be lit up and floating in the darkening sky, and it wasn't looking good for the fireworks. Finally, at about 7:00pm, just after the sun went behind the mountains, and over an hour ahead of schedule, the fireworks started! it was clearly not the show that had been planned, but rather a grand finale that lasted about 15 minutes, because the wind kept picking up and it seemed like they were trying to get the show in before the storm started. It was actually pretty cool, because the fireworks were battling with the lighting!
As soon as the show was over, there was a mad dash for the parking lot, so we headed over to the lemon to hang out with Jay & the crew until the lines to get out cleared up a little... Then back to the hotel! It was still pretty early, so we decided to go out, but we didn't know where to go, so we searched Albuquerque nightlife online, and the first search result was for Graham's Central Station! Apparently these club warehouses are all over the Midwest! So we convinced Jay to let one of the girls have the next day off so she could come out with us, and then got ready to go out while everyone else got ready for bed and another early morning...
By the time we arrived at the club, we were at peak pregame condition, and so the fun began immediately! We hopped from room to room, running and dancing through like mischievous fairies, staying in each place long enough to entertain the people on the dance floor, and then leaving before we could be approached. We even hit up the karaoke room, where Heather rocked out to the Britney Spears version of "I Love Rock'N'Roll", and the dj did the 'watermelon crawl' on the floor in silk pajamas and bunny ears! Overall, it was a very fun, exhilarating, exciting, outrageous evening!
The club closed at 2am so we caught a cab back to the hotel, but when we slid the key into the door, we found that someone had latched the security bolt, so we couldn't get in! Jay had told us not to come back until 3:30 because that's when everyone would be getting up, but we didn't think he was that serious about it! So we killed an hour and a half in the jeep, bs'ing about random nothingness and sobering up until 3:30am when we could finally lay our weary, danced-off butts down. Unfortunately, even though we waited to come back until we were told, nobody in the room was too eager to see us back, as lively as we still were, and so there was a little drama among a few of the crew members, but it seemed to clear itself up throughout the day. We spent most of the day Sunday sleeping off the remnants of the previous night, and finally got up around 3:00pm to get something to eat at IHOP! We didn't do much else until the crew came back from the lemon, and then we began packing up and getting ready to leave for the grand canyon... Our plan was to drive thru the night, arrive at the canyon koa kampground early in the morning, grab a few hours of sleep, and then hike the canyon in the afternoon... So we were back on the road around 1:30am!
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Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Pueblo
Thursday:
We got up, checked out, and went into Taos to check out the Taos Pueblo and their annual San Geronimo (Saint Jerome) festival activities. While there, we got to check out some of the shops and workplaces where the members of the tribe create their beautiful hand-made jewelry, clothing, and art, which are the staples of their most prominent industry; tourism. We also got to taste some of their preferred festival food, including Indian fry bread (which is the same thing as fried dough, but served with either honey or taco fillings, rather than maple syrup or marinara sauce), and the hottest (spicy) fajita that Heather has ever tasted! She may have been missing a few taste buds after she was finished eating it...
