taos

i did so much today that i think it deserves two blog posts, at least picture-wise. today i began my three hour trek back to santa fe. the drive from red river to questa looked much like the picture above--beautiful looming cliffs and tall trees. luckily for those trees, if somewhat unluckily for me, it was overcast and sprinkling for a good part of the day. after passing through questa the land opened up. taos is in the middle of a giant plateau--what would be considered a meadow in a rainier climate. i love it because all of a sudden you are in this huge bowl, surrounded on all sides by mountains and the sky seems limitless.

my first stop on my way into taos was a few miles away on highway 64--the rio grande gorge bridge. it was built in 1965, and is today the 5th tallest bridge in the country. you really have to walk out to about the middle of the bridge to appreciate its height, because the cliffs drop away pretty suddenly. it's a wonderful view though--and to think, just a little downstream the river is a soft, flowing thing. in addition, it is always entertaining to see who will be parked near the bridge selling things--i bought a ring here once. today it was only a few anglos and this highly entertaining bus: a coffeeshop on wheels, as it were.


after spending what i deemed a suitable amount of time of the bridge, which rattles a lot whenever a car passes by, i headed into taos. my first stop was at cid's, a local food market. i was sent on the orders of my mom, for whom i bought 21 pounds of posole, 4 pounds of red chile powder, and 2 pounds of chicos. from there i headed into town, which thankfully has free parking just off of bent street. taos is a peculiar town. it has very strict building guidelines, so that all new building have to be made of abobe, or at least fake adobe. and while it's got its fair share of tourist kitsch, taos is, and has been for quite a while, an artist community. numerous painters, writers, and photographers have lived here, and there have to be more art galleries per capita than just about anywhere. there's lots of turquoise trim, dried red chiles, and plants, since they can actually water the city. for example, these two pictures were taken on opposite sides of the plaza. the town was established in 1796 and has existed under the spanish crown, mexico, under the new mexico territory, and then finally the state. like most old new mexican towns, the historic part is centered around a square. taos, though, also has another center a block to the west at bent street. this particular street houses my favorite ever bookstore: mobey dickens. not only does it have a great local and travel section, but it is one of those old family owned bookstores you can't help but love. i wandered around taos a little more, popping in a few galleries and stopping to enjoy a smoothie at a table outdoors, near where i took the picture below.



on my way south back towards santa fe i stopped at a little town four miles south of taos, called ranchos. once again i was here on a georgia o'keefe mission: she did four paintings of the san francisco de asis mission in the town, which is little more than the square. i think that ansel adams also did some pictures of the mission, but i could be wrong. the inside was beautiful traditional spanish mission style--exposed and stylized wooded beams holding up the roof, and a beautiful mural behind the alter. i would put a picture here, but i wasn't allowed to take any inside the church. the grounds were also beautiful, well done with flowers and statues of saints. thus ended part one of my return trip to santa fe.

the enchanted circle

a few days ago i drove from glorieta north to red river. on the way i decided to dedicate a little time to one of america's great artists: georgia o'keefe. she lived much of her life in the middle of the land which inspired her, in a tiny town called abiquiu (which rhymes with barbeque). it's nothing more than a dusty town with a pint-sized public library and a classic, late 19th century spanish mission, which still functions as a church. the padre gave me directions. abiquiu is also known for its cliffs, at left from a distance. o'keefe painted these: look at her depiction here. they were much more exciting and filled with color in person, particularly up close. by the time i was done driving down the mountain above abiquiu, it was time for me to make time. so i passed quickly through espanola (sorry, no accent), taos and questa on my way to red river. it was a beautiful drive, though: first alongside the rio grande and then through the plateaus and mountains of northern new mexico.

