Day 23 - Sunday, 7/12/09 - SETTLED

I have sore muscles from climbing the kiva ladders at Bandolier into the sacred caves, so we take it slow.

In the late afternoon we head down to Old Towne to the small boutique shops to buy souvenirs for family. We watch a Navajo silversmith hammer a sterling silver bracelet. It is very intricate work. We can see why the items end up being so expensive.

There is a Navajo artist there who has a sign up requesting that his picture not be taken. Others will let you take their pictures for $1.

At the end of our day, we stop in a very high end shop where the bolo ties made by Navajo artists are in the $2000 range. The saleswoman tries not to act insulted when we ask if she has anything in the $50 range.

Many of the shops in Old Towne are actually art galleries. We stop in one with interesting paintings. It is run by a young artist and his wife who are contemporaries of my son Ethan. We talk about Ethan's blown and carved glass and the guy is very interested.

We finish our day with dinner with Uncle Arthur Byers, Nancy Greiff and her husband Robert at The Range Cafe' in Albuquerque. My dessert, Death by Lemon, was outstanding, and so rich that I had to take half of it home. Robert had lived in Utah and Arizona, so he gave us a lot of advice about what to see and do on our trip.