Santa Fe

 We have spent the past week in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We have been coming here for more than 50 years and really enjoy it.

It was founded as a Spanish colony in 1610 and has at its heart the traditional Plaza. The buildings are made of adobe and often the windows and doors are brightly painted.

Grill work like this covers many old windows.

We walked along Canyon Road, lined with artists’ galleries.  I really like this sculpture of children playing.  We have seen similar creations—made by they same artist?—in other places.

I wanted to go touch these horses to see if they were sculptures or made of folded paper.  They were sculptures.

These horses were made by a different artist.

 

This sweet girl is playing her violin.

This sculpture of an American Bald Eagle was nearby.

This sweet girl is reading a book.

These creations outside were almost the only “normal” artistic creations we saw along Canyon Road.  Most were really weird, at least to our uneducated eyes.

The next day we drove to central Santa Fe for lunch at LaFonda Hotel on the plaza.  The hotel is old and historic and the food is always delicious.  We each had the beef enchilada plate with posole, black beans and Christmas (red and green) chili.

This is a view of the dining room.

Many of the windows surrounding the restaurant have these painted panels.

One of the lights hanging in the hotel lobby.

We saw these paintings in one of the galleries.  I wonder if this is where Hunter gets his inspiration?

Today we visited this the Traditional Spanish Market that has been held on the plaza since 1926.

Much of the art here was also traditional, not modern.  This is done in some kind of needlework.

We saw lots of jewelry and many santos paintings.  There was a Spanish band and we saw a mother dancing with her young daughter

and a white-haired mother dancing with her daughter.

It was a fun way to finish out our stay in Santa Fe.  We are glad we went to the market this morning.  As I write this blog at 2:30 pm, there is thunder, lightning and heavy rain at our RV park.

A Beautiful Trip!

 Thursday, we left Alamosa for a fairly short and beautiful drive to Chama, New Mexico.  We have been coming to this area off and on for probably 50 years.  Not only is it cooler here (almost 7900 ft altitude), but there is a tourist train pulled by old steam engines. Steam trains, and even diesel trains, are something we have  been interested in all of our married lives.

 We saw pine and fir trees, as well as aspen.

In places, we saw lots of wild flowers.

Then, we saw something exciting in the distance! Look carefully at the center left hand side of the photo.  Smoke!

As we approached the top of the pass, we saw the daily Cumbres and Toltec train.  We couldn't have timed it better if we had tried.

After the train stopped long enough for the passengers to take a few photos, it was off to it's lunch stop at Osier, 

The steam train is always followed by this small car--called a speeder--that checks to see that no fires start up in the wake of the train spewing smoke and cinders.  

Old Town Albuquerque

Many old cities across the country have an old town where the first settlers congregated and sold or traded goods.  Few in the west are as old as Albuquerque’s old town.  If you look closely at this sewer cover in one of the downtown streets, you see the city celebrated it’s tricentennial in 2006.  Colorado, where we were born, celebrated it’s 130 birthday that year.

 

Old town has numerous old and beautiful adobe buildings.

This is the Church of SanFelipe de Neri, the oldest church in Albuquerque.  It has continuously served the community without interruptions since 1706. 

 

The bandstand most likely is the center of many community events and weddings.

The covered walkways around the square provide protection from the sun and from rain.

We saw this colorful display of blankets and rugs in one store.

 Old Southwestern towns always seem to have walkways that draw us in to see what is available there.

 

As we left Old Town we saw this sign.  I think someone from England labeled this structure.

 

Walking Through the Bosque

We are spending several days in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on our way to Colorado.  Yesterday, we drove to the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park in town.  The forest along the banks of the river are a bosque.  Wikipedia descibes a bosque: "A bosque is a type of gallery forest habitat found along the riparian flood plains of stream and river banks in the southwestern United States. It derives its name from the Spanish word for woodlands."

This massive cottonwood is an example of the trees growing along the river.

The trail winds through the trees and open areas along the river.

This is the Rio Grande in central Albuquerque.  The river always looks sort of green--even in aerial photos taken of the river as it forms the border between the United States and Mexico in Texas. I believe the color comes from the runoff from agricultural fields in New Mexico and Texas.

These metal structures near the river are called jetty jacks.  They were installed in the 1950s and 60s to prevent erosion from seasonal flooding.  The following link to a National Fish and Wildlife document describing the jetty jacks is informative.  https://www.fws.gov/bhg/Literature/Jetty Jacks pub version.pdf 

I, personally, am just impressed I could remember the term jetty jacks and their general purpose.  I hadn't realized they are somewhat controversial.

If you look closely you might be able to see red ear on this red eared slider turtle.  The are found in the  shallow river water at the Nature Center.

 

Here are humming birds and numerous turtles below.

As we walked along the river we thought we heard a dog barking somewhere.  Come to find out, it was the cormorants, quacking or squawking on the river.

 We enjoyed our walk yesterday but were surprised at how many others also like the bosque.  I wondered if schools were not in session.  A little research showed they are in session for virtual learning only.  The weather here is great so I guess families were out enjoying nature--and maybe completing some school assignments?  We don't know.

Cumbres Pass

The drive from Chama, New Mexico, into Colorado is a beautiful trip over Cumbres Pass.  The area was exceptionally green.

Over the years, we have driven over Cumbres Pass and ridden the Cumbres and Toltec train through this area.  This year we didn't get train tickets.

Soon we came on this iconic sign, welcoming us back to our home state.

This small community is situated in a pleasant valley.

Once we were into Colorado, we began to see the devastation caused by the pine bark beetle. Throughout the state, we see these large stands of dead trees. It is so sad to see.