Our first day in Santa Fe started with a photo session after breakfast. The first post in this series about the house we stayed in is here.

We started driving to Bandelier National Monument around 8AM and reached there a little after 9 AM. It was a scenic drive with fall colors everywhere!

There are a lot of places in New Mexico to visit. This was a birthday celebration. So the ladies had shortlisted a few places to see considering the crowd and capabilities (my knee, MIL’s ability to walk etc.). Banadiler was supposed to be all level ground for the walking (occasional slope but with ramps and no stairs).

There was a guided tour and we joined that tour for the first 20 minutes. Then we decided to go as a group and see the rest of the stuff with the map.

My knee was put to the test even though it was walking through level ground and the occasional ladder climbing.

This place is our local Cappadocia !!! Similar soft stone where peope made a residence. The fall colors were beautiful as was the weather. It was supposed to rain, but we got lucky throughout the day.

Here are the pictures..

At the end of the canyon there was an alcove house which needed 140 steps to be climbed. We decided to see it from the base of the canyon and turn back. There was no way I was going up those stairs. Was happy to have gotten this far with the knee brace.

A shout out to Uniqlo.. those Gemini Ganesan style pants I bought in the Japan trip in April really came through. You cannot see the knee brace as I am wearing the pants on top of the brace!