Santa Fe Colors

Santa Fe is a place for color. Even among the bare trees, the red chilies and the blue sky belies the winter season.

Santa Fe in the Sunlight

Sometimes even the mundane around us has a symmetry and design that catches the eye.

A Visit to Santa Fe

On a clear and a little cold day, we visited Santa Fe. Next to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi is a small park and there are some interesting statues found there.

Albuquerque Balloon Museum

At part of the celebrations of the annual balloon festival in Albuquerque, there is a really good museum. It is filled with balloon equipment that span much of the history of their usage. Lots of displays on expeditions that I knew nothing about that included ballooning.

A Last Look at the Historic Site

By the time I reached this point in the self-guided tour, it really was beginning to rain.

Jemez Springs Historic Site

This place is the ruins of the village built by the ancestors of the current residents of Jemez Springs.

On to the Jemez Springs Historic Site

The clouds continue to gather and it begins to rain just a little.

Jemez Springs - III

This area is filled with natural beauty and expansive vistas. As in much of New Mexico, the people here are not wealthy. While there are some impressive houses near the main road, Jemez Springs proper is a Pueblo and inhabited by people of very modest means.

Jemez Springs - II

 

I really love the contrast of the golden leaves and the dark bark of the aspens this time of year (November). It brings a new life to the otherwise mostly monochrome hills.

Jemez Springs

We decided to drive north to Jemez Springs and have a look about. This is on the southern side of the crater of the ancient volcano on which Los Alamos sits on the northern side.

More Petroglyphs in Piedras Marcadas Canyon

The trails are well marked and roped off from the petroglyphs and the wild desert. As a result, we cannot get close to the stones to see these in any detail or from better angles.

Piedras Marcadas Canyon

In addition to the park along the Rio Grande you saw yesterday, there are places north and west of the central city where one can enjoy the desert. On such place is Piedras Marcadas Canyon where there are hundreds of dark stones that are etched with native american drawings.

Rio Grande State Park

North of downtown is a state park in Albuquerque that straddles the Rio Grande river and provides a quiet place for humans and other animals to gather, rest, and enjoy what nature has to offer. It is a delightful place with the Sandia Mountains in the background.

Just a Few Sights in Old Town

We found it a nice way to get out the house to drive to Old Town for a short stroll and cup of coffee.

Things Seen in Madrid

Not everything in Madrid is converted to a store for selling things or a home for living in. Somethings are simply bits of a bygone era that sit and slowly decay.

Madrid, NM

A trip to Albuquerque is not complete with a drive to Madrid to see all the funky art, clothes, and jewelry. On this visit, there was a bubble machine in front of one of the stores and I managed to catch one resting in a bush.

National Museum of Nuclear Science and Technology - II

One of the exhibits here was a large set of drawings by a soldier, Charles J. Miller. Above is a drawing of the Enola Gay, the airplane that carried the first bomb to Japan.

National Museum of Nuclear Science and Technology

This was a really nice museum, fittingly located in Albuquerque. I suppose it might be better sited in Los Alamos, but Albuquerque is a much more visited city and sitting on the edge of Kirtland Air force Base is also a plus for the museum. It contains lots of exhibits of the history of the US atomic bomb development in New Mexico, the science behind it, and the people and places that dropped it during the war.

There were three star exhibits: reconstructions of the first three atomic bombs. Above the the 'gadget' detonated at the Trinity site near Almagordo as a proof of concept.

Santuario de Chimayo - III

This Chimayo chilli seller is closed for the season. I think it would be interesting to visit when he's open, don't you?

Santuario de Chimayo - II

Photographs inside the sanctuary are not permitted but I believe the more compelling images are found outside anyway. Inside are people intent on their prayers and a small chapel with few decorations. And that decorations and iconography there is, it is largely primitive. Worth seeing but not really something I can turn into a photograph very easily. Certainly not without disturbing the people who take this serious.

In the sunny afternoon, the B&W images begin to take on some of the textures one finds in images from Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Georgia O'Keefe. not that I am in any way trying to claim that my images are as good as theirs; certainly not. Just that the appearance of stucco walls under the New Mexican sun looks similar to what one finds in those images. Add to this the strong contrast, the ability to manipulate the light and dark colors in a B&W image and you get a hint of what is going on in a real art image from a true artist. Too bad I'm not a true artist.

There is an old house near the church that has a drawing/faded painting on the side. You can see it just under the balcony. there is something about this old house and its current state that I believe makes a compelling image.

The gingerbread quality of the stucco church set among the glowing aspens makes an image that might have come from a fairy tale or native folklore.