Rio Grande Gorge, Taos, NM and Parker, CO
taos and parker
After exploring around the vicinity of Bandelier NM, we headed north east toward the Rio Grande Gorge and Taos. More mountains, more desert but at a higher elevation. It seemed we were just at early spring wherever we went. Everything was budded and ready to burst, but not quite out … that is except for the pollen! It felt like we'd been at prime allergy season from about mid-Louisiana on. 🤧🙄🤧
We visited several more Pueblos in search of knowledge, arts and pottery. The more I learned about the techniques and how they were taught, the more I wanted to try it. It was so beautiful. This wandering led us to some interesting places, another historic site (you might have guessed by now, but Martin and I are big fans of historical sites), way off in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, a trading post (the Nambe Trading Post) who's owner just so happened to be the costume designer for the indigenous costumes in “Dances with Wolves” and had pictures with the oscar and had many of the actual costumes at the trading post. But wait, there's more! We also found a teeny, tiny, little village in a pueblo perched on a mountain side at the edge of a stream that was a pilgrimage site because it was the location of a bonafide Catholic miracle! I know it sounds crazy, but I am not making this up.
On a more mundane, practical level we also checked out the Gorge or the High bridge as it is locally known. This is a remarkable bridge (more about that with the pics).
Now that I've spent time in the mountains of NM, I’m happy to report that this more than made up for my disappointment with the landscape last spring. ❤️
After that, we seriously headed north into the Rockies. We were heading for Parker, CO just outside of Denver to spend some time with my sister and family. We visited them on year one of the trip and I was looking forward to seeing them again. My, very active sister had a fall when out walking and has been working her way through the long road of concussion recovery. I was so grateful to lay my eyes on her! I had been quite concerned that our visit might be too much, but we kept ourselves in check (hard to do when the two of us get together) and had a pretty quiet week, well, at least no touring about. We spent the time together, eating, talking, walking and sharing. ❤️❤️ Just what we wanted. Of course, pretty much any day we thought about or had made tentative plans (like going to see some of the grandson's/nephew's track meets, for example) … it was cold (30s) and snowed! The week before we were there was in the 70s, but we'd been experiencing chilly weather, often cloudy and rainy since Big Bend. I just hadn't really mentioned it in the blog because it doesn't bother me nearly as much as the hot weather. Haha
On to pics:
Hacienda de Los Martínez Museum. Taos
Kit Carson Home and Museum in Taos
Poeh Cultural Center
A space devoted to the arts and culture of the puebloan peoples, in particular the Tewa speaking puebloans of northern New Mexico. It houses an impactful museum, classrooms (that describe and show stepwise how to make this stunning pottery), studio space and a large plaza to show and sell their work.
One of the major exhibits was "Di Wae Powa", pottery pieces that had been returned “home” from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC after nearly 100 years. This pottery had been “removed” (ie taken), sent to DC, cataloged, a few pieces displayed and the rest stored. Finally after years of requests the majority of the pottery that had been kept in storage was returned to the Pueblo. The Pueblo honored the pottery's return with a homecoming ceremony and a central exhibit in the museum.
Other exhibits and parts of the center
I am always particularly interested in the different styles of daily wear and regalia
There was an impactful history exhibit from the Tewas point of view, starting in the prehistoric times and ending in a modern day living room. The sculptures and many of the displays were created by a local Tewa artist, Roxanne Swentzell, of international fame. She has permanent installations at the Smithsonian, Santa Fe, Paris and New Zealand to name a few, and has also had exhibits at the White House, NYC, LA and more.
life, pre-contact
interaction with missions
She also had a studio and gallery at the center.
“Water Jar’s Mother” The idea of “Water Jar’s Mother” came from the Tewa story of Water Jar Boy, a story about a water jar born from a pueblo woman who grew into a human boy. This amazing story of transformation and relationship between humans and inanimate objects shows the deep belief that pueblo people's have about everything having life. In this piece, Water Jar's mother shows her love for her baby even though he is a clay jar.
