New Mexico - Day 3 Taos

On our third day in New Mexico Nate and I took the scenic high road to Taos. We saw views like this:

And felt like we were in New Mexico, which we were. And this:

And felt like we were in Colorado, which we were not. At some points along the drive we had a lovely New Mexico-like view to the west and a lovely Colorado-like view on the east. What interesting country.

Along the way we stopped in Las Trampas to see the 250 year old San Jose de Gracia Church. The church has been well cared for and is still used as a parish church today.

On our way into Taos we stopped in Ranchos de Taos to see their famous church, San Francisco de Asis. Work on the church began in 1771 and was completed in 1815.

The church is one of the most oft depicted structures in the United States. Artists like Georgia O'Keeffe and Paul Strand painted and photographed the building multiple times.

With images like these among some of the most famous depictions of the church, (Nate and I actually had no idea what the front of the church even looked like until we got there) Nate and I really had to wonder why on earth the back of the church now looks like this:


Note the power lines crisscrossing the structure, and the gas meter, and apparently you can now park your vehicles right behind the church. Frankly, I think these photographs are a real testament to the power of this structure because it still looks dang awesome despite all these modern-day annoyances. (Also, it helps that the power lines aren't nearly as obvious in the photographs as they were in person.) Still, seeing the church at Ranchos de Taos was probably the highlight of the day.

A little about Taos and American art: In 1898 artists Bert Greer Phillips and Ernest L. Blumenschein were on their way to Mexico for a painting trip when their wagon wheel broke 20 miles north of Taos. While waiting for their wheel to be repaired in Taos the two artists became so impressed with the scenery that they decided not to continue on to Mexico and instead they stayed and painted in Taos. Phillips remained permanently in Taos and Blumenschein eventually moved there. The two artists convinced their friends to come visit New Mexico, and Taos became an artistic destination for several generations of artists.

The artists who journeyed to Taos admired the landscape and the Taos Pueblo, portrayed below in Joseph Henry Sharp's Sunset Dance--Ceremony to the Evening Sun (1924).

A visit to the Taos Pueblo, a structure that has been continuously inhabited for over 1000 years, was also one of our main objectives for this day trip. We even called from Kansas to make sure that it would be open for our visit, but, when we arrived at the Taos Visitor's Center, we learned that the opening of the Pueblo had been delayed a week. Needless to say we were disappointed, and suddenly we didn't really know what to do with ourselves in Taos. So we went to a museum, visited a couple art galleries, sat on the plaza eating icecream, ate dinner at a little gallery/ restaurant, and wandered around admiring the architecture.

Well, at least we didn't become crazy, gawking tourists like the ones pictured below in John Sloan's engraving.

Our day ended with a pretty spectacular site. We went to see the bridge that spans the Rio Grande Gorge. As we were driving toward the bridge we couldn't help wondering if we had made a mistake because the land seemed flat in every direction, and then suddenly we were there. This aerial shot will help you understand the shock value of the Rio Grande Gorge. It's basically an enormous fissure in the flat landscape.
We found the Rio Grande Gorge and the magnificent cantilever bridge pretty amazing. Here are some of the pictures that we took:


We drove back to Santa Fe on the equally scenic low road, which follows the Rio Grande for miles.

New Mexico - Day 2 Jemez Springs and Bandelier

The next day we left for Santa Fe, but we didn't take the direct route we took the scenic route through Jemez Springs. (Nate and I were very into scenic routes on this trip.) Along the way we stopped at several really interesting sites.

Our first stop was at the Jemez State Monument where we saw the ruins of both the San José de los Jemez church and the surrounding Indian village of Giusewa. Below are a couple of pictures of the old church which was built in 1610, 10 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. The extremely thick stone walls are pretty impressive.

We drove by Soda Dam, Battleship Rock, and Valle Grande, which was formed by the collapse of volcanic domes after two massive eruptions about 1.6 and 1.2 million years ago.


Our next stop was Bandelier National Monument. We took a walk through Frijoles Canyon where we saw the ruins of the 13th century Tyuonyi pueblo. Below you can see the dwellings built on the canyon floor. The cliffs surrounding the pueblo have a lot of natural voids, called tuffs, that the people who lived here enlarged. The really cool thing about Bandelier is that they let you climb up and get a closer view of these cliff dwellings.



I'm sure that Nate would want to me post a picture of the bat cave. As we were walking through the monument I commented about the cliff walls and how they seemed to be the perfect home for huge colonies of bats. Right after I made this comment we ran into this sign and the picture below is of the bats' home, Long House Cave.


Nate and I then took a side trail to the see the Alcove House, a cliff dwelling in a very high cave that visitors can reach by ladder. Actually, several ladders.

I'm starting the long climb to the top, and below Nate is crouched in one of the many natural crevices in the cliff face. I think it's pretty cool that they let visitors climb all the way up there. Don't worry we were careful. And everything was so close together that the whole round trip was only about 2 miles.


From Bandelier Nate and I drove to Santa Fe where we ate dinner and checked into our hotel. We had a full day.

New Mexico - Day 1 Albuquerque

For Spring Break Nate and I took a trip to New Mexico. If you are like my friend Brian you might be wondering why we would chose New Mexico. I have wanted to go to New Mexico for years. It was a class I took in graduate school at BYU that really sparked my interest. New Mexico was a major tourist destination for artists and authors during the modernist period, and it still has a thriving artistic community. Seeing what fascinated all these artists was my primary motivation, but New Mexico seemed like a good pre-baby trip as well because it involved lots of scenic drives and strolls around Taos and Santa Fe.

We started our trip in Albuquerque hanging out with my friends from high school and college Susan and Brian and their daughter Grace. Susan and Grace met us at the aquarium where we ate in front of the shark tank.

Then we went to see the adjacent botanical gardens. Below Nate and I are in the dessert pavilion. I also got a picture there with Susan and Grace. And Jill, I want you to know that our time at the dessert garden in Phoenix served me well. I could identify some of the cacti and dessert trees.

We also went with Grace to the really cute children's garden. Everything is oversized in the children's garden. Here's Grace trying to climb onto a giant ant. And below, Nate, Grace and I pose in front of an enormous watering can.

As you can see Grace had a great time. She ran everywhere.

Nate and I relaxed during the afternoon and went to Brian and Susan's house for pizza that evening. We had a great time hanging out, hearing about Brian's residency, and just getting a chance to catch up. Thanks again Susan and Brian. We hope to meet up with you in Colorado sometime soon.