Los Alamos

Los Alamos

This was another place of history. I confess it looked nothing like the pictures I had in my mind. For those of you who don’t remember or who missed that day in US History class, Los Alamos is where the scientists gathered during WWII to invent the atomic bomb – the Manhattan Project. (And what a mixed blessing that turned out to be: millions of Japanese killed, millions of US soldiers saved, years of living in fear, medical miracles that have saved more millions around the world, relatively clean energy, holes full of waste so nasty nothing and no one can be near them.) I had visualized a couple of Quonsets in the hot dust with a few brilliant people wandering around sharing ideas. It was nothing like that! First of all it is on the top of a mesa about 8600’ high. This mesa has “fingers” extending out and the city is built on several of these with bridges connecting them – it sort of has the feel of islands – and it gets about 36” of snow in the winter. Now, of course, it is a real city (the Los Alamos National Laboratory is located there) with about 18,000 residents. But there were lots of pictures of what it was like during WWII. It was huge! Thousands of people worked there developing the bomb; guarding the site; taking care of those developing and guarding; being dependents of those developing, guarding and taking care. And while arid there were juniper and salt cedar on the top of the mesa and ponderosa pines in the gorges. We went to two different museums: one about the history up to and including the Manhattan Project, the other a science museum starting with the Manhattan Project and continuing with what is happening at the Laboratory now. Before the Manhattan Project took over the mesa the Los Alamos Boys Ranch was there. It was a boarding school for the sons of wealthy families who were in poor health. The curriculum and living conditions were quite rigorous. All of the boys belonged to Boy Scout Troop 22, the first mounted troop in the US, and had to be 1st Class Scouts in order to graduate. When the Manhattan Project came they used the school buildings for the dining hall and residences for the senior staff.

From Los Alamos

On the road back we saw an absolutely spectacular sunset.

From 2010-10-5 Dave

Our last stop for the day was at St. Francis Church in Rancho Taos just south of Taos proper. This church was in an Ansel Adams photo and a Georgia O’Keefe painting.

Chimayo

We took a back road out of Taos and stumbled upon a lovely church in a town called Las Trampas. The caretaker there was very kind and told us much about the church.


Then after rolling hills and valleys full of farms we ended up in Chimayo.


It is the home of the Santuario de Chimayó.


Many people believe that the Santuario was built on holy ground and that the actual dirt has healing powers – not just physical but spiritual also. I picked up this quote off the website (www.holychimayo.us)
"Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing frighten you.
All things pass.
God does not change.
Patience achieves everything.
Whoever has God lacks nothing.
God alone suffices."
Saint Teresa of Avila
It was a beautiful rustic church, built in the early 1800’s, with a real sense of God’s presence. Yes, yes, I know, God’s presence can be felt everywhere but sometimes a particular place has an ambience that reminds me more clearly that God is with me.

Enchanted Circle

Rio Grande Gorge


The Enchanted Circle is an 83 mile loop through the mountains above Taos. It passes three ski areas: Taos, Red River and Angel Fire. It was beautiful. At the beginning of the loop we took a side trip to the bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge. What a magnificent view! Our guide at Taos Pueblo told us that they had reintroduced big horn sheep in the gorge but we didn’t see any.

We were in the high desert with sagebrush and juniper trees for about the first third of the trip and then we suddenly switched to mountain canyons and high meadows. We passed a working molybdenum mine. What the heck is molybdenum you might ask. See, just like me you didn’t memorize the periodic table of elements in chemistry class.
It is an element that makes things hard so it is used in the production of steel. If you want more details try our friends at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molybdenum ). Did you know that according to Congress, mining is the best use of any public land? So if a mining company wants a permit to mine something on/under public land they get to do it. That is why land in the National Park Service is not considered public land. There were literally mountains of tailings along the road near the mine.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park


We stumbled across the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park. According to the brochure it is the first and only state park in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to Vietnam veterans. It was very moving. When David Westphall was killed in Vietnam in May of 1968 his family decided to use his life insurance money to create a memorial chapel to honor him. This turned into a chapel to remember all who fought there. It was very moving and very well done. Poignant without being schmarmy. A highly recommended stop. You can visit them on the web at http://angelfirememorial.com/.

We have a new desk clerk today and so are anxious to try out his recommendation for dinner.

