Santa Fe area - Day 2

June 29

Today we chose to take a scenic drive up the High Road to Taos.  We drove about 100 miles up the mountain to the artsy town of Taos.  

 

We stopped by the Las Trampas church on the way up

The following are the words on the National Scenic Historical Marker

                   

Las Trampas

The village of Las Trampas was established in 1751 by 12 families from Santa Fe,

Led by Juan de Argiielo, who received a land grant from the Govenor.  The Church of San Jose de Gracia is one of the finest surviving 18^th century churches in New Mexico.

 

 

Hand carved old doors

 

We then arrived at the town of TaosWe found a parking space and visited some of the shops. 

 

 

Beautiful art, but out of my league. LOL It was fun looking.

 

 

The town plaza



Feeding the homeless

 



This is the Museum of Art and the

Fish is at their entry

The museum and this building are on the oldest street in town

 

From there we went to visit the San Francisco de Asis in Ranchos de Taos.  It

is an active church as well as an 18th century adobe National Historic Landmark.  San Francisco is known as one of the most photographed Spanish Colonial churches in the U.S.A.  It has twin bell towers and enclosed courtyard.  They did not allow pictures inside but it was beautiful.

This is the back of the church that you see from the road.

This is photographed often by many famous artists.

After driving around the church you arrive at the courtyard.

 

 

 

 Entering the courtyard

 So Beautiful and uplifting.

 

The picture above is across the street.  A big change.

 



 

doors to the parsonage office

It was a long day after we stopped so many nice places along the way, so we didn’t get to go to the Taos Pueblo because it was too late and was raining by the time we got there.   This Pueblo consists of multi- storied buildings that have been continuously inhabited for over 1000 years.  To this day, they still do not have any electricity because they choose not to have it.   Today this area is a Mecca of artists.  Kit Carson’s home was also in this area.  We could not see these things from the road

but still got the history.

We went over the Rio Grande Gorge on the way home.  

 Rio Grande Bridge

 

 

 This old bus was selling food near the bridge

 

It was raining but still a good day. This was the first rain we’ve

seen in 6 weeks, so it’s really needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa Fe, New Mexico

June 28, 2013    Santa Fe, New Mexico

Surprise!  We hadn’t planned to come here but changed our mind at the last minute.  It was out of our way a bit, but we wanted to visit someplace new in this state.  What better place than the second oldest city in the U.S.A.  Of course we all know St. Augustine is the oldest.

Founded in 1610, Santa Fe is the Oldest Capital City in the U.S. and with an elevation of 7,000 ft. above sea level it is the Highest Capital City too.  Come along and we'll show you some of the town.

 This is the historic downtown area

 The Plaza  (park) & the Palace of the Governor's

where also built in 1610

Standing in front of the Governor's Palace

which is part of the History Museum of Santa Fe

Beautiful but expensive Turquoise

in Jewelry Store Window

 

The Cathedral of Basilica

of St. Francis of Assisi

Congregation established in 1610

First Church Built in 1610

Present Church built in 1886

and rededicatred in 1986

 

 

 Baptismal Font & pool was dedicated in 2001

 

Stained glass windows installed in 1884

 

The youth chior was practicing for a concert

 

 The oldest church around the corner of the oldest house

 Built between 1610 and 1626

 Deer Hide Tapestry -1630's

 

The deer hide tapestry was placed in the chapel by

Archbishop Edwin V. Byrne at the

upon rededication of the chapel in 1955

 

 

Now that we have all had our history lessons for today y

you  can see the beauty of the old city of Santa Fe.

It is a beautiful city, but very busy and traffic is horrible.  We found it very interesting and are glad we came to check it out.

 

June 25 – 27,   Cortez, Co – Mesa Verde Area

We arrived at the LaMesa RV Park ready for a change in scenery.  This is really Indian Territory and you can see it all around you.  

We started at the Anasazi Heritage Center.  It’s a educational museum about Indian History in this area.  You can look through microscopes to examine seeds and other wild things that were eaten when this area was first occupied, by the Ute, Pueblo and Navajo tribes.  A nice place and run by the National Parks.    We left there and went to the trail of the ancients to the Lowery Pueblo.  It was gravel roads and when we finally arrived, it didn’t impress us,  there wasn’t much left of the structure.

 Another arch we passed on the highway

 Entrance to the Heritage Center

Statue outside

 

 Pottery from different tribes
 

These pieces were found in Mesa Verde cliff dwellings

 



Pitt house remains at the museum

 This is the remains of the  Lowery Pueblo & Kiva

This is called a Kiva.  It is a spiritually respected

ceremonial circle.  All of the homes face

one of these.

 

After stopping back at home for supper, we went downtown to the Cortez Cultural Center.  It is a center that features local Indian Artists and they have Indian Dances and Storytelling nightly. 

Tonight it was the Lopez family from Towaoc, Colorado.  They performed some Eagle dances and other traditional styles of Ute Mountain Ute Pow Wows.  Dad plays the drums and sings and the younger daughter and friends from the Reservation did the dancing. 

 

Cortez Cultural Building & Ceremonial Ring

 

Daughter does the Eagle dance.  This is a

real Eagle feather in her hair and the

honor of this is earned.

In this dancers hand is an Eagle tail.

Both girls have Otter tails hanging from their braids

which is another honor.

This boy wears Porcupine feathers with two Eagle

feathers  in the middle for his headdress.  This

represents the Eagle taking the porcupine.

He is doing the grass dance

Day 2

We went to Mesa Verde National Park.  It was a very hot 100 degrees today and we could certainly feel it.  It was eye awakening when we saw the homes of the Indians that first lived here.   What a rough life and they had to climb up mountains to get into their home. 

Here are a few of the homes. 

 Display outside Mesa Verde Visitor Station

Bronze sculpture of Indian climbing up the foot holes

 carved into the stone to get up the mountain to his home

 The road to the top of the mountain where the

dwellings are begins in this valley

The Balcony House

This was built as a two story --

You can see the second story in the balcony

 

The square house

The Indians usuall build things in a circle,

but this is the unusual Square house

 

 

The Cliff House

 

Ton went on the ranger-guided tour , which lasted 1 hour and climbed up 3 different ladders to see the Cliff House up close.  Not an easy trail.   He needed to buy a ticket at the visitor’s center to reserve a spot and take the tour.  I sat on a comfortable bench and visited with others who were also waiting on family that went on the trip.  I saw the homes from a distance and was glad Ton was doing the hiking. 

 Here are 2 of the ladders he climbed up on the side of the mountain

 Close-up of the Cliff House

Ton on locationWe were gone from 9 to 4 so it was a long day. Tonight we are just relaxing. 

Day 3 was a relaxing day. 

In the evening, we went back to the Cortez Cultural Center to see some more Indian Dancing.  This time it was the Navajo Indians. 

The Naatsiild Dancers are a Navajo dance group from Shiprock, New Mexico.  Naatsiilid means rainbow and become apparent when they reveal their colorful and authentic regalia.

At the beat of a single drum, the dancers perform traditional Navajo dances such as the Basket, Ribbon and social dances. This is the very root of the Navajo culture and most visitors don't see it anywhere except at a Navajo reserveation. 

Here are some of the dancers

 Ribbon Dance

 Basket Dance

 Sheldon Manuelito - drummer and singer

 

Sunset over our campground

Another beautiful day