Pamela feels like a junior researcher even though she has been studying her family history for some time now. She was told that her ancestors came from Spain in the 1500s and that they lived in New Mexico for many years before moving to California, following the Old Spanish Trail. One of her ancestors was Santiago Martinez, a trader who travelled between Abiquiu and California many times.

Eventually, he was offered a bit of land in California if he agreed to bring his family along because they were good with horses and agriculture. In 1838, he travelled along the trail with his pregnant wife and she gave birth to Pamela’s great great-grandfather at Resting Springs during one of the many stops in their journey going west.