now, for those of you who do not already know this, rr means a lot to me. my grandmother lived and worked in the tiny town of about 700, and i loved visiting her. it was rafting or horseback riding in summer, skiing in winter. while she no longer lives there, a cousin of mine was gracious enough to let me stay in their house in town (thanks gail!). this town is about a mile long and about a 1/4 mile wide. and as i later learned, much of it used to be essentially a bog back in the 30s. it was founded in the 19th century as a gold mining town, but all of the machines were taken off as scrap metal during wwii, which wasn't that big of a loss since not that much gold was ever found. it has since developed into a tourist town, catering to wealthy texans and families who enjoy the outdoors.
the next day i spent shopping and wandering around town, as well as driving to another even smaller town on the enchanted circle (a series of small towns connected by highways forming a circle in northern new mexico). eagle next is smaller than handkerchief sized, and unlike red river sits in the middle of a plateau between mountains next to a beautiful lake. that's it to the left. nonetheless, i found a little cafe where i could get a cup of coffee, since by now it was the middle of the afternoon and my naptime. i sat and read, enjoying the summer weather. there were fewer people here, so it was a little more relaxing, though the coffee was extremely weak. the above road sign i thought was hilarious, and also apt--by far most of the tourists who come to this part of new mexico are from texas, trying to escape the summer heat, or because it's the closest ski range for many texans.anyway, i returned to red river and ate dinner at sundance, still the best restaurant in town. after dinner i returned to the kirkpatrick house, and i should note here that i had been meeting people all day who knew both my grandmother and cousins. but i think the most interesting character i met in rr was my neighbor, who calls himself happy hal. he lives most of the year in wichita falls, where he is still involved in the drilling of oil and gas at the age of 88. he lives in the house to the left, the oldest in town, dating to the 1870s; it's on the national historic register. every evening, so far as i can tell, he sits on his porch waiting for people to come visit him. i went over after dinner, joining a couple who were already there. funny story--they own a sporting goods place in town (the sitzmark), and not only is george's mother from germany, so i got to speak a little german, but his nephew was in my graduating class at baylor, and i actually knew who he was. what a small, small world. hal told me much of the history of red river i repeated above, and i had a blast talking to him. i stayed there about an hour and a half, listening to his stories and telling a few of my own. for the record, he reads shakespeare for fun. it was a great way to end a wonderful day in a beautiful part of the country. thanks, hal, for keeping me company.

santa fe

sorry folks! i got up here to glorieta on wednesday, and today (sunday) was my first real day out. i came down with something, probably in the dread state of arizona, and have spent the last few days recovering and hanging around glorieta--i'll probably write a post on it soon. but because of this, i was determined to have a fun and full day. so mid-morning i headed to one of my favorite cities--santa fe. that's it above, with the st. francis basilica in the background, just off of the city square, to the right. it being a weekend during the summer, the city was pretty busy. i parked my car and walked around, since i find this city, which is quite old and has few straight streets in the old part, is quite pedestrian friendly. i love new mexico because you never know what you will see. in the square i saw a father and son going at it on a set of xylophones, as well as a woman playing beatles songs on a spanish guitar. there were people everywhere, and of all sorts, too. part of the reason that i like this state is that there are so many distinct cultures--native, mexican, spanish, anglo--and they all seem to get along better here. mind you, they still have their problems, but better than most anywhere else i've been. it helps that everyone makes most of their money off of the indians.

but i digress. santa is a town which thrives on art and jewelry. pretty much every store in the city sells both. and a good deal of pottery and clothes as well. it has a pretty good opera, great markets and festivals, and fantastic food. i wandered around for a while, taking in the city, which feels more like home than any other place i have been since i left home.

but the reason that i came to santa fe today, in particular, was because i was meeting jacob and his dad for lunch. yay! it was nice to see a friendly face, finally, after the flagstaff fiasco. we had a great meal at the popular guadalupe cafe--we all had huevos rancheros, despite it being close to two--and good conversation. they live in albuquerque and were on their way back from a weekend trip to denver, so hopefully i will get to see jacob again as i head back south. they decided that the chile sauce there was destinctly nortena (sorry about the lack of accent) as opposed to what they were used to. i just thought it was good chile, and wish that i had taken a picture of the restaurant. after lunch i went and grabbed my laptop, headed to an internet cafe/studio to get some internet, which i had been without since flagstaff. i bought a latte and sat inside to work. this guy was outside for several hours--i had seen him earlier in the day, before lunch--and was still there when i left. i think he's friends with the owner. it was neat to see all of these other locals come up and say hi to him: it seemed like it was his regular spot. and i liked his hat. like the pottery fountain above, you never know what you will find.