One of the most interesting things we got to see was when a group of the village's men appeared on top of the highest roof of the pueblo building, painted from head-to-toe in black & white horizontal bands, wearing only a type of sarong around their waists. They had 3 bunches of straw tied to each of their heads, making it look like they were wearing clown wigs, and they were hooting and cawing like crows, perched on top of the buildings and jumping around from roof to roof. Eventually, they hopped their way down to the main center area where all of the merchants were selling their wares, and began wreaking havoc among the crowds. We watched curiously as they took small babies over to the nearby river and washed their faces in it, and then began taking random people from their village forcefully (but gently) over to the river and pushing them in, splashing and soaking them in their clothes! Nobody seemed to know what was going on except for the members of the village, who allowed their small children to be taken out of their parents' arms, strollers, and off the ground, despite their terrified cries and protests. The older people followed along without much protest, knowing that they would be soaked whether they wanted to or not. The only fighter was a young boy, about 8 years old, who fought with his "captor," not wanting to be put in the river. As a result, the painted man held the boy firmly while he pulled off his shirt and tossed it across the river to the other bank, and then pulled off both of the boy's shoes and tossed them into the river, where they began to float away! The boy had no choice but to go into the water to retrieve his belongings, and once in, he was pushed down into the water anyway! To add to his embarrassment, when he returned to the side of the river, more of the painted men were waiting for him, with dirt in their hands, which they rubbed all over his wet body so it stuck, and then they poured an entire can of coke over his head! After watching the painted men perform more of their antics, like riding around in a baby stroller with an umbrella, and putting a man in the river for having a camera out (there was no photography of any kind allowed in the Pueblo during the festival), we decided it was time to hit the road. On the shuttle ride back to where the jeep was parked, we asked the driver, who was a member of the village, what the painted men were all about. He told us that they are the merry-makers of the village, and their antics were intended to entertain the crowd (which was very successful!). However, the part about throwing people into the river was because those people may have bothered or insulted them, so putting them in the river symbolized washing their 'naughtiness' away, and washing the babies' faces was a way of baptizing them, and hopefully washing any naughtiness away so they will be good when they get older. Overall, it was a very cool event and it was really amazing at how much the village people work together to promote the success and happiness of the group, rather than only looking out for their own personal interests. Afterward, I did a little research into their history, and found out that Saint Jerome is their patron saint of the village, and they have a chapel in his name in the Pueblo. Additionally, Taos Pueblo is the only living Native American community designated both a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and a National Historic Landmark. The multi-storied adobe buildings have been continuously inhabited for over 1000 years. It is the longest continuously inhabited place in the entire country. (Wikipedia)
The Taos Pueblo people are known to be extremely secretive and conservative, which is most likely the reason they prohibited any kind of photography into the festival where they would be practicing many ancient rituals, such as the pole climb, and where they allow members of other Pueblo villages to come and trade merchandise. There were many restricted areas where visitors were not allowed into, including their chapel and areas of religious practices within the Pueblo, and the places where they conduct their political activities. Possibly one of the most interesting facts I found, was that during the Roosevelt administration, some 48,000 acres of Pueblo land was taken from these people and designated as the Carson National Forest. I remember learning about this in a history class in school, and Roosevelt was honored for his efforts to preserve nature and designate such a huge piece of land as protected national forest. However, it was never mentioned that this land was owned and populated by an indigenous people who were doing a prefectly fine job of protecting the land and keeping it wild on their own! Fortunately, Nixon returned the land to the people and it is still in their full protection, and is still widely untouched by human influence.
After we left, we needed to get an oil change done before we hit the road to Albuquerque, so we found the local quick-lube, and were told that a simple oil change would cost almost $40 and that they did not do tire rotations, so we would have to pay and additional $10 to get the tires rotated at the tire place nextdoor! Fortunately for us, we had missed the turn for the place on our way there, so we had stopped to ask a man where it was, and he said he would have done the oil change for us, but he didn't have any oil... So we went back to his house to ask if he would do the service for us if we went to the store and bought oil. However, he was just about to leave, so instead, he took us to a small hole-in-the-wall mechanic shop, where he knew the owner, and he agreed to do the service for us, as long as we provided the oil... A trip to Autozone, 2 bottles of water, and $10 later, we drove off with a fully-serviced jeep, and an extra $25 in our pockets that would have been spent at the quick lube!
We got up, checked out, and went into Taos to check out the Taos Pueblo and their annual San Geronimo (Saint Jerome) festival activities. While there, we got to check out some of the shops and workplaces where the members of the tribe create their beautiful hand-made jewelry, clothing, and art, which are the staples of their most prominent industry; tourism. We also got to taste some of their preferred festival food, including Indian fry bread (which is the same thing as fried dough, but served with either honey or taco fillings, rather than maple syrup or marinara sauce), and the hottest (spicy) fajita that Heather has ever tasted! She may have been missing a few taste buds after she was finished eating it...
