It's great website. I wasn't aware of booking airfare through Road Scholar until after I had signed up and booked air. Also did not realize that I needed to wait for a final confirmation before booking my air. Looking forward to finding other trips.

I have enjoyed all the trips (7) that I have attended, abroad and in the states. I have "climbed" mountains in Canada, painted in Arizona, gone down rivers in France and Germany, and probably many more things I can't remember. With age comes memory lapses. I am 83, and look forward to many more trips. Thank you Road Scholar. I think my next one will be to England, I have never been, and heard that the Plays are amazing. Shirley Lauritsen

THE DANCING AT SANTO DOMINGO PUEBLO Cerulean skies in bright sunlight and cold air. Steam from the dancers. 400 or more move rhythmically to the somber, steady and undulating beat of the drum. The men dancers, their tawny skin sweat-dappled in the bright light, move in lithe fervor. Their fur-trimmed moccasins flicker and bounce. Two-year olds step along in the procession with their mothers and siblings. If they falter, a gentle hand guides them back into the line. Women are of all ages, the young ones beautiful, willowy, gracile, their shining, exuberant, fine black hair bouncing behind them in the still air in rhythm with the music and the shared heartbeats. On each woman’s head an aquamarine cutout of a house or pueblo dwelling. Bells dangle from supple waists and ankles, thrumming muted accompaniment to the drumbeat, beat, beat, beat. Each hand carries a bough of fir or pine. It is the corn dance, some say, a plea to the spirits for ample grain and a good harvest in the summer. The seasoned older men, more than 50 strong, provide in place a chanting, unfaltering chorus for the dancers many of whom will someday, older, join their group. Around the central dance area the other members of the pueblo watch from rooftops, through windows or in chairs along the brown dancing ground. Doors of dwellings are open and old eyes watch the ceremony and familiar ritual, many wrapped in blankets against the cold. Two groups who live in the Pueblo dance in sequence and move among the dwellings and then again back into the dancing ground in a slow rhythmic circle. The spectators, fortunate invited guests, watch in silence and respectful awe as this parade of dancers, descended from an ancient people, plight in dance and song their respect and homage to their lives, their community, their ancestors, and each other. We leave from the dancing moved and humbled. The cold is forgotten. The sun seems even brighter. The New Mexico sky aglow.

There were elements of culture I discovered on this trip that I wouldn't have discovered on my own. Getting to see a sacred dance at Santo Domingo Pueblo on New Year's day was one of them. it was unforgettable.The other thing I especially enjoyed was the course on literature of the Southwest. I've ordered several of the books suggested by the instructor since returning home, and they are fascinating. I recommend this trip. The scenery is breathtaking, and there is much to see and do. The tour guides are knowledgeable, and if you enjoy photographing, this is the place to do it.

This was my first visit to Santa Fe and Taos and I learned so much. The instructors were fascinating. I don't think I could have defined pueblo before this trip, but now I understand so much about the pueblo culture. The New Year's Day dances at the Santo Domingo Pueblo were beautiful. Don't be put off by the winter weather in the area.

If you have never visited New Mexico, the experience will make you feel differently about the native Americans and how they have adapted to their environment and to the modern community with which they must interact. The pueblo peoples could not have been more gracious and eager to share their culture with visitors.

This was a wonderful program that shared the diversity of cultures in this unique southwest region. The influences of history, literature and music were well represented and the instructors were phenomenal and well-versed in their subject matter.

I loved this program!! It was so respectful of the
cultures of the area, and I learned a lot.

his was a very interesting tour of the Santa Fe & Taos area - As it was my first trip to the Southwest it was an eye-opening experience to learn about the native population and their art and literature amidst a beautiful landscape which drew many outsiders to live there also.