Hello Everyone! Well I’m finally starting to feel more adjusted to the dryness of the desert and the altitude here in Northern New Mexico. It definitely takes a few days to get used to in my sinuses and with just walking around. On the other hand, Shadow Catcher has gotten better gas mileage this week than at any time since I’ve had her, and it is definitely the right time for that. Daylight Savings is back and I’m absolutely enjoying the later sunset – it stretches my day out a bit and I feel a little less hurried. I spent a good chunk of this week in Albuquerque, a city I had only visited in passing before. At first it seemed a little bit seedy, but it really grew on me and I enjoyed it quite a bit and look forward to returning. Beyond that, the weather has been near perfect all week and I’ve continued to really enjoy my time in New Mexico. It’s growing nearer and dearer to my heart every day. I guess they don’t call it The Land of Enchantment for nothing.
So when I left you last week, I was in the small town of Truth or Consequences which turned out to be a neat little town and one of the most photogenic I’ve been through so far. I headed out to Elephant Butte Lake State Park to take some photos and grab a quick shower, but the lake out there is really low after years of drought. I returned downtown in the evening and enjoyed wandering around and taking photos until the sun went down. Then I stopped in for a couple of beers at the great little Truth or Consequences Brewery and enjoyed speaking with the lady who worked there who had moved to T & C from El Paso and never looked back.
I was up and off on Thursday with big plans that I couldn’t quite fit into a day. My first stop was at old Fort Craig, an army fort built in 1854 - soon after the New Mexico Territory became a part of the United States as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. The fort was established to provide protection from Indians for settlers moving west into the newly acquired territory. It was staffed mostly by recent immigrants, one of whom described Fort Craig as “some lonesome sort of hole on the edge of the hot and dusty desert”. It would become the unlikely site of a fairly important battle (for the Western Theatre) of the Civil War as the Confederacy had its eyes on Colorado and California gold and a Pacific port which would be free from a Union blockade. To get to either, they had to cross New Mexico first, no small feat in the 1860s. Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley, who led the charge, planned on providing for his troops by “living off the land”. I don’t think he was quite prepared for the desolate and sparsely populated desert environment he found. Fort Craig, at the time, had tremendous storehouses and provided food and supplies to the entire region, so Sibley set his sights on the small desert fort. The armies met on the Valverde Battlefield, not far away, and the Confederates managed to send the Union troops retreating back to the fort. Sibley then demanded the fort’s surrender, which was probably met by laughter but was definitely refused by Commanding Officer Colonel Edward Canby who saw no reason to surrender his secure and well-armed fort. Sibley didn’t have the ammunition or the firepower to attack the fort, so he was forced to move on in search of provisions for his men further north. Canby left in pursuit, leaving Kit Carson in command in his absence. A defeat near Santa Fe sent the Confederates high-tailing it back to Texas. The fort would go back to serving its original purpose of fighting off the Apache, but was abandoned by the 1890s. Today it is just a collection of ruins overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, but it’s an interesting place. The caretaker told me they average just 8 visitors a day, but sometimes get as many as 20.
After a few hours at the fort, I headed on to the beautiful Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge just up the road. These natural wetlands are an essential stopover for migrating birds, and seeing it helps to show the importance of the Wildlife Refuge System. There were tons of birds on the water and a wonderful tour loop took me down a beautifully maintained dirt road around the perimeter. By the time I was ready to go, my plan to go see the Salinas Pueblo Missions that afternoon seemed doomed and since I wanted to have plenty of time to see them I decided to stop off in the town of Socorro instead. Home to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, it turned out to be a really nice little town with a pleasant and historic downtown area. I enjoyed taking some photos as the sun was setting and then stopped into the Capitol Bar which was a fun little bar right on the plaza. After a quick beer, I headed out to the El Camino Restaurant and Lounge, and walking in their front door was like walking into the late 1960s. This old-school diner is worth a stop just to check out the décor, but sadly my dinner there was just so-so. I was, however, glad I stepped past the cash register and into the lounge which is also a relic from a different time. I had a quick beer there and enjoyed chatting with a nice young lady who was in town working on a big Hollywood movie they are filming nearby. They were calling for snow overnight, so I tucked myself in good and waited to see what came of it.
I definitely woke up to some snow on my van but the real snow was higher up in the mountains. As I headed up and over the pass towards Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, there was definitely snow on the road. The whole landscape was really pretty and it looked like someone had taken a shaker of confectioners’ sugar and just given the whole desert a good sprinkling. There was noticeable accumulation as I pulled into Abó, the easternmost mission in the park. This National Park Service site preserves three missions in various states of repair which had been built under the supervision of the Spanish Franciscan missionaries who arrived in the early 17th century. The Spanish came in search of gold, but the missionaries stayed to try and save the souls of the native people. When looking at history, I think it’s always important to take peoples’ intent into account, and the intentions of the missionaries were definitely good. In fact, some of the priests who came found many similarities between the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi and the Puebloan belief system. Fascinatingly, there are even kivas (traditional Puebloan ceremonial rooms) within the church compounds themselves, something which is really mind-blowing to see and shows at least some attempt to find middle ground. Later arriving priests were not as kind or as keen on compromise and treated the indigenous people as sub-human, forcing them to work and build their grand compounds. When I arrived at Abó, it was blanketed in almost an inch of snow creating a strikingly beautiful scene. I knew it wouldn’t last past midday, so I took plenty of photos before heading into the Visitors Center to chat with the ranger. He was young and very well informed and came from Western Pennsylvania. I really enjoyed speaking with him and I learned a lot about the Puebloan people who were there for centuries and the missionaries who came later.
