August 23, 2014 Santa Fe, New Mexico

A beautiful high 70’s day and sunny for Indian Market. We took the bus downtown so we would not have to try to find a parking place.  It was free today for the market.

There were at least 1,000 booths at the market. Lots of beautiful jewelry, pots, sculptures, paintings and lots of food. After the first 100 booths they all began to look the same.  A hoop dancer-not exactly a hula hoop but lots of the same arm tricks.

Sue with the Bill Worrell sculpture. The Indian fashion show was interesting. The model is the woman in the bright dress and war paint.

Here are some more of the models with the designer. There were a couple different designers. Some children dancing.

These guys sold flutes and played them too.  Back at camp we found this wildlife in our spot, a tanager and a bunny. I think the bunny was eyeing our basil plants.

This evening we went to the Southwest pickers 40th annual Bluegrass and old time music festival to visit with Jim Satnamji who John has gone on a couple of Grand Canyon trips with. We listened to some music, then tried to do some contra dancing. John and I  were a mess, but it was lots of fun.

The band at the dance, and one of the bands in the building next door. Great music.

August 22, 2014 Santa Fe, New Mexico

Rainy cool day. High of 70 degrees.

Michael Naiman took us out to lunch today at  a restaurant called Tune-up. It is local Mexican/Salvadorian restaurant. It was fun to visit with him. He gave us tickets for the opera tonight. After lunch we went the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture to the Turquoise exhibit. It was very good, so were the rest of the exhibits there.

They won’t let you take photos in the museum, but these are some of the sculptures in front of it. This first big guy is the Mountain Spirit Dancer. Some figures on adobe and blue sky.

The other side of the sculpture plaza, this is the Santa Fe Table. We are all dressed up for the opera. We went to Don Pasquale. It was a comedy and very funny. I wish it had been in English, they had translations on screens on the back of the seats, but very general translations, it looked like we missed a lot of very funny, witty dialogue. The music and the actors were very good.

The Santa Fe opera house is open in the front. We could have seen sunset at the beginning of the opera, if it hadn’t been cloudy. Really cool building.

August 21, 2014 Santa Fe, New Mexico

Beautiful day in Santa Fe, mostly sunny and low 80’s.

This morning we drove up into the mountains  to check out trails, campgrounds, the ski area and the mountains. Very pretty. The mountains are so close to town. Then we went to the Georgia O’keefe museum. This is model  of her studio with the view and one of her paintings.

John sitting with Daffy Duck  in front of a gallery that has a show  of Dr Seuss’s whimsical sculptures and paintings and work of Chuck Jones who drew the cartoon characters of our youth. Street sales in front of the  Palace of the Governor's.

A shop with cool Mexican art. The inside of the St Francis Cathedral.

Santa Fe is was on Route 66.  We have run across route 66 all across the country. Inside the Loretta Chapel is the mysterious stairway. There was no stairway to the loft when the chapel was originally built in 1878. They would have to use a ladder. The nuns  made a novena to St Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters.  A man appeared, built the stairway, then he disappeared with out pay or thanks. The stairway has no visible means of support and has been a mystery ever since.

Shops and the Plaza.

In the Plaza I ran into Shirley Beverly-on the right, we worked together in the lab in Summit county. She is down here with her friend Nan for the Indian Market. Another coincidental meeting. John and I had a late lunch on a balcony overlooking the plaza. Great place for people watching.

We heard a mariachi band, and found these guys playing at an opening at a gallery. Many of the galleries were open with snacks, wine and many of the artists. We saw lots of beautiful art and jewelry.  Me with the art in front of the gallery.

The Presbyterian church by the parking garage.

August 20, 2014 Santa Fe, New Mexico

We drove a long way for us today. 200 miles. We took  a back road, Highway 96 though a beautiful area of mountains.

The valley was full of fields of sunflowers, ranches, red rock cliffs and mountains. Abiquiu reservoir, near this area is where Georgia O’Keefe’s Ghost Ranch is, and much of the red rock scenery she painted. If we hadn’t already made reservations in Santa Fe it would have been fun to explore around here.

After we got settled we headed to downtown Santa Fe and the Plaza and wandered around. Most of the shops were closed after 5. Here is the nice light on the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis.  This is a statue of Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680), the  first Indian of north America to be promoted a saint in front of the cathedral.

In front of this gallery were these great sculptures- the same artist as the piece The Peace Maker, we saw in Seminole canyon in Texas (second photo)-loved it in both places. A shop with chili ristras out front.

A shop with bright Mexican flowers. I was crossing the street just as a car was turning the corner and the driver started honking, pulled over and jumped out. It is the only person we know in Santa Fe- Michael Naiman. We are sort of related-he is my sister’s husbands son.  We had emailed and planned to get together sometime while we were here, but is was such a coincidence to run into right after we got here. We are going to have lunch on Friday, and he is giving us tickets to see the opera Friday night.

John sitting on a school of fish by the convention center. There was live music in the plaza this evening.

We stopped at the Blue Corn Brewery in downtown to taste their IPA. Then on the way home we stopped at the Second Street Brewery, but due to a power outage it was closed. There were some lights on and people were inside eating, but it must have just happened, when we went in it was closed.  I saw this sign in a window on the plaza-fresh rubber chickens, $22 lb, and the woman’s restroom at the Second Street brewery. The lights were out in there, it was lit with candles. I know we are in the right place when they have a chocolate trail!

August 17-19, 2014 Aztec, New Mexico

Sunday  we hung out at the campsite in the cool pines outside of Mancos, Colorado and relaxed. We were going to leave for New Mexico on Monday, but it was predicted to be 97 degrees in Aztec, and only 80 where we were. So we stayed Monday too. It we only in the  80’s when we arrived in Aztec.

Entering New Mexico. We went to Aztec to see the Aztec Ruins National Monument. It is one of the largest and best preserved Ancestral Pueblo ruins in the Southwest.

This is a model of the site. It has over 500 rooms, some of them still intact. It was three stories high. They think about 200 people lived here at one time. It was built in 1110. John outside the Great Kiva. It has been restored, and is the only reconstruction of of its kind in North America.

John inside the Great Kiva. He is standing in the light from the entrance above. It is built in a plaza and was used for community events. The families lived in 5 room units, similar to the shot gun houses, with the rooms one behind another. Here is looking into the door ways of one.

The doorways were short.  Possibly to keep heat inside in the winter and heat out in the summer. Here are some pottery and weavings found in the ruin.

A kiva with ruins behind it. John in one of the taller sections.

Two kivas, and tall walls.

A keyhole door into the plaza with desert mallow in the foreground. More doors we walked through into the interior.

This is the original roof on this room. It is 900 years old and the timbers were hand carried down from the mountains 50 miles away. The north wall is aligned with the path of the sun on the summer solstice.

There were decorative stripes of green rock on the outside walls. This was a great site to visit because they let you  walk into the rooms on a self guiding tour. Historic downtown Aztec.

We could not tell if the Hiway grill was still open or not. The bus at The Ruins Road  RV park, right next to the ruins, on, of course, Ruins Road in Aztec.