Taos Pueblo

Taos Pueblo is a thousand year old continuously occupied pueblo just out side Taos. Taos Pueblo is also the name of the tribe and the reservation. Most pueblo members live outside the ancient pueblo in typical Southwest style houses. About 150 still live inside the ancient pueblo and other than having propane for lighting and heat live much as their ancestors did. They carry water from the river to drink, cook, clean and bathe with. They have no indoor plumbing (in water or out water) and no electricity. They have their own school system for K-8 with Pueblo tradition and language built into the curriculum along side the curriculum used in the non-Indian local schools. Our guide was a young woman who is attending UNM Taos branch to get her degree in Applied Science so that she can use her knowledge to help retain and repair the traditional ways of the pueblo. They call themselves the Red Willow People because red willows grow along the river that runs through the pueblo.

There are lots of Native craft shops within the pueblo and most of them are run by a person who actually makes at least one type of item sold in the shop. It was fun to talk to each of them about what they were making.

Roaming Taos

This is a week of surprises. First the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque and then the Wool Festival in Taos! I think the guys would have left the ! after Albuquerque but they were good sports and did the Wool Festival also. It was all about weaving and knitting. Right from the animal to the finished product. We got to watch sheep shearing, pet angora bunnies and talk to alpaca. We watched ladies spinning the fleece and got to hear how it is all done. I bought Mother (mine, Bear’s is OtherMother) a souvenir at the Festival: wool and a pattern so she can knit me a beautiful scarf.

We spent the afternoon wandering downtown Taos. And, what do you know – it was full of shops and galleries. We watched a rug weaver in action and went wine tasting. Did you know New Mexico has wine? We didn’t but some of it is pretty darn good.

Albuquerque Old town and the Turquoise Trail

Let me start this by saying how glad I am that I didn’t grow up in Albuquerque. No matter how I put the letters together Microsoft still gives me the dreaded red underline indicating that I have misspelled it. It would be awful to live in a place where you could never get it right.

On to the trip. Our good traveling buds GO Guy and Mona flew down to Albuquerque to join us for a week. Foolish folks that they are, they think they still have to work. We keep telling them how great retirement is but they are just not buying it yet. While waiting for their plane to arrive we had a lovely lunch sitting in the shade outside a café in Old Town Albuquerque. We were right across the street from the square where a guy was playing music on his guitar. It was perfect. I do need to comment on the food. Very tasty but often very HOT – and I am not talking about the temperature. Coming from the Pacific Northwest I like my food spicy but I want to still be able to feel the inside of my mouth when I am done. We had a great mid-day break. I found a new hat in one of the shops (Old Town Hats and Accessories) just off the main square so what could have made the day any better! I know, getting to take a nap at the hotel while we were still waiting (their plane had mechanical difficulties in Salt Lake City so they were 5 hours late). I do so much prefer to nap laying down rather than sitting up in the car.

After they arrived we went back to Old Town for dinner. It was also delicious but not quite as hot as lunch was. The square was all lit up and it was beautiful. We stumbled into the Balloon Festival so there were lots of people in town. It was fun to watch them all. A thunderstorm happened on our way back to the motel. Fortunately all we saw of it was the lightning. There was lots of it but too far away to even hear the thunder. It is fun to have our traveling buddies with us again.

Albuquerque Balloon Festival


When we got up the next morning we could see balloons in the air. They were too far away to even tell what color they were but, what the hey, they were balloons. We drove up closer to the Festival grounds where we could get a really good view. The locals are all saying that there are a lot fewer balloons than normal, but to us it still looks like lots.

View from Sandia Crest


Tinkertown


The next step on our adventure was to drive the Turquoise Highway on our way to Taos. Along the way we drove to the top of Sandia Mountain overlooking Albuquerque. It was a terrific view in all directions. We stopped to see TinkerTown on the way back down the mountain. I don’t know exactly how to explain it. This guy started collecting junk and then started charging people to see it so that he had enough money to buy more junk. It was amazing. He had made several miniature dioramas with moving parts and they were lots of fun to watch and to look for all the details he had included (it was sort of like Where’s Waldo except you didn’t know exactly what you were looking for). One of our favorite signs was “The first person who asked for a permit to build something on his own property should be shot for treason.”

