This is a quick overview of the pictures taken with our digital camera
(a QuickTake 200) while we were in Santa Fe, NM. The six rolls from
the traditional camera probably won't wind up here.
To the south of Santa Fe is flat: we landed at the Santa Fe airport at
an altitude of about 6000 ft. Just to the north of Santa Fe is Taos;
the Taos mountain reaches about 13000 ft. These first pictures were
taken from the roof of our hotel, and show off some of the surrounding
countryside (not to mention us):
This photo was taken down the street from our hotel...
... as was this one. The group was playing new-age style music on what were presumably traditional New Mexican instruments.
These shots are from the Georgia O'Keefe museum in Santa Fe, about three blocks from our hotel. The only place in the museum where pictures are allowed is in the courtyard, with (the only?) one of Georgia O'Keefe's sculptures.
This was just a building exemplifying the architectural design of the
city (and all of the surrounding cities, as far as I could
tell). Everything (just about) is built in the "Pueblo Revival" style,
built from adobe bricks.
While in New Mexico, we (meaning Sue, since I didn't drive at the time) did a lot of driving to the nearby town Taos, which is in the mountains. The mountains make such pretty scenery that we (meaning I, since Sue was driving) took lots of pictures. These are on the way to Bandalier National Park.
This is a picture of a radio antenna on the Los Alamos National Laboratory area 33 lot. It came out a lot smaller than I had hoped...
While at Bandalier, the batteries in my camera died, and I had left the extra set in the car. I did manage to snap some pictures, though.
The guide book which we received as we paid our entrance fee said that we should "obey all no parking signs, both man-made and natural." I guess that by "natural" they mean things like this:
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The natural "if you park here, you will be crushed" no parking sign |
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The "killer tree" no parking sign |
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The "if you park here, you will be abducted by aliens" no parking sign |
Yes, we really saw that last sign; I didn't make it up! Keep your eyes peeled: all three of these signs are in the pictures below.
The park is in a valley about 200 feet deep. The pictures of the cliffs are particularly interesting; the small holes are really natural phenomena. A nearby volcano (the Jemez volcano, now dormant) blew lots of volcanic ash onto these mountains. The ash (called "tuff") isn't as solid in all places, and in some, holes have been blown out by the wind.
A closeup of one of the holes:
Religious ceremonies were performed in a big pit in the ground called a "kiva". Kivas had a flat roof on top, with a rectangular hole and a ladder going down; this was the only entrance. These are pictures of a kiva without its roof. There is a hole in the side; that's the chimney (they lit fires inside). There are also three large rectangular pits; these were covered with thin sheets of wood, and were probably used as drums. There is also a small hole in the center of the floor. The indians that lived here believed that life began in the center of the earth; the hole was a passageway.
Around the kiva was a marketplace; about 200 pueblo buildings stood in a ring. The foundations remain.
This is a view along the path that follows the east side of the canyon.
Along the wall were large (man-sized) holes; the Anasazi Indians used these as refrigeration rooms. They built pueblo houses in front of the holes and lived in the pueblos. There were a few holes which had ladders, enabling tourists to climb in and take a look.
This is the interior of the hole above with no ladder. You can see a painting on the wall from the Anasazi Indians. Apparently, they too read "Peanuts."
These are pictures of the oldest church in continuous use in the United States. Inside, they played what must have been the oldest tape in continual use in the United States, which gave an overview of the history of the church.
Of particular interest is the ceiling of the church. The oddball beam across the ceiling is ornately carved; the settlers didn't have very many metal tools (metal was very scarce), so this beam must have been an incredible accomplishment of the time.
These are some more driving pictures, this time on the way to Taos.
On this trip to Taos, we travelled to the Taos Pueblos, where the Taos Pueblo Indians live. This is a picture of their sole source of water (their religion prohibits them from having electricity or water running in their houses). The mountain in the distance is Taos mountain; the haze is partially due to a passing rain shower, and partially due to large forest fires in Mexico.
And, we have pictures from the drive back from Taos...
While driving back, we finally found out why we were seeing so many trucks on the road! Apparently, New Mexico highways are their natural mating ground.
This one is very interesting. The piece of the hill that is in the shade is
missing. The cliff that is left looks like dirt, and has very steep tiers. There was probably a "no parking" sign there that the farmer living next door wanted removed...
As we drove back to Santa Fe, we saw this store, named "Yumbo Burger."
This should mean something to some people that we know...
And of course, at the YumboBurger, their menu included:
This is a Santa Fe sunset, as viewed from a nearby monument to the history of Santa Fe.
These pictures are of the famous "miraculous staircase" at Loretto Chapel. Apparently, when the chapel was built, there was no staircase to the second floor loft. The nuns had to climb a ladder, and finally broke down and prayed for seven days for a staircase. A mysterious carpenter appeared and built them a staircase. A spiral staircase. With no railing. With no center supporting post. That takes two complete revolutions in one flight. With
no nails. Later, the chapel had a railing added (also with no nails). It's truly fascinating.
Finally, these two were shots out of the airplane window on the way home. The first is somewhere in the vicinity of Washington, DC, and the second is, I believe, in the neighborhood of our friends Gena and Chuck. Thanks to our GPS, I could tell that we flew within 49.2 miles of their house.
For those wondering, the YumboBurger place didn't really exist. Here's the real picture, un-altered...
