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Description and Itinerary (Printable (PDF) version)

Monday, November 1 Travel on Mountain View Tours bus (lavatory, air-conditioning and DVD player on board) , stopping in Hatch at Sparky’s or Subway for lunch. Afterward, a short bus tour through Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge will permit us to see a large variety of birdlife on the way to our hotel in Old Town, Albuquerque.

Tuesday, November 2 We begin our day by driving to Acoma Pueblo (http://sccc.acomaskycity.org/) to visit the Haak’u Museum at the Cultural Center and then our guided tour begins with a short ride to the top of the 367 foot high sandstone mesa to the historic pueblo village of Sky City and the home of the San Esteban del Rey Mission. Tribal members lead the walking tours sharing Acoma’s unique Native American history and culture in the type of oral presentation that the Pueblo people have been passing down for centuries. Considered one of the best cultural tours in New Mexico, Acoma-Sky City-ranks in the “top 10 great places to honor American Indian Life”-USA Today. Lunch at the Yaak’a Café and then on to The Sage Inn in Santa Fe (http://www.santafesageinn.com/).

Wednesday, November 3 We will take a 2 hour guided walking/bus tour of downtown Santa Fe in the morning. Santa Fe is an ancient city (contemporary with St. Augustine, Jamestown, and Quebec City) whose central plaza, meandering narrow streets and remnants of an intricate acequia system reflect its origins as a Spanish-American frontier outpost. After a buffet lunch at the historic La Fonda Hotel (http://www.lafondasantafe.com/), featuring the cuisine of New Mexico, you have the afternoon to begin your exploration of the Santa Fe museums. Your 4-day ticket includes admission to:

1.  The recently opened New Mexico History Museum and
2.  The New Mexico Museum of Art in the downtown area, as well as all of the four museums on Museum Hill.
3.  The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art—featuring objects from throughout the Spanish colonial world, housed in a historical building designed by John Gaw Meem.
4.  The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture—Where you will encounter Native cultures and artifacts of the Southwest from ancestral to contemporary, in exhibits drawing from more than 70,000 works of art and material culture.
5.  The Museum of International Folk Art—The color and excitement of the world’s cultures as shown through folk art chosen from a collection that includes toys, textiles, household goods and religious art.
6.  The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian—the oldest non-profit museum in New Mexico emphasizes important Native American art. Of course, there are shops in each museum that feature unique works of art, regional and international crafts, jewelry, books and treasures in every price range. (B)

Thursday, November 4 We depart for Taos early in the morning to visit the Martinez Hacienda, http://taosmuseums.org/hac_martinez.php one of the few northern New Mexico style, late Spanish Colonial period "Great Houses" remaining in the American Southwest. Built in 1804, this fortress-like building with massive adobe walls became an important trade center for the northern boundary of the Spanish Empire. The Hacienda was the final terminus for the Camino Real (the royal road) connecting northern New Mexico to Mexico City. The Hacienda also was the headquarters for an extensive ranching and farming operation. We also pay a visit to the adobe San Francisco de Asis Church (http://www.collectorsguide.com/ts/tsfa05.html), a small mission in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. It is designated as a World Heritage church. Construction on the church began around 1772 and was completed in 1815 by Franciscan Fathers. Located a few miles south of Taos Pueblo, it has inspired among the greatest number of depictions of any building in the United States. It was the subject of four paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe,and photographs by Ansel Adams and Paul Strand. Georgia O'Keeffe described it as, "one of the most beautiful buildings left in the United States by the early Spaniards.". Lunch will be at Grahams’ Grille in Taos (http://www.grahamstaos.com/dining/) , where we may visit the Taos plaza and galleries if time permits. In the afternoon we move on to Taos Pueblo (http://www.taospueblo.com/visiting.php) with its multistoried adobe houses built more than a thousand years ago. The final stop of the day will be at the Gorge, where the Rio Grande River flows through a crack in the earth known as the Rio Grande Rift. It’s a stunning view that sometimes affords a glimpse of soaring eagles or mountain goats. (B)

Friday, Nov. 5 Today we follow the Turquoise Trail to Cerrillos, NM, with a visit to the Cerrillos Mining Museum, with its private collection and display of tools, equipment, objects and artifacts used in daily life during the mining era of Los Cerrillos. (http://www.turquoisetrail.org/stops/detail/casa-grande-trading-post-cerrillos-turquoise-mining-museum-petting-zoo/) Our next stop is a 2 hour guided tour of the Allan Houser Sculpture Garden which features 85 of Houser’s most famous sculptures set amidst lush juniper, piñon pine and beautiful New Mexico skies. We can lunch at the Café on Museum Hill or in town at any number of fine dining alternatives. The afternoon and evening are free for you to visit the Georgia O’Keefe Museum*, which houses the largest and foremost collection of her works and the most comprehensive exploration of her life and vision, explore the miraculous winding staircase at the Chapel at Loretto,* walk down Canyon Road (The Art and Soul of Santa Fe!) facing myriad galleries and shops which gave Santa Fe its reputation for being the Art Center of the Southwest, and many more attractions in the downtown area or.finish your Christmas shopping! (Many museums are free on Fridays from 5-8 PM.) (B)

Saturday, Nov.6 Bandelier National Monument is an unexpected delight, (http://www.nps.gov/band/historyculture/index.htm) with some of the most unusual and interesting ancient ruins in the Southwest, steep narrow canyons with plentiful wildlife, mountains rising to 10,000 feet, many acres of unspoiled backcountry and a colorful section of the Rio Grande river valley. We walk about 1 mile along the path starting from the visitor center, winding through shady groves close to the creek and then into more open country as the canyon becomes wider. Our first stop is the ruins of Tyuonyi pueblo, a circular arrangement of rooms around a central arena. The other dwellings are collectively known as Long House, and are all built into the tuff cliffs, in the north wall of the canyon - there are hundreds of such rooms, often difficult to distinguish from natural, unused cavities in the rock. Several of the dwellings may be entered, via ladders or steps. The Bandelier Visitor Center focuses on the cultural pre-history of the area, and the museum includes an Ancestral Pueblo pottery exhibit and two life-size model representations comparing past and present Pueblo life.

The legendary Santuario de Chimayo, or the “Lourdes of America” encircles a well from which visitors can take a handful of dirt believed to be blessed with miraculous qualities.(http://mauriziosainaghi.fotopic.net/p22102376.html) Although the chapel itself is simple and rustic, it is one of the few Christian churches to present geometric indigenous art behind the altarpiece. It has been described as A place to pray and meditate and to experience peace of mind as well as of body. Chimayó is also known for the weaving traditions of the Ortega and Trujillo families, who have been weaving in the Spanish Colonial tradition for many generations and now operate businesses nearby. Their traditional craft is but one of several still practiced in the region, including tin smithing, wood carving, and the carving of religious “santos”.

We also visit the Bradbury Science Museum of Los Alamos, (http://www.lanl.gov/museum//) a town kept secret during the 1940’s as the first Atomic Bomb was being developed. Our guide grew up in this town and will tell us stories you won’t hear anywhere else!

Sunday, November 7 Return to Tucson on our Mountain View bus with a stop in Hatch, NM, to buy chiles in this nationally famous town. Arrive back at UUCT in the late afternoon.(B)

•   Not included in the tour price are breakfast in Albuquerque, lunches, dinners, porterage at the hotel, tips to driver and guide and attractions noted by an asterisk.
•  Price per person, double occupancy, $799.00
• Price for private room, single occupancy $999.00
• Minimum group size 17, maximum 25 (the tour will be canceled if the minimum is not reached)
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