I am not sure why the Turquoise Highway is named that. We didn’t see any turquoise so it must be so that tourists will drive on it and stop at the towns along the way. We stopped in Madrid (pronounced Mad-rid with the accent on the first syllable) for lunch and to see what was in the craft shops. There was a lot of interesting local art and crafts. I couldn’t help collecting ideas for when I get home. The green chili stew at lunch was so hot I could only eat ½ cup of the stuff – even with the glass of milk I ordered. Bear and Mona did OK with it and GO Guy didn’t even try (he was the smartest of us all by my reckoning). Even though not turquoise, the views along the road were great. The mountains here seem more like the Appalachians than the Rockies until you realize that you are starting at about 8000’.

When we arrived in Taos we got a dinner recommendation from our desk clerk, Marcos. It was fabulous. He gave Bear and me a really good one for the night we spent here on our way to Albuquerque. So he is 2 for 2 – I wonder what #3 will hold.

Park mammal count: 11 – deer, chipmunk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, red squirrel, prairie dog, rabbit, buffalo, elk, red squirrel aka chickaree, pika, golden-mantled ground squirrel, least chipmunk
Trip mammal count: 17 - deer, moose, chipmunk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, antelope, rabbit, mule deer, red squirrel aka chickaree, prairie dog, buffalo, ground squirrel, Abert’s squirrel, elk, pika, golden-mantled ground squirrel, least chipmunk, deer mouse
Dollars saved on this trip with Park Pass: $96.00

Great Sand Dunes and more

Views as we approached the park


Our hike


We stumbled across another great find: Great Sand Dunes National Park. It is tucked up against the Sangre de Christo mountains almost to New Mexico. It sits at the end of a road in the middle of NOWHERE – and yet there were people there. First a little Great Sand Dune history. The sand comes from rocks in the San Juan mountains on the other side of the San Luis valley in southern Colorado. The prevailing winds blow it across the valley until it comes to the Sangre de Christo mountains where it piles up at the base. The dunes are about 30 square miles and the highest point is 795’. This makes them the tallest dunes in North America.

I was all set to climb up to the top so I could see the whole dunes. After we left the parking lot and started walking towards the dunes I realized that perhaps this was a bit ambitious. What looked like a great (perhaps a little strenuous because of the sand) trek from the visitor center didn’t look so good when I realized that the little tiny isty-bitsy flecks I was seeing on the top of the dune (and not even the highest one at that!) were not floaters in my eye but people! We pressed on and I made it about ¼ of the way before my knees pooped out and I decided to enjoy the sand where I was rather than the view from the top. The sand is beautiful, very soft and fine. Amazing was that even up on the dunes where we were there were wet patches in the sand! This in a pile of sand 100+ feet deep and in the middle of a desert! We found tracks for what we think was a kangaroo rat. He was all over the place.

We followed the dotted “scenic” route south to Antonito where it continued on over Wolf Creek Pass and we wanted to go south into New Mexico. Some of the scenic routes we have followed on this trip had unconventional beauty but it could always be seen. On this road though . . . . not so much. Flat, dry, long, straight. That pretty much sums it up. We did see a ranch where they were raising water buffalo. If you want to read about water buffalo I recommend you go to Chalupa’s blog: http://talesfromtheeastcoast.blogspot.com/ and read her posting Italy - Water Buffalo. It is in her June postings.

Remember the trailer trash town we saw on our way south through the Colorado Mountains? Well, their cousins have moved to northern New Mexico and set up shop alongside Hwy 64. I would love to have some photos to show you but it was all too scary to even think about stopping.

Outside Taos we saw some really strange looking structures. We thought perhaps they were mines but then we got a closer look at one and decided they were underground houses. I did some web searching this morning and discovered that they are, in fact, houses and that what we saw was a subdivision of them. Here is a link to one of their websites. Very strange. http://www.sangres.com/newmexico/taos/earthship.htm

Park mammal count: 11 – deer, chipmunk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, red squirrel, prairie dog, rabbit, buffalo, elk, red squirrel aka chickaree, pika, golden-mantled ground squirrel, least chipmunk
Trip mammal count: 17 - deer, moose, chipmunk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, antelope, rabbit, mule deer, red squirrel aka chickaree, prairie dog, buffalo, ground squirrel, Abert’s squirrel, elk, pika, golden-mantled ground squirrel, least chipmunk, deer mouse
Dollars saved on this trip with Park Pass: $93.00

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