Charlie has become quite the morning person on this trip.  I think he’s pretty much stayed on Eastern time, which has helped him to get up earlier in the morning.  He’s been enjoying getting up early to the cool and quiet air and going for a walk. 

I, on the other hand, haven’t managed to get up early at all unless I had to so that we could make it somewhere at a certain time.  It’s not that I stay up late either – I’m just exhausted from this cold and have needed more sleep in these last 8 years or so than Charlie has.  I guess it’s all the sleepless times dealing with 10 children that have been catching up to me.  Anyway, the result of Charlie’s early mornings have been some neat pictures and conversations with other campers.  At the Great Sand Dunes, he managed to get some beautiful sunrise pictures.

All we had left to do at the Great Sand Dunes on Monday morning was to tour the visitor center.  We learned a great deal about the formation of the dunes due to the unique sand deposits in the area, the winds, and the various mountains surrounding the dunes. 

Charlie and the kids explained a lot of the informational movie to me as I ended up cutting my visit short and sitting in the car because of feeling so yucky.  After getting the kids’ national park passport books stamped, we headed south to finish our journey to Santa Fe.

The drive was beautiful, just as it had been for most of our travels.  It’s amazing to see the ruggedness and isolation of southern Colorado.  Charlie and I definitely decided that the mostly treeless areas weren’t really for us.  It’s hard to imagine the native people and homesteaders managing to survive in such a harsh area.  The idea of trying to grow a garden in this high desert environment just doesn’t even seem possible. 

We finally made it into Santa Fe and drove to find the Loretto Chapel. 

While we made it to the chapel with the RV still intact, we realized that we should have researched parking for an RV better than we did.  We ended up parking the RV at a shopping center and driving the Pilot to the chapel.  It was so impressive!  For those of you not familiar with the story of the miraculous staircase built for the Sisters of Loretto in Santa Fe, NM, I’ll give you a short synopsis.

The sisters were having a chapel built and realized toward the end of the construction that no plan had been developed for a staircase to the choir loft.  Their architect had died and so they sought solutions to their problem from other area carpenters, but no one was able to build a staircase for them in the tiny space that remained.  The sisters then prayed a nine-day novena to St. Joseph for his intercession in providing a staircase.  On the last day of their novena, a carpenter showed up and offered to build one for them.  When his work was complete, there was what seemed to be a floating staircase leading to the choir loft built in the shape of a helix.  The carpenter then disappeared without ever giving his name or receiving payment for the job that he had accomplished.  Many experts have examined this staircase and have been unable to determine how it is being supported.  It is completely free-standing with no central support of any kind.  A few years later, another master craftsman did install a railing on the staircase as the initial staircase had none and was rather intimidating to those trying to traverse it.  At that time also, one support bracket was installed to help maintain the staircase. 

We were all in awe viewing the chapel and staircase.  The first thing that I thought of when I walked in was that I had to light a candle for Damien.  He would have loved seeing this chapel as he knew the miraculous story of the staircase.  The beauty and reverence of this chapel really touched Charlie and I, who experienced several emotional moments.  While I definitely struggle with thoughts of all the little things that Damien was never able to do, being in such a special place as this brings me many reminders of the unfathomable wondrousness of where he is, which gives me much peace and comfort.

Santa Fe was a city in which we could make a Sams/Costco stop as well as get an oil change for the car, so we managed to get most of our errands done before leaving for the backcountry again. 

While driving toward our next destination that evening, I searched for a campground. We’ve been staying in more basic campgrounds occasionally instead of in Wal-Mart parking lots like on previous trips.  I am loving hearing the question, “Do they have showers?” from the teenage boys!  That’s not unusual to hear from our girls, but it sure does make a mom feel good to know that her teenage boys actually do want to take a shower!

Next stop: Los Alamos

Rebecca