after going and praying in the now slightly less crowded basilica, i went back to my car to drive the 14 miles back to glorieta. it turned out that it was a good thing i did, because it started to rain directly. on the way out i snapped this picture of the first baptist church--even it is adobe, or at least something that looks like it. santa fe is not as uniform as the smaller taos to the north, but i would say that about 90% of it is adobe.

on the way back i decided to drive a little further north to visit the pecos national historic park, another 8 miles or so north of glorieta. pecos itself i have renamed the city of wild dogs, since i almost hit three different dogs, one of them twice. maybe they just let them run around? anyway, like a lot of small new mexican towns, pecos is not very rich and not very worried about it. the park itself and the ruins are fascinating. it protects the ruins of an ancient pueblo, as well as a spanish mission built in the early 17th century. the picture to the right is of the old mission, with the taller part being the old cathedral. you can walk around and see what the old buildings used to look like and what used to be where, as well as the beautiful landscape in which it is set, pictured below. if you take a 3/4 mile loop tour you can see what remains of the pueblo, which is significantly less than the mission. the park also sits on part of the old santa fe trail, a wagon trail which led from franklin, mo to santa fe. why everything from trails to railroad tracks is named after this city, or why everything ended here, i attribute to the wonderfulness of the city itself. anyway, by the time i had walked around the ruins, the park was about ready to close, so back to glorieta i went.

i-40

when i left san luis obispo tuesday morning, i headed west towards i-40. of course, the highway i took to get there just happened to be the road on which james dean crashed his car, cutting his career tragically short. he essentially just turned a corner, had the sun in his eyes, and crashed his car in the middle of nowhere--it's not even a mountain road. so i got out to take a few pictures and pay homage to the king of cool. (for those of you who don't know, i know quite a lot about james dean, since he was very influential to the german films i on which wrote my honors thesis. go watch rebel without a cause if you haven't already seen it).



after about 3 hours i finally made it to barstow, where interstate 40 starts. pretty much immediately after i got on there was this sign for wilmington, nc, so of course i immediately pulled over on the shoulder to rather hazardously take the picture at the top of this post. quite funny to think that it is only 2554 miles to the east coast--at this point i had put about 9000 miles on my car since i left raleigh. after getting on the interstate it was incredibly desolate. i have now been in quite a few desolate parts of the country, but i think this california desert takes the cake. there was NOTHING--it looked like this, which is beautiful, but no gas, food, etc. not even a visitors center when i entered arizona. i decided to press on to flagstaff, which is a small university town and a common jumping off point to the grand canyon.

on the way i took a 20 mile detour off of 40 to go by lake havascu. now, what claim to fame does it have? the london bridge. in 1967 the london bridge, which had been built in 1831, was falling down. (haha?). the city of london sold it to robert mcculloch, who put it across this lake in arizona. in reality, it is a modern bridge with the original exterior granite put on top, but still--the london bridge. really quite bizarre in the middle of the arizona desert, but cool nonetheless. from there i went on to flagstaff, pulling in about 10 that night.

i drove 10 1/2 hours that day, and was quite tired and very sore, but i realized something as i went to bed. i have now driven every mile of i-40. having now driven from barstow to flagstaff, i had driven (or at least been in the car) when covering the rest of the miles to wilmington. neat, huh? i took this picture, very carefully, outside of my window at sunset.wednesday morning i woke up to find my car towed. needless to say this put a damper on my day, and i don't want to talk about it. by the time i rolled out of flagstaff wednesday, it was after noon. (interestingly, arizona does not belief in daylight savings, so in the summer they are on pacific time. but the indian reservation in the state do use daylight savings. strange place). i had wanted to go to sedona, but now had no time. so, continuing on i-40, i headed toward albuquerque. i was sooo ready to leave arizona.

