Day Trip to Acoma

On a previous visit, Mom had said something about visiting Acoma Sky City on the Acoma Pueblo about an hour west of Albuquerque. We didn't have time on that trip to go so before she came on Tuesday, I suggested she pack appropriate shoes to walk around out there and we'd make the trek out there. Paul wanted to go with us on our "field trip" as he doesn't remember ever having gone but unfortunately, he wasn't able to get away from work. I'd gone once before as a chaperone on a school field trip. I know I missed a good portion since I was trying to herd middle school children so I was excited to go this time.

All the photos are courtesy of my mom. A photo permit is required while on the reservation and we opted to just get one. We went on Friday morning and had wonderful weather. It was windy earlier this week but thankfully, it was just a breeze out at Acoma. As you can see in the pictures, I don't think there was a cloud in the sky.

There was a great article in the May 2008 Smithsonian magazine about the Acoma Pueblo. It gives a great overview of the history of the pueblo, much of which was also covered on the tour. (There are also some comments below from various people that are worthwhile additions to the article.)

Rock formations on the the drive to the visitor's center:
The San Esteban del Rey Mission, a Catholic church on the mesa. Construction was begun in 1629. All the dirt for the cemetery at the church was brought up by the women and children (the cemetery is to the left of the church but isn't in the picture).
The bell tower on the church. The bell on the left was from Mexico and the bell on the right was a gift from the King of Spain (I believe) after construction was finished.
Ladders at the main kiva. The tops of the ladders are pointed to "pierce the clouds" in hopes of bringing rain. It was mentioned several times on the tour that the Acoma have a variety of beliefs about bringing rain to the region.
The "Enchanted Mesa" on the Acoma Pueblo.
Checking out the horno oven, traditionally used to fire pottery (although the guide mentioned that they aren't used as frequently for this anymore) and for cooking purposes.
One of the houses made with adobe bricks. The houses range from being made from sandstone, adobe, and modern materials (cinderblocks and stucco).
Looking up from part of the ancient stairway--the path originally used by the Acoma to get to the top of the mesa.
Heading down the ancient stairs--there are handholds in the rocks and some of the steps have been "improved" with larger rocks and concrete.
Mom near the bottom of the stairs.
Looking back toward the mesa from the visitor's center. We had lunch at the cafe there and Mom had fry bread for the first time. That's some good stuff.
At the overlook on the drive to Acoma Sky City.
A self-portrait.
We were back in Albuquerque by about 2:00 so it was a nice half-day trip and a nice reprieve from all that shopping. (OK, it's not like we were tearing it up shopping--just picking up a few things for our upcoming trip to England and doing some window shopping.)

The word for the weekend was "chillax"

Paul and I spent a lazy holiday weekend at home. We'd talked about going to the cabin but decided against it earlier in the week. It ended up being a good choice since it turned COLD the end part of the week--from low-90's on Monday and Tuesday to low-50's on Thursday and Friday. I think there was snow in Chama (we had rain and cold). We probably would have freezed our tootsies off up there since we were pretty darn cold at the house. There was snow up on Sandia--it's the latest I can remember seeing snow. Of course by Monday, it was back up into the mid-80's, sunny, and lovely.

School was out on Thursday at noon and I'd intended to go to work on Friday to finish up a few things. Good intentions that I didn't quite follow through on. It was cold and I was happier on the couch with the warm kitty. I did make it to the retirement dinner party for a coworker that evening When I got home, Paul was making dinner, with a little help from the cat:
Saturday was spent cleaning and running a variety of errands. One of Paul's friends from his old job recently purchased a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant so we went there for lunch. It was good but that it such a tough business. We hope they do OK--I know we'd frequent it more often if it wasn't in Downtown. I suggested to Paul that he should help Eric with some of the painting and other stuff Eric was saying he needed to get done. Paul suggested he would be better off helping Eric by eating there--true enough. Paul isn't one to do much manual labor and as he said, he hates to paint.

Sunday evening, we had dinner at our our friends' house down the street. We were talking about the joys of swamp coolers--they're both from the Midwest and had no idea about evaporative coolers until they moved here and didn't realize they had to unhook it in November. They hadn't hooked up their cooler yet and didn't know how to do it so I volunteered Paul to go down on Monday morning and help Jeff do it. To be fair, I did go with him and ended up doing what was always my job (changing the pads) until last year's glorious change to refrigerated air. The rest of the day I spent with my friend Devlyn since it was her birthday yesterday. We had lunch and did a little window shopping.

Today, I finally made it up to school and the gym and have since managed to spend the rest of the day irritating the cat by my mere presence. The cat wasn't on this chair when I put my book down but he still manages to be annoyd with it.

My mom gets in this evening and she will be spending the rest of the week here. Not sure what we're doing but I'm sure we'll have a good time.

Answered Prayers

I've always thought/been taught that God answers prayers in three ways:
1. Yes
2. No
3. Wait

Thankfully, God said YES! to all the prayers that went up for Preston over the past week.

The neurologist put Preston's recovery in the top 5% he's treated. He'd originally told the family that it could be up to a month in the ICU alone. Preston was able to go home from the hospital yesterday. What a roller coaster week--one Saturday, not knowing if he'd even survive to the next Saturday, learning he was going to be dismissed even earlier than expected (we'd been told possibly Monday). Gene said Preston would be home from school for another week or so and then go back for a couple of classes the last few weeks of school, as much for the socialization as anything.

One of the chaplains told Preston something that I later heard from my mom. The chaplain told Preston that God would want him to do the things he enjoys and have a good time. But be ready to listen when God talks because there's a reason for all of this. I hope Preston will remember these words because I do think there was some big reason he has done so well.