Day #4: It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times (DESCEND!)

Cristian In Cavate, Bandelier

Our last full day in Santa Fe...

I was determined that my kids would get some sort of awesome cultural experience, and appreciate the geography of New Mexico. So, we headed to Bandelier National Monument. It has super cool ancient Pueblo cliff-houses, called cavates, that were carved out of the soft volcanic ash. The kids were able to climb up the ladders and peak inside. We also saw the remains of ancient common houses and other ruins.

Ruins At Bandelier

Cool Rock Formation (Volcanic Ash)

Nat In Cavate

Pink "Swiss Cheese" Rock is Compacted Volcanic Ash

The drive to Bandelier from Santa Fe is gorgeous, although my heights-fearing husband wasn't too thrilled as the bus drove on the edge of the canyon. Hee hee! (I think I saw his eyes roll back in his head a couple of times). Otherwise, this was the perfect outing for our family.

Except for one, small, wee little problem.

I couldn't breathe.

I could no longer ignore the fact that I was not acclimating to the new altitude, but instead my breathing was getting worse. I managed to climb up to the first set of cavates, but after that I had to head back to the bottom of the trail. I was wheezing and couldn't catch my breath.

My husband was extremely worried, but I kept insisting I would be okay. It was a tough climb.

The rest of our day was fabulous. We had a really fun dinner out with the kids, my husband got me a gorgeous diamond ring! (woo hoo!), and everything would have been peachy-keen if only I could breathe.

It was close to midnight, we all had our pajamas on and were getting ready for bed. My husband was on the iPad researching "high altitude sickness" and "pulmonary edema" and lots of other fun things. Our hotel had canisters of oxygen sitting on the mini-bar (I'm not kidding), so I was sucking that stuff down like it was going out of style.

Hubs jumps up from the bed and announces, "We're leaving."

(I'm in my PJs with a toothbrush hanging out my mouth). "Wah?"

"Now. We are leaving Santa Fe now."

"Now?"

"Now."

"Why?"

"There are only two ways to fix this problem. Oxygen and descent. We have to descend to a lower elevation. Your breathing is getting worse. This is not okay."

"Can't it wait until morning?"

"No. Now."

The kids shrugged and started chucking their clothes into their bags.

I felt like I was a climber in the Himalayas, forced to turn back before I had an unfortunate run-in with Yeti.

We packed in five minutes, checked out of the hotel (which was very understanding--I got the feeling this was a common problem with tourists), and took off for Albuquerque, which is about 2000 feet lower in elevation. I didn't believe my husband when he told me that would help. But by God, it did. Within one hour of driving, we arrived in Albuquerque, and I was already breathing much better.

Amazing.

The next day we went to the ER, then headed to the airport to return to Boston. SEA LEVEL OR BUST, BABY!

So, that's my sad and sorry story about summer vacation. At least we got 1/2 week in Santa Fe before my lungs crapped out. And...we did have some fun. And...I did get a diamond ring (yay!).


Needless to say, I don't think I'll be doing this anytime soon...

Sea level does have its advantages...

Breathing is fun,
Penelope

Day #3: Hummingbirds for the Win, High Altitude Sickness for the Loss

Anna's Hummingbird, Santa Fe

☼

After a rocky start to our vacation in Santa Fe, I was determined that Day #3 would be a success!

☞HIGHLIGHTS

✯The Loretto Chapel, which was right next door to our hotel. It's lovely!✯

The Loretto Chapel

The "Miraculous" Staircase at Loretto

There is a sweet story about this unique spiral staircase. Supposedly when the chapel was built in 1878, they decided that a ladder would be the only way to get to the upper story. The sisters of the chapel prayed for a solution to this problem, and a stranger showed up on a donkey and said he could help. He built this gorgeous staircase and disappeared, taking no payment for his work. The sisters believed that it was St. Joseph himself who answered their prayers. Here is a link with more information about this cool story.

Natty lit candles for all of our pet "angels"...she is such a sweetheart!

✯Amazing plants, including this blooming Santolina in front of our hotel✯

✯The Davey Audubon Center. Only one trail was still open due to the fire hazard, but we had a really nice hike with the kids✯

Blooming cactus at Davey Audubon Center

Gorgeous vista at the Audubon Center

✯Hummingbirds!✯

 They were whizzing around the trail. It was the coolest thing ever! We even had a mama bird dive-bomb us to protect her hidden nest. I am a big hummingbird-lover, so I was totally enchanted with this.

