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| A bird or a spaceship? |
After grabbing some breakfast, we got an early start on the Petroglyph
National Monument, just on the south end of Albuquerque. It's a small park surrounded
by developing neighborhoods. It's basically a lava flow that surrounded hills
and were exposed when the hills eroded. Visitors actually have to leave the
park and drive through residential streets to find the various areas to come
back into the park where the trails are. The petroglyphs are carved on the basalt,
which has a tendency to crumble over the centuries. Mind you, the crumbles are
huge boulders, but they've moved and tumbled. The most bizarre thing about the
drawings is that so many of the figures look like primitive alien forms. They
are just other-worldly.
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| The 'Circle of Life.' |
The trails were mostly easy, but some climbing over the
large basalt rocks was necessary. The first trail we came to climbed steeply to
the top of a mound, so we passed it over. A woman who was just coming down when
we drove by met us a little later and said that the trail had been brutal, so I
was glad we had let it go.
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| Tent rocks often have caps of rocks balancing on the top. |
We drove from there to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National
Monument between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. This park is so small, it doesn't
have a visitor center or gift shop. The gate shack had the park stamp for our
passport books, but that was it. Our Nat'l Monuments don't have the status or
frills that our Nat'l Parks do. I'm always thrilled when I see one that's been
elevated to the higher status of a Park.
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| Looking down the canyon at the tops of 'tent rocks.' |
We passed on a 'cave' trail (which I
later wish we'd done) and just drove through the park. We only went a few miles
before hitting a gravel road that continued to the top of a small mountain
where there was a veteran's memorial and a beautiful view of a couple of
canyons. We ate a light lunch on top before coming back down, exiting the park
and heading for Santa Fe.
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| Front of NM Capitol Building in Santa Fe, NM. |
We found the state capitol building (I love it when my GPS
is working) and I explored it while Grace waited in a park. I think state capitol buildings are beautiful, some grand, some plain, but each unique. This one was a round design with three levels opening onto the colorful rotunda. Most capitol buildings try to reflect the history and culture of their states. Even the furniture makes a statement.
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| I loved the wagon wheel legs of this bench. |
This capitol had some beautiful weavings and paintings, but the most unique thing I've ever seen was a buffalo head made from all sorts of materials; fabric, plastics, paper mache, paint brushes, etc. Even fishing reels were used for the eyeballs. It was just fascinating. And this guy is HUGE.
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| Blow this up and look closely. |
When I was done in the capitol, I found Grace and we walked the
few blocks towards old town and all the shops and vendors. I had really been
looking forward to seeing the Georgia O'Keefe museum since I've always loved
her work. When we got there, we found they had a special exhibit showing her
work alongside Ansel Adams. They each had photographed and painted many of the same
features of the southwest. I regretfully decided not to pay the
admission price even though I'm sure the exhibit was worth it. Grace wasn't
interested, either, so we browsed the gift shop and walked back to the plaza shops.
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| Street vendors lining one side of the plaza in Santa Fe, NM. |
I really love the culture, history, architecture, colors,
and crafts of the southwest and the vendors did not disappoint. There were
enough wovens, silver, copper, blown glass, beadwork, leatherwork, etc., to
satisfy anyone. We made our contributions to the trades and walked back to the capitol
building to reclaim the car and head to Espanola, NM. Tomorrow, Bandelier National Monument.
