… to Taos on the High Road …

… or at least that was the plan. Having heard about Taos ever since McCloud rode into NYC on his horse, we made our way slowly there on Thursday. We stopped for photos with Camel Rock, across the road from the Camel Rock Casino …

  

… and then took what turned out to be quite a detour to see the Picuris Pueblo. The large sign on the highway promised a museum, restaurant and gift shop, which sounded great. Turning off the main road, we were thrilled to see that this was land the buffalo still roam.

Our expectations came to a crashing end when we drove into the dilapidated pueblo center to find there was no restaurant, museum or gift shop, all long closed. It was hard to believe that this small, run-down pueblo had once been the second largest in New Mexico, standing 8 or 9 stories high. Here’s what remains:

  

We bought a camera permit and took pictures of the lovely church, one of the prettiest we’ve seen, and the ancient round house ruins.

     

Back on our way toward Taos, we stopped at the Rio Grande Canyon overlook. It was hard to see and looked smaller than expected. We opted to stop again at the St. Francis of Asis (their spelling) church, immortalized in paintings and sketches by Georgia O’Keeffe. Frank and I were both struck by how much the structure looks like the Sphinx! We decided to do a late lunch at the historic Ranchos Plaza Grill across the road, and had another great meal.

  

We finally got to Taos about 2:30 and headed straight to the Plaza to wander the shops. Smaller than Santa Fe, Taos is filled with similar high-end shops. We got around the Plaza in a few hours, then headed toward Ojo Caliente, a spa with natural hot springs. We took a very long way to get there, which enabled us to see some fascinating things. Most amazing was the Spaceship Biotectural housing complex, with strange futuristic houses. Definitely worth checking into. They are self-sustaining and primarily made from rammed-earth filled old tires. We also walked across the Rio Grande Canyon bridge - not for the faint of heart.

  

Although we saw several elk crossing signs, we saw no elk, ibnly two foxes crossing the road. At Ojo Caliente Spa and Resort, in the middle of nowhere, we sampled the various natural hot thermal pools; sadly, the mud pool closed shortly before we arrived. However, there were still arsenic, iron and soda pools. The grounds are beautiful, and our stay was lovely and rejuvenating.

  

We took time out on the drive back to Santa Fe for some roadside star-gazing. Magnificent end to the day!

… explore a few of Santa Fe’s attractions …

… after doing a few errands that took way too long. Technically, our lengthy stay at the Santa Fe Jewelry Supply Co. was spent looking at beautiful turquoise stones, tools, benches, etc.! 

Next was the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum; a small space, the museum owns nearly half her lifetime output of 2000 paintings and sketches. Two excellent movies about O’Keeffe are shown in constant rotation, and both showcased things we had seen the day before – where she lived and what she painted. My favorite takeaways from the guided tour: O’Keeffe developed her own paint colors, and placed paint numbers on some of her sketches which matched the finished works, much like a paint-by-number canvas. One of five sisters, she had the childhood nickname of Queen Georgia because she was so demanding.  She loved bones and thought of them not as a sign of death and decay but of endurance.

  

  

We strolled down the street to the New Mexico Museum of Art, a pleasant space with a wide variety of exhibits. We were particularly interested in seeing the Clovis points on display, having recently learned that the greatest cache of Clovis points in the world is in the Maryland/Delaware area, including excavations near Baltimore. Leaving the Museum, we saw what we thought was a hummingbird. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a Sphinx moth. Who knew? 

  

 

From there we walked to the Plaza, and shopped the authentic and beautifully-made native wares displayed on the wide porch of the historic Governor’s Palace. The Governor’s Palace is the oldest government building in New Mexico.

Tired and hungry, we drove to the Train Station for a lovely dinner at Tomasita’s, recommended by Steve Coffman. The meal was fantastic, especially the sopapillas, served stuffed with meat as a main course, or filled with ice cream as dessert. They were also our bread with a delicious honey butter… 

  

  

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at the lovely Santuario de Guadelupe, which happens to be the oldest shrine to Our Lady of Guadelupe in the US. The church is surrounded by beautiful rose gardens.

  

An outstanding day!

… to scenic spots near Santa Fe…

… chosen by Master Photographer Woody Galloway. Woody and his wife Antonetta picked us up Tuesday morning for an all-day photography trip. After stopping at a little adobe house with purple windows, we drove to Chimayo to see and photograph the lovely Santuario de Chimayo. Noted for its “holy dirt,” the Catholic church is a National Historic Landmark, visited by 300,000 people annually.