✯Shopping with Natty!✯

My daughter LOVES to shop. Let me say that again. LOVES LOVES LOVES! She is hilarious. We snuck off and left the boys in the room, and had a super fun mother-daughter shopping extravaganza, including cute hats, clothes and jewelry. Yay!

✯Sunsets!✯

Incredible Sunset!

☞LOWLIGHTS

And now for the lowlight. UGH! It never occurred to me that we would have any trouble with the elevation in Santa Fe. Of course, we are from Boston (sea level) and Santa Fe is 7000 feet above sea level. Cristian got a headache the first day, and Carl got a bit queasy. I had a cough that I'd been dealing with for months, so I didn't notice right away that anything was wrong. My cough started to get worse, and soon I was having trouble breathing. However, I decided that once I acclimated to the new elevation, I would be okay.

Oops. Maybe not.

Coming up...Day #4: DESCEND! DESCEND! DESCEND!

Day #2 Of Vacation: Where's The Beach? (aka, Those Damned Kids)

Day #2 of Vacation:

My hubby is an obsessive fly-fisherman. On our first day of vacation he got up at the crack of dawn and went fishing with a guide. The kids and I were exhausted after our hellacious misadventure in the airport, so we all slept in.

Finally, I forced the kids to wake up so we could start exploring Santa Fe! I adore this sweet, charming town. It has everything a girl could ever want...gorgeous vistas, shopping, amazing museums, art galleries.

Wait. Wait. I know what you're thinking.

That doesn't really sound like a "kiddy-friendly"vacation spot.

OK, fair enough. But I made sure there would be a pool at our hotel for the kids. And...we were going white-water rafting. And, visiting pueblos. And stuff like that.

Wrench in Best Laid Plans...

1. There was a huge drought going on, and major fire-hazard at all parks, so no rafting, and many trails closed.

2. The pool was lovely, but smallish and surrounded by 70 year olds. (My kids kept saying "Um, has anyone noticed EVERYONE AT OUR HOTEL IS AN OLD PERSON?")

3. Our last major vacation was to a crazy incredible hotel in HAWAII. We had something like 14 pools at the resort...one of them had a lagoon with kayaks in it. Needless to say, anything after that place was going to come up short. Ugh.

4. I'm an idiot.


Celebrity Death Match Between Hawaii....

Our Resort In Hawaii

and Santa Fe.....

Loretto Chapel, Santa Fe

Hawaii wins by a landslide! (Did I already say I'm an idiot?)

Anyhoo, I am still perky and optimistic! The kids will love this, I keep telling myself. We go out for breakfast and everything on the menu has chilies on it. The eggs have chilies. The pancakes have blue corn in them. My 15-year old son tries something new, God bless him! My daughter insists on plain eggs and bacon, which the restaurant kindly accommodates.

And then, this conversation...

Daughter: Where's the beach?

Me: Silence.

Daughter: I want to build a sand castle.

Son: We're in the middle of the desert, dumb-ass!

Me: Don't call your sister a dumb-ass. (To my daughter: Honey, we're in the middle of a desert).

Daughter: What do you mean? We always go to the beach for our summer vacation! Where's the beach?

Son: (snickers) Well, there is sand.

Me: Honey, why don't you Google Santa Fe and look at a map. We are not on the coast. But there are a lot of fun things to do here...

Daughter: (Googles the map) I miss Hawaii! Why didn't we go to Hawaii! That was my favorite place!

Son: Hawaii was awesome.

Me: (wondering if I could get a Bloody Mary instead of a coffee for breakfast)...We are trying something different. Seeing a new part of the country. You will love it!

After finishing breakfast, we meander around Santa Fe. We pass by the Loretto Chapel, which I adore. Peek into some shops. Look at the Central Square.

By the time we get home, we are all hot and sweaty and the kids are irked, and I am thinking about flinging their little bodies off the balcony.

I believe I may have used the expression "SUCK IT UP!" at one point while they were complaining.

Also, we just happened to be passing a construction worker as I said this, and he laughed and said "Kids. Gotta love 'em."

We get back to the hotel, and I suggest the kids go for a swim. We look at the pool (which was very sweet) and notice that the median age of swimmers appears to be 87. The kids take a pass.

It occurs to me that I may have made a critical error in judgment when I booked this vacation.

I'm screwed.


Next Up: Day #3: Hummingbirds for the Win! High Altitude Sickness for the Loss!