of course, i stopped on the way at winslow, arizona. as in the eagles song: 'i was standin' on a corner in winslow arizona, there was such a fine sight to see. it's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed ford slowin' down to take a look at me.' there really isn't much of a town, and they really are just playing up their tie to the song, but it was neat to see. the town was also really big into their route 66 history. all the way from barstow to albuquerque, i-40 runs pretty much exactly parallel to the old famous route. and from flagstaff, it also follows the old santa fe railroad line. winslow, therefore, has both.
from there until santa fe i was probably more often in indian territory than not. it's one reservation after another, which means, for the average traveler, that there is no cheap gas. although, if you have time to stop, a lot of them are quite interesting. like this one that i saw from a distance--this pueblo in new mexico, called the laguna pueblo. founded in 1692 by refugees from other pueblos fleeing the spanish. and it's still occupied today--that's it below.

i stopped in the new mexico visitors center, and was quite impressed. staffed by indians (it was on a reservation) it was huge, modern, clean, and had a very friendly and helpful staff. the state is really trying to play up its tourism aspects, something i support whole-heartedly. i LOVE new mexico. maybe it was just me, but i thought the roadside scenery got much prettier when we entered the state. that day, though, i drove right on through albuquerque, taking i-25 up to santa fe. i reached my final destination, glorieta, about 8 (now mountain time). glorieta, while there is also a town, is know for its huge christian complex--a conference center, camp--they can do just about anything. my great-grandparents bought a house there a long time ago, and that's where i headed. (thanks uncle kirk!).

to the ocean

sorry that i am a few days behind! i've been having way too much fun to blog. last friday, the 2nd, we left death valley and headed west to san luis obispo, where my aunt mary lives. on our way out we stopped to take pictures of this joshua tree. of couse, they are misnamed--they are really overgrown yucca plants and not trees at all, but were really cool nonetheless. this one was a little bigger than the others.
other than that, friday was spent driving--more twisty roads--and getting the tires on my car replaced. we also ran a few errands we needed to take care of, reveling in the fact that we were once again someplace with real stores and real things in them.
so saturday we woke up, and since aunt mary had to take her grandkids to lax, we wandered out on our own to enjoy the wine country. the area around san luis obispo (from hereon, slo), is known for their chardonnay and pinot noir, if i am remembering correctly. we drove around to a few of the wineries, where we were able to split wine samplings. this meant that not only was it cheaper, but we were able to enjoy it all more. i learned a lot that day, and enjoyed it all (mostly) in the process. half of it was because of the beautiful scenery though. rolling vineyards , with mountains in the background. and of course, sunny. although, for the record, it was foggy half of the time we were in slo--what they call, rather mysteriously, 'the marine layer.' it's also cooler in slo than in los angeles, and saturday afternoon was the only time it really got warm at all. anyway, you can see in the picture to the right just how many vineyards are in the area: and those are just the ones off of that one road.



sunday was the fourth of july, so we spent much of the day enjoying aunt mary's beautiful view, above, just sitting around catching up. we did go to her local country club to watch the kids (ahem, dads) built cardboard boats for a neighborhood race and enjoy a delicious barbeque/veggie buffet. one of the huge upsides of california is that they get absolutely wonderful fruits and veggies almost all year. but for the evening, since it was the fourth of july, after all, we headed down to pismo beach to watch the biggest fireworks display in her little area of central california coast. we headed down only to discover that the entire town, a small beach town, was covered in pedestrians and parked cars. luckily, we were able to convince a family to let us park in front of their driveway, so we actually had a really great view. also, mum had bought a bottle of sparkling pink wine--i forget exactly what it was called in france. so the three of us sat on the hood of the car, eating some delicious strawberries to go with our wonderful sparkling wine. it really was a great fourth of july, and the fireworks just finished everything off nicely.
monday, our last day in slo, we got in a pretty full day of sight-seeing. first off we went to brunch with aunt mary and a group of women who make up a knitting club. while not much knitting was done, it was a lot of fun to talk with them and get to know some of mary's friends. from there we headed to avila beach, where we wandered down a pier, watching the boats and hoping to see some seals. we ended up getting a glass of wine at a restaurant at the end of the pier that had a glass room with a great view. luckily, on our way back down the pier, we saw some very impressive sea lions showing off at the bottom of a set of stairs which led to the water. they even went so far as to go jumping, soaring really, in and out of the water on their way out to sea. while it was still foggy, it was nice to see the pacific ocean again, and to see all the people fishing and crabbing! i, as a non-fisher, was certainly impressed.