  

 

During Easter, some pilgrims walk 90 miles from Albuquerque for healing. Each year, the church uses 25 to 30 tons of holy dirt, replenished from the nearby hillsides. Believers rub the dirt onto the body part needing healing. A roomful of crutches bears testimony to the power of the dirt. The complex also houses a lovely children’s chapel and other buildings.

San Juan Pueblo with its lava-rock church was our next stop. The Pueblo has recently renamed itself Okay O-win-geh.

  

We followed a long dirt road to an area overlooking fantastic rock formations. From there, we drove to Ghost Ranch, where Georgia O’Keeffe lived when she first settled in New Mexico.

  

  

in Abiquiu, we stopped for a delicious lunch at locally-famous Bode’s, a general store and restaurant, with gigantic sandwiches. I’ve been experimenting with my HDR painting camera mode, which seemed to suit Bode’s explosion of colors.

  

We took a quick look at Georgia O’Keeffe’s house in Abiquiu and the confluence of the Rio Grande and Chama rivers, painted frequently by O’Keeffe. Woody also took us to a quaint morado or unofficial church before our return to Santa Fe with hundreds of new photos.

  

… to Santa Fe …

… in August!

We had extra timeshare points, and always wanted to visit Santa Fe - and figured two weeks would give us some exploration time. No research - we decided to wing it. We arrived on Saturday, realizing we must be at a higher altitude when we began gasping for breath in the airport.  We checked in at the Villas de Santa Fe, gathered some brochures and supplies, then rode the hotel shuttle to the Plaza, which turned out to be just a few blocks away. We started our New Mexico adventure with tortilla soup, guacamole, and the local green chili. Fortified, we worked our way around the Plaza shops, totally overwhelmed by the variety and amount of turquoise and silver for sale. We decided to decide later what to do for the rest of our stay.

On Sunday, we waded through a small mountain of brochures of area attractions. We chose four must-dos: a hot-air balloon ride, a jewelry class, an aerial tram ride to Sandia Peak (with dinner at sunset), and a photo tour. And then we spent the afternoon at the Tesuque Flea Market, wandering through the half-empty grounds of southwestern jewelry, rugs, baskets and pottery - with Tibetan and African stands scattered throughout. No photos allowed! Which became a theme when we took a short ride through the small Tesuque Pueblo. No photos allowed! and there were some decaying adobes begging for a picture...

We later learned that if you can find the Pueblo headquarters, most pueblos will sell you a photo permit for $5-10. Next time! Back at the hotel we ordered in a pizza from Upper Crust.

Monday was our day to travel the Turquoise Trail, Route 14, which passes through the area where the local greenish Cerrillos turquoise was mined. Our first stop was the information office of the Bureau of Land Management, where we met Bill, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Frank's cousin, Bill Poling. Bill was a veritable fountain of local knowledge; for every location we asked about, he had four or five additional suggestions. As we finally disengaged, he gave us his phone number and encouraged us to call him personally if we had any further questions. Armed with a whole new stack of brochures, we began the Trail in earnest. In Cerrillos, we stopped at the quaint Casa Grande Trading Post, Petting Zoo and Mining Museum. Part rock and gem shop, part collection of strange objects, it was thoroughly engrossing. We did not pet the animals, which were clean and very well cared for.

 

The next stop was Madrid (MAH-drid), which is known for a different kind of treasure: gold. Hungry, we initially stopped at the "Great Madrid Gift Emporium and Maggie's Diner," which appeared in the movie Wild Hogs, only to learn from the very emphatic old lady behind the counter that it is NOT a diner, but a store! Selling only Wild Hogs souvenirs. We settled for a lunch of gigantic burgers at the Mine Shaft Tavern, a historic landmark to boot. Plus, a chili pepper arch!

   

We passed Golden and then San Antonito almost without noticing, and took Route 536 up to Sandia Crest. Here was one of the highlights of our day: Tinkertown, “What one man accomplished while the rest of us were watching TV.” The buildings are made mostly from 14,000+ bottles retrieved from the roadside; the family became a recycling drop-off when their need for bottles exceeded the number discarded each day. The area is filled with large dioramas of an old western town, a circus – and whatever else the owner devised. My mom and dad would have loved it!

       

  

Back on the road, we encountered a group of 6 or 7 deer partway up the mountain, and they posed obligingly, seemingly fearless.

   

10,678 feet up at Sandia Crest, the view was breathtaking. 

  

We drove back to Santa Fe on Route 41, and saw a spectacular sunset on our way.