I was at Abó longer than I had planned to be, so after visiting the main park headquarters in nearby Mountainair, I decided to stop for lunch at the Historic Shaffer Hotel. Built by local legend Clem “Pop” Shaffer in 1923, this hotel is beautifully decorated in a style which has been called “Pueblo Deco”, but is really one man’s mixing of his own ideas with local and indigenous characters, colors and designs. The dining room is simply spectacular and it was a treat just sitting there and looking up at the ceiling. You could tell that the ceiling predated World War II by the number of swastikas painted up there. This symbol has been used for thousands of years and you will see it somewhat regularly in early Native American art (it was also a common map symbol for temples when I lived in Japan). Anyways, I had some delicious brisket tacos in this wonderful old hotel, and a few cups of coffee because it was definitely a coffee drinking kind of day. After my lunch it was almost two o’clock, so I hustled out to Gran Quivara and had a quick look around this second mission which had been founded around 1598. Then I hurried off to Quarai to finish off my visit before they closed at 4. Quarai is the best preserved of the three and was definitely quite something to see. I have seen well preserved mission churches at Taos Pueblo and Zuni before, so I know there are magnificent and complete examples of this time period and architectural style out there, but it was still cool to visit these ruins. I left right when they closed and then headed up and over the mountains and descended into Albuquerque. When I got to the big city, I grabbed a workout and a shower at the gym and then went to see a fabulous production of one of my favorite stories, Big Fish, at the Musical Theater Southwest. Based on the novel by Daniel Wallace and also made into a wonderful film by Tim Burton, it tells the story of a traveling salesman who embellishes his adventures to try and make his son proud and how his son finds out there was more truth to these stories than he ever believed. It’s a big story, and I was really quite impressed with how they put it on – from the well thought out minimalist sets to beautiful costumes. It was great to see some live theater again and always nice to be back in the big city for a couple of days.
I slept in a bit on Saturday and made my way out to Petroglyph National Monument in the late morning. Petroglyph is a joint venture with the City of Albuquerque and manages over 23,000 rock carvings spread out over three sites. It was a Saturday and since the site is right on the edge of the city, it was pretty crowded out there. I started out at Boca Negra Canyon, which has some pretty neat petroglyphs to see including one famous one of a macaw which shows that cultural exchange was happening many hundreds of years ago down into Central America. Unfortunately this site was pretty badly defaced with people carving their names on the rocks and even shooting at the 800+ year old petroglyphs. It’s always disappointing to see this happening. I found out later that there was a pretty intense legal battle over these sites as developers wanted to tear them up and put in subdivisions, and I’m sure some of the defacement comes from that time period. From there I went on to Piedras Marcadas Canyon which has a nice mile and a half trail out to some other petroglyphs. Trying to prevent more defacement, the trail is chained off on both sides which makes it difficult to see many of the carvings. The end of the trail was really good though, and it was nice to get some fresh air and exercise but I wouldn’t go too far out of my way to visit this particular park site. I stopped and got some tacos on the way back downtown and then headed on to Central Avenue which is also Historic Route 66 and the main drag through downtown Albuquerque. This is definitely a cruising strip and I saw some of the most beautiful cars I’ve seen in a long time slowly driving back and forth. There were classic cars from all eras, lowriders, incredible resto-mods, motorcycles and even some more modern trucks with loud speakers and neon undercarriages. I had a great time just hanging out on a corner and watching them cruise past. The cops shut it all down after 8, so I popped into Boots & Bourbon for some live country music and a couple of beers.
On Sunday I headed straight to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center which is a museum, restaurant, shop and meeting place cooperatively owned by the 19 Pueblo villages in Northern New Mexico. The museum was okay and showed some beautiful art and textiles, but the highlight of my visit was a performance of the traditional Buffalo Dance put on in the central courtyard by the young people of Zuni Pueblo. It was fun and fascinating to watch these high school students carrying on a centuries-old tradition, knowing that they all had an iPhone in their pocket and were probably playing video games on the ride down. Native Americans definitely straddle two cultures, but I’m thrilled they are maintaining theirs and that they were willing to share some small part of it with us. It was an honor. I chatted with them for a bit afterwards and they were very proud of their regalia and seemed like they were excited to have been able to perform. Lined up around the courtyard were artists from various Pueblos showcasing their pottery and artwork, much of which was really beautiful. I finished my visit with lunch at the restaurant where I enjoyed some Feast Day Red Chile Beef Stew and some Blue Corn Lamb Enchiladas with the “Three Sisters” (corn, beans and squash), which are central to Native farming in the region. My delicious meal really topped off an excellent visit to the museum. I got a little bit of work done at Starbucks in the afternoon and then headed back downtown in the evening. I started off my night at the fun little Founder’s speakeasy. You have to tell the secret password to the people working in a little corner liquor store and then they escort you through the freezer and downstairs into a quiet little underground cocktail bar. It was definitely cool and I love little hidden spots like that. Then I headed next door to Launchpad, one of Albuquerque’s top rock and roll clubs. The band Sasquatch was headlining, with High Desert Queen and Guadalupe Blue opening for them (I missed High Hover, the first band on the schedule). It’s a cool little club and the bands were good, but they were really loud too. I always have my earplugs in my wallet for just such a scenario, although I use them more often to block out chatty people in museums and such. There weren’t a lot of people there, but it was still a fun show.