from the avila beach pier we headed back inland to the madonna inn. now when they say inn, they really mean old school resort. it has a limo service, two restaurants, a gourmet baker, a wine cellar, men's and women's boutiques, and a spa. aunt mary took us around the place, showing us everything. first off, just about everything that can be is either pink, sparkly, or covered in flowers. and i do mean everything. the picture below is of one of the dining areas. it looks like a literal fairy tale--they even have fancy dancing on friday nights. the funny thing is, it was established and designed by a man! i certainly don't know many men who would opt for this decor, but apparently even the likes of john wayne were willing to put up with it. the rooms themselves are all done in different themes, from red to western. luckily, and you may not be able to tell this from the pictures, it doesn't actually go too far from gaudy into the grotesque. it looks like a fairy-tale, but not completely absurd. at least not in person. in my opinion.the picture to the left is of the outside front of the madonna inn. it was really neat for me to see, since i had visited aunt mary before, but had not seen this particular oddity. what a strange group we americans are. and to think that hurst castle is only about an hour away from the madonna inn.

after the inn, our next stop was at the san luis obispo mission (obispo means bishop, for any of those interested). the mission was beautiful! while the mission no longer functions, the church still holds services, as well as local concerts. we wandered around the beautiful garden (ye gods! the plants they grow in california!) these were some of the original bells, which have now obviously been replaced. the fog had rolled away, so we were once again left in sunlight. i really like spanish mission architecture--there is a certain beauty in the starkness of the dark wood and the white walls, and the flowers murals are also quite nice.

after exploring, we needed a little break. so after cleaning ourselves up we headed into town to a fantastic restaurant called ciopinot. interestingly, mum had met the owner's wife in portland in a weird happenstance (she also suggested a tire place to us in slo). so we went to this restaurant on her recommendation, and got free appetizers for it! our meal was the best we've had on this trip. the crab cakes were the best thing, i thought, but my salmon and aunt mary's sole were also delicious. we (and by that i mean they, i was the designated driver) drank too much, meaning that i was the only one awake all the way through the film we had rented. nonetheless, it was a great day finished off by a wonderful evening. thanks, wendy!

death valley

this picture, directly above, is probably pretty close to what you think of when you think of death valley. am i right? well, it was taken there, so good job. don't get too comfortable, however--there is a whole lot more to this national park, scorpions aside. we drove down here from lee vining, outside of yosemite, and it was a beautiful drive down, through valleys surrounded by national forests. first off, this is the largest park in the lower 48: in fact, all of the other parks in california could fit inside of this one. it is also the hottest, dries, and lowest place in the western hemisphere. we entered the park from the west, so the first grouping of things we saw was around stovepipe wells, which is about in the middle of the park. of course to get there we had to cross a mountain range, so we promptly gained and then lost about 5000 feet in elevation. stovepipe is at 5 feet above sea level. near the tiny town is a grouping of sand dunes, pictured to the left. as some of you probably know, sand dunes aren't actually all that common in deserts, so these were pretty neat. also, there are tiny gold flakes in the sand. we also saw what is called the devils cornfield--a bunch of taller desert plants, which someone humorously named. we also went by the devils golf course, which is a salt flat covered with rocks, which are also pretty much made of limestone and salt residue.