“Unstable World” climate change inspired piece a world out of balance is such a scary feeling. The question remains; can we find balance again in order to survive, learn from our mistakes, and evolve into more conscious, mindful beings? I hope
Nambe Falls
I liked this little steam
San Ildefonso Pueblo
This is the Pueblo of the famed potter and artist Maria Martinez and family. Her black on black pottery can be found in many museums and is worth thousands of dollars. She has a studio in the Pueblo that is open to the public. Although no one was actually working in the studio when we visited (most of the work of creating had been passed to her children), her grandson, a 20 something, showed us around the shop, including the few pieces they still own of Maria's, his mother's and father's work and some by his brother, three generations. He said his talents lay more in the direction of fixing things, lights that weren't working, setting up computer programs. It was fascinating to spend time with him.
The Catholic Church is always one of the center points of the Pueblos
The kiva and large central plaza are another. Many major religious holidays are preceded by feasting and traditional dancing on the central plaza
The central plaza
Santuario de Chimayo
Ok, so here's the deal, I know I promised you a Catholic Church sanctioned miracle, but after doing some more research I see that I may have misinterpreted a few things, gotten a little overexcited and may have overstepped a bit. BUT. This spot IS on the National Historic Registry. It IS listed by the National Park Service as being near the Old Spanish Trail. It IS a shrine and an international pilgrimage site where people come especially for healing (it is often termed, “the second Lourdes”), it HAS “holy dirt” that when mixed with water into a paste and rubbed on the ailing body part or eaten (yes, eaten) has “healed”, there are hundreds of crutches and canes and walkers lining the walls around the well of holy dirt, but the Catholic Church hasn't officially sanctified it as a site of a miracle. My bad. There is also some confusion over its founding story; one, indigenous tell of hot springs with healing properties in this area, two, something about a glowing light that turned out to be a crucifix out in the field and when given to Santa Fe, it kept returning to this site, another was something about an ailing priest who fell, was covered in the clay and dirt and was healed, and my favorite, a brother whom the other brothers didn't feel was pulling his weight working in the fields since he always seemed to be reading scriptures, but when they checked on him, an angel was plowing the field for him so he could study the word of God. 🤷. Whatever the origin, hundreds of thousand of visitors and pilgrims come here every year. It was an interesting place to wander about. And yes, I did pray for healing and took some “holy dirt”. I mean, when in Rome …
This was a separate chapel for Santo Niño de Atocha. People bring in shoes and clothes as an offering to this boy saint of pilgrims who helps those in need. (We researched this afterwards, while we were there we had no idea what this was all about!)
They take their chili peppers seriously everywhere in New Mexico!
The church of San Jose de la Garcia, built 1760-1776, in the tiny village of Las Trampas is a National Historic Landmark. It is considered one of the best preserved examples of Spanish colonial architecture in New Mexico.
celebrating eastertide
views along the Rio Grande
and the gorge
the bridge
This bridge is approximately 600’ above the river and is the sixth highest bridge in the country. After it was built it was awarded the “most beautiful steel bridge” in the “long span” division in 1966.
Bighorn sheep
View from our overnight campsite, Lathrop St Park on our way to Parker. Gorgeous views of the Spanish Peaks
Parker
Family ❤️ My nephew, Conrad, his wife, Maya, and their oldest son, Curtis. (They have three boys.) We were there at an exciting time, college decisions, proms, concerts and graduation just a few weeks away. It brought back memories…
Curtis, a senior, heading out for senior prom.
Maya has a house full of the healthiest, most gorgeous plants. She doesn't have a green thumb, she has a green arm and I'm a bit envious as I kill pretty much all houseplants, it's just a matter of time 😂
a few of her orchids
I think this is an Easter cactus. Did you know that Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and holiday cactus all grow in the wild in Brazil? I can't imagine how beautiful that would be!
with my sister Denise and her husband Russell next to their apple tree.
I ❤️ apple tree blossoms
Growing up we had an apple tree in the meadow, just down the hill from the house. My father had grafted a northern spy onto a wild crab apple. Northern Spy’s are a crisp, tart apple and that clearly set my palate for how an apple should taste. That tree provided us with apples to eat, apples for applesauce, and apple pies a plenty. ❤️
Next stop:
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Yes, this is a national park, even if you, like I, had never heard of it of it before!
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