I spent most of Monday running errands around town, getting a new watch battery, hitting up Costco and then tucking into the library to get some photos edited and some work done on this post. I spent a little bit of time downtown taking some photos before the sun went down. From downtown I headed over to Old Town, Albuquerque’s oldest neighborhood. It was quite lovely and I enjoyed a stroll around the neighborhood before taking off right after sunset. I decided to give Southwestern food a break and got some delicious ramen instead out near the university before calling is an early night.
Tuesday was a very busy morning, but a good one as well. After the gym, I went straight to the Albuquerque Museum which is mostly an art museum, but does have some interesting galleries on the history and culture of the city as well. I was just going into the second gallery when they announced a free tour of Old Town was leaving soon from the front desk. Never one to turn down a free tour, I headed out and took my spot. The lady giving the tour gave us a fascinating synopsis of the history of New Mexico and Albuquerque, starting in prehistoric times. From there, we went on a nice stroll around town and she continued to tell us the story of the city and had some great historic photos with her to help demonstrate what it used to look like. One of the things I found fascinating was that there used to be Victorian homes in the neighborhood, which were often changed and added to to give the pueblo appearance you see there today. I wouldn’t have guessed it. When our tour ended, our guide told us to go into the church and have a look around which seemed like a quick detour. When we got inside, a volunteer there proceeded to give us a guided tour of the church, taking us into every nook and cranny. It was quite interesting, and I finally made my way back to the museum, two hours after I had left. I enjoyed the museum as well and there were some really interesting pieces in their collection. In the afternoon, I made my way up to Sandia Park to spend the evening and night with one of my friends’ parents. They live high up in the hills at about 7000’, and it felt like I was going up and up to get there, but it was a beautiful and quiet neighborhood and they live in a lovely house. I really enjoyed my evening there, chatting with them and learning all kinds of interesting things about New Mexico. They also had two dogs and two cats and they were all playful and fun. Their newest addition is a nine month old rescue dog that really took a liking to me. We had a wonderful dinner and watched some TV before sacking out.
This morning I got up before the sun and watched a beautiful sunrise out my window. Karen cooked up some delicious breakfast burritos and I was on my way. I headed north along the Turquoise Trail Scenic Byway which took me through some beautiful scenery as well as the revived hippie artists’ community of Madrid, and the Old West mining town of Cerillos. Tiny Cerillos had apparently once been quite the town, with 21 saloons, two churches and four hotels and had been visited by Teddy Roosevelt and Thomas Edison. They were apparently in the running to be New Mexico’s state capital and had been the filming location for many of the town scenes in Young Guns. I enjoyed wandering around both and then dropped down into Santa Fe, the town that inevitably became the state’s capital. I headed straight for the Capitol building - a very humble, round structure not far from the historic plaza. It’s not much to look at, inside or out, but the artwork that lines the halls makes it definitely worth a visit. I actually spent at least an hour perusing their collection and then headed down into the heart of the city. I’ve been to Santa Fe a number of times before, but it’s always just been for one night after a very long drive. I’m really looking forward to getting to know the city better over the next couple of days. For this afternoon though, I just took a quick stroll around to stretch my legs and have a look. It was quite busy even on a Wednesday afternoon.
And that is where I will leave off for now. I’m sitting down to finish up this post in the old central library here in Santa Fe. I hope to finish in enough time to get back to the plaza and take some photos at the end of the day when the sun is on the adobe. I’ll be here for at least a couple of days and I’m sure I will take a ton of photos. We’re expecting snow tomorrow which could make for quite a beautiful scene. From here I am planning on heading up to Las Vegas (not the one in Nevada) and then out to old Fort Union before making a sweep around the northeast of the state. There are some small towns and parks that I want to see out there and I’m looking forward to visiting that part of the state. Then I’ll loop back into this area as there are plenty of places I want to see here in the mountains as well before I head west and start thinking about making my way out of New Mexico. I still have a couple of weeks left before I head to Arizona though and I’m really looking forward to them. I have no idea where I will be when I sit down to write this post next week, but I’m sure I’ll see some wonderful and fascinating places between now and then, so I hope you’ll come back next week to see how it all panned out. Until then, stay safe and warm and try and keep yourselves busy doing things that make you happy. Take care and thanks, as always, for reading.
-Mike
Shadow Catcher and I in Cerillos