One of the most interesting things we got to see was when a group of the village's men appeared on top of the highest roof of the pueblo building, painted from head-to-toe in black & white horizontal bands, wearing only a type of sarong around their waists. They had 3 bunches of straw tied to each of their heads, making it look like they were wearing clown wigs, and they were hooting and cawing like crows, perched on top of the buildings and jumping around from roof to roof. Eventually, they hopped their way down to the main center area where all of the merchants were selling their wares, and began wreaking havoc among the crowds. We watched curiously as they took small babies over to the nearby river and washed their faces in it, and then began taking random people from their village forcefully (but gently) over to the river and pushing them in, splashing and soaking them in their clothes! Nobody seemed to know what was going on except for the members of the village, who allowed their small children to be taken out of their parents' arms, strollers, and off the ground, despite their terrified cries and protests. The older people followed along without much protest, knowing that they would be soaked whether they wanted to or not. The only fighter was a young boy, about 8 years old, who fought with his "captor," not wanting to be put in the river. As a result, the painted man held the boy firmly while he pulled off his shirt and tossed it across the river to the other bank, and then pulled off both of the boy's shoes and tossed them into the river, where they began to float away! The boy had no choice but to go into the water to retrieve his belongings, and once in, he was pushed down into the water anyway! To add to his embarrassment, when he returned to the side of the river, more of the painted men were waiting for him, with dirt in their hands, which they rubbed all over his wet body so it stuck, and then they poured an entire can of coke over his head! After watching the painted men perform more of their antics, like riding around in a baby stroller with an umbrella, and putting a man in the river for having a camera out (there was no photography of any kind allowed in the Pueblo during the festival), we decided it was time to hit the road. On the shuttle ride back to where the jeep was parked, we asked the driver, who was a member of the village, what the painted men were all about. He told us that they are the merry-makers of the village, and their antics were intended to entertain the crowd (which was very successful!). However, the part about throwing people into the river was because those people may have bothered or insulted them, so putting them in the river symbolized washing their 'naughtiness' away, and washing the babies' faces was a way of baptizing them, and hopefully washing any naughtiness away so they will be good when they get older. Overall, it was a very cool event and it was really amazing at how much the village people work together to promote the success and happiness of the group, rather than only looking out for their own personal interests. Afterward, I did a little research into their history, and found out that Saint Jerome is their patron saint of the village, and they have a chapel in his name in the Pueblo. Additionally, Taos Pueblo is the only living Native American community designated both a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and a National Historic Landmark. The multi-storied adobe buildings have been continuously inhabited for over 1000 years. It is the longest continuously inhabited place in the entire country. (Wikipedia)
The Taos Pueblo people are known to be extremely secretive and conservative, which is most likely the reason they prohibited any kind of photography into the festival where they would be practicing many ancient rituals, such as the pole climb, and where they allow members of other Pueblo villages to come and trade merchandise. There were many restricted areas where visitors were not allowed into, including their chapel and areas of religious practices within the Pueblo, and the places where they conduct their political activities. Possibly one of the most interesting facts I found, was that during the Roosevelt administration, some 48,000 acres of Pueblo land was taken from these people and designated as the Carson National Forest. I remember learning about this in a history class in school, and Roosevelt was honored for his efforts to preserve nature and designate such a huge piece of land as protected national forest. However, it was never mentioned that this land was owned and populated by an indigenous people who were doing a prefectly fine job of protecting the land and keeping it wild on their own! Fortunately, Nixon returned the land to the people and it is still in their full protection, and is still widely untouched by human influence.
After we left, we needed to get an oil change done before we hit the road to Albuquerque, so we found the local quick-lube, and were told that a simple oil change would cost almost $40 and that they did not do tire rotations, so we would have to pay and additional $10 to get the tires rotated at the tire place nextdoor! Fortunately for us, we had missed the turn for the place on our way there, so we had stopped to ask a man where it was, and he said he would have done the oil change for us, but he didn't have any oil... So we went back to his house to ask if he would do the service for us if we went to the store and bought oil. However, he was just about to leave, so instead, he took us to a small hole-in-the-wall mechanic shop, where he knew the owner, and he agreed to do the service for us, as long as we provided the oil... A trip to Autozone, 2 bottles of water, and $10 later, we drove off with a fully-serviced jeep, and an extra $25 in our pockets that would have been spent at the quick lube!
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