New Mexico

 

We love New Mexico.  I had a hard time convincing David to continue with our trip.  He was quite ready to put down stakes in Sante Fe.

On our way to Albequereque we went as close as we could to the Trinity site, where the first atomic bomb was tested.  However, since it is only opened two Saturdays a year, we did not get to see it.

We spent only a few hours in Albequerque, mostly waiting for breakfast and then it was on to the Acoma Pueblo, the oldest continually occupied pueblo in the country.  We were particularly interested in this site since it had been featured in a recent Smithsonian Magazine.  However, we were a bit disappointed.  First of all, to bring in a camera was a $10.00 fee on top of the entrance fee.  Then, since the pueblo was occupied year round by about 50 residents, we had to have a guide and the tour consisted mostly of visits to pottery-for-sale tables.  The stuff wasn’t even really great. We did get to see a wonderful church where we heard the bizarre tale of the priest who had it built by native labor whom he made go to the forest about 30 miles away and carry the logs back to the site without letting the wood touch the ground.  If it did, the logs were left and back they went for new ones.

I took these photos before we got to Acoma, just to set the scene.

Our next stop in New Mexico was Sante Fe, David’s favorite.  As we were driving into the city the first day, David mentioned that we could use an oil change soon and we should start to think about finding a Toyota dealer.  At that moment I spied one and in we zipped.  Not only did they take the car for service, but shuttled us into town and picked us back up at the end of a full day of siteseeing.  What an enchanting place.  The weather was fine, the galleries were great, the jewelry stores enticing.  We were lucky to catch a show at the Georgia O’Keefe museum which featured her work side by side with Ansel Adams.

We liked Sante Fe so much that we decided to extend our stay one full day. We went to museum hill where 4 different museums are clustered around a plaza.  Our first stop was the International Museum of Folk Art.  This was one of the most unique museums we have ever been in.  Giant case upon case of tableaux of folk scenes of various countries done in pottery or straw or wood or tin.  Canal scenes of Venice, market scenes in Peru, tribal dolls of African nations and on and on.  What a treat.  Next was the Museum of Indian Art and Culture which had case after case of ancient Indian artifacts, as well as great modern jewelry and exhibits of daily life.

After the museums we went to the Lorenzo Chapel, which is now not a religious building, but a museum featuring the mysterious spiral staircase which goes up two revolutions without a support and was supposedly made by a traveling carpenter who appeared just when the church need a staircase to the choir loft but could not afford a carpenter, and disappeared the day after the staircase was installed.  Hmm.  We also saw the oldest chapel in the US. Which was nice, but the one in Acoma with a dirt floor and 3 foot thick walls was nicer.

We stayed in a lovely campgrounds overlooking a lake.  It was great because a cool breeze came up at night.  Here is a photo of Celeste at night.