Saturday, 23 November 2013
* Albuquerque, New Mexico to Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico to Holbrook, Arizona *

The adventurers staged a bit of a sleep in as they needed to recover from the storm-battering they had yesterday, and more snow awaited them for the day. They enjoyed the continental breakfast from the Sandia Peak Inn. They teams split up again doing different adventures, but this time would not meet up again for the rest of this quest. Docteur Mangor, Lady Angela, and the prince of Winter was off to meet up with Docteur Paul K, to explore Albuquerque, the Rattlesnake Museum, and some other sites. Sir Thomas Leaf, Lady Etain, Sir Rob Wildwood, and the prince of Endurance had to head west for a rushed drive to the City of Lost Angels and to drop Sir Rob off at his vortex in Sedona. They also had wanted to beat the storm that was chasing in from behind them. They had a mission first to attend to atop the Sky City Acoma.
The roads were snowy and winds heavy as the cold plummeted in temperature … the Delvers found the lost city that the Spaniards once thought to be a city of Gold. Onwards they went to Acoma. The Mesas were magnificent and the largest one they approached first by legend was the last defensive hold of the Acoma people by myth. As raiders trapped them atop that mesa starving them, just before their deaths, they jumped off the Mesa, and where they would land, they would rebuild their community. The Acoma fell atop the Mesa to its south, forming the now current Acoma Pueblo (village) where they’ve been living continuously for 800 years. Ravaged by small pox, European viruses, Catholicism, and oppression, these peaceful people had their indigenous religion and traditions suppressed forced to become Catholics. They still practiced their old ways in secret from the white man.
Checking into the Cultural Center and museum, the party watched part of their historical film then prepared to board the bus that would take them to the top of the Mesa. In ancient days, they accessed the mesa by a set of rock cut stairs up the face of the Mesa. However back when Hollywood used the village for several movie sets, they built a road up which is now the prime method of accessing the top of the natural fortress. The tour guide told the adventurers about Acoma ways, life, and showed them various places around the village. The Church the Spanish enslaved the Acoma to build for them is now a cultural treasure of the Acoma even though it represented one of the darkest chapters of their history. We explored the church, the watering holes, the village proper, and the cliff sides. Everyone was frozen and wanted to get back on the bus, brave Rob wanted to walk down the cliff-face stairs so explored on his own meeting the rest of us down below. The Prince of Endurance (Cian) held up through the cold. Once back at the Museum, the cafes were shut down, and the explorers wandered around the museum and gift shop before embarking on the cold journey westward.
They had hoped to make the Petrified Forest before dark, but hit the area of Arizona just as darkness fell. Its a good thing they pressed on as Docteur Mangor had texted they were trapped in Gallup, New Mexico as the roads were closed due to snow and ice. Sir Thomas Leaf, Lady Etain, Sir Rob Wildwood, and the Prince of Endurance holed up at a Motel 6 in Holbrook with a Hobbit menu selection at the Denny’s next door for dinner. Asleep they went for the rest of the night as the crazy sleep-deprived quest tomorrow to the lands of vortexes, magical wells, cliff houses, and lost souls awaited them in the morning.