from there we drove straight on through furnace creek, -190 feet, to the lowest point in the western hemisphere--badwater basin. badwater itselt is a tiny lake made mostly of ancient snow melt--at least the parts which haven't evaporated. you can actually walk out a bit, as you can see. however, you can't stray from the 'path' because they don't want you to walk on the salt flats, which is the crackly stuff in the background and the white swatches in a lot of the pictures. we took some pictures, but rather quickly got back in our car, tasting the salt from the wind on our lips. for real. also, i should note, that it was about 12:30 at this point, and was also about 113 degrees. it is in fact called death valley for a reason, and for this reason much of our time in the park was spent in our car. this felt a little like a cop out, but even at a negative feet below sea level, and no matter how much water you drink, you get dizzy when you spend too much time outside in 120 degree + heat.
while on the topic, here is proof of how hot it was--it actually peaked that afternoon at about 123. of course, this changes a lot depending on where you are--these temperatures were down in the valley. up 5000 feet above it, it was only 90 as well as windier. why is it so hot? it is bone dry, has a very low elevation, and is surrounded by mountains. these mountains essentially act as insulation, keeping the hot air in, meaning it is hot at night as well. in the summer it usually doesn't drop below 100 at night. the second highest recorded temp is from here--134--and is only two degrees lower than the highest ever, from libya and the sahara. it feels a lot like a dry sauna, except that you're outside and not in a box at the ymca. it is so hot you can literally see the heat rising as the sun goes down.

from badwater we headed down a scenic drive called artist's drive, most of which looked a lot like the picture above. it was beautiful! foothills to the taller mountains behind, in an array of colors. in fact, one section was called artist's palette and had these beautiful purples and teals--that's part of it to the right. we tried to get out and walk around a tiny bit here, but it really just wasn't possible. i will never complain of heat anywhere else ever again. these hills really were stunning, nonetheless. we just enjoyed them while sweating in our car instead of fainting outside.

after artist's drive we headed to the single spot i was most looking forward to--dante's view, so called because you can see both the lowest point in north america--badwater, -282--and the highest point in the lower 48--mt. whitney, 14, 505. it is also 5000 feet above badwater, and thus has a great view of the actual death valley, as well as the mountains all around it. it was absolutely breathtaking. and to think that this whole valley not only used to be a system of lakes, but is also formed and continues to be formed because the pacific tectonic plate, on which california sits, is pulling away from the north american plate. this pulling apart created the valley, and the next earthquake could deepen the valley even further (as well as possibly cause cali to fall into the ocean). it was also only 90 up here, so that made it much more enjoyable as well. while it is difficult to see in the picture, i am actually looking off at mt. whitney in the distance--it was above what looks like the far end of the valley.
after dante's view it was approaching six, so we headed back to furnace creek and the lodge/town there for dinner, which was almost as expensive as the gas-- $4.23 a gallon. almost twice what i paid in virginia. sigh. this picture of me with the sea level sign was taking facing east towards furnace creek--notice how the ground level continues to drop behind me?





following dinner we headed back up into the hills/mountains for our last scene of the day, a place called zabriske point, possible the most iconic of all of the scenic shots of death valley. at least it's on the cover of their information newspaper. we chose to come here last because it's supposed to be stunning at sunset. and while it was still about an hour and half before sunset, the longer shadows really showed off the spines of the mountains. it was a beautiful scene of painted mountains, in the thankfully cooling weather; of course, the setting sun helped with the heat as well.
on our way back to our lodge, in panamint springs, we got more gorgeous views of the sun setting on the mountains, dunes, and desert plants. we also got pictures of some of the signs in the park, such as this one. it is suggesting this because it's 5000 feet up and then back down the other side, but who would turn off their ac when it's 110 outside, i don't know. there are also about a dozen places where you can stop to fill up your radiator water. that's in addition to all of the signs telling you to park off the pavement. all of this makes me wonder how many cars break down from overheating each year. while theodore was running hot, he never ran the risk of overheating. but apparently some cars do. all in all, this picture below is pretty representative of the park as a whole. for the record, death valley also wins the nomenclature award: it has places like coffin peak, hells gate, deadman pass, in addition to devils cornfield and golf course and the others listed above. coming and doing all of this in one day--and that includes no real hiking--makes me want to come back in february when the wildflowers (yes, wildflowers) are in bloom and you can actually hike to the colorful canyons and to the top of telescope peak, at 11000+ feet. next time, gadget.