16 June 2024 – Trip Day 77
We drove north of Albuquerque to Bernallio where the Coronado Historic Site is located. This is a Pueblo culture site that Meagan and I have been to before and wanted to bring the kids to. The unique thing about this site is that the kiva has been partially repainted to reflect what was found. Normally the kivas have been found without drawings/paintings or they were burned when the Puebloans abandoned the site. When this site was excavated, it was found intact with multiple layers of paintings on the kiva walls.
Although a state run site, they did have a Junior Ranger program as well. The kids got to work on their books before our tour.
To access the kiva and see the wall art, you need to take a guided tour. We arranged to arrive early enough to get on a tour – which was an accomplishment in itself!
Behind the group, you can see the door which contains some of the actual kiva paintings up for display. They requested no photography of the kiva paintings, so if you’d like to see them you’ll need to go there!
The rest of the paintings are apparently in a basement of the University of New Mexico.
After checking out the paintings, we went out on a tour of the complex. The site had rebuilt and continues to partially rebuild the walls with adobe bricks to show the layout of the site.
A view of the many rooms of the site.
The site also rebuilt a structure so visitors could have an idea of what the rooms were like. Ducky was all about checking it out!
A perfect kid sized room! We need one or two of these…didn’t work so well for Alan or Meagan though!
Afterward, we continued on the path around the site checking out the rest of the ruins. We did go into the big kiva, but again, no pictures of the insides.
After our tour, we had lunch on the patio.
There was a sand bin with some track stamps in it, and the kiddos were all about it, especially Randal.
Books complete, they turned them in for their badge and stamps.
We spotted some kayakers travelling down the Rio Grande. Surprisingly it had a decent amount of water in it. In past years during the summer it was often reduced to a muddy ditch.
Back at the coloring table for some more coloring!
After we were done, we hung out for a bit then drove out to the Sandia Peak Tramway.
We got to the Tram and had to wait a bit to catch a tram up to the top. Meagan and the kids checked out the little museum at the waiting area.
Loaded up and ready to go!
As we climbed up the mountain side, we were rewarded with scenic views of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho.
Up at the top of the Sandia Mountains, we got a spectacular view of the North side.
There was a parasailer flying about when we got up there.
Family photo at the top! A bit nerve-wracking as to our left (right in the photo) was the glider launch ramp and some fairly steep drop offs.
After a bit of a wait, we were able to get seated in the casual seating area of the restaurant.
Shenanigans!
Unfortunately, we were rather disappointed. Meagan and I had been to the restaurant several times before when we lived in the Albuquerque area, and were generally satisfied with it. However, since it was redone, and since COVID, it has gone down hill. The food was very expensive and we ended up ordering the kids chicken strips (which was reasonable) and we settled on a piece of cake for ourselves. The cake was very dry and not good and we ended up sending it back. All of the rest of the food on the menu was vastly overpriced for what it was.
We did get some amazing sunset shots, though.
Family with Albuquerque and Rio Rancho in the background. Poor Evan was doing his best impression as a popsicle once the Sun went down and temperatures started dropping.
Thanks for reading!
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