#209 SW Fall 2023, Part 3

SW Fall 2023, Part 3

Old Pecos Pueblo Church

This final part of the fall 2023 trip covers some of the fine Taos museums we visited and a visit with friends living in the Taos area. What I haven’t ever mentioned is why the SW is such a draw for us. It started in the early 1990s when I was invited to teach at the Championship Debate Enterprise (CDE) workshop with some of the outstanding high school debate students in the country. The first few summers the camp was held at the College of Santa Fe. In off-time Anne and I would play golf and explore the area around Santa Fe. We also explored the area between Canby and Santa Fe as we drove to and from the camp. 

Door in Taos

The camp then moved to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. After a couple of summers there, we were prompted to move the camp to more modern facilities at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. The final decider for the move was when a large live cockroach fell out of the shower head onto a female camper. Durango, near Mesa Verde and other Native American monuments, was a new place to explore. The final move for the camp was to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. By this time I had moved from lecturer to Assistant Director to Lecturer Emeritus (guest lecturer). We had visited many of the jewels of the SW and had watched Bill and Cat’s (the camp’s owners) daughter Jasmine grow from a young child to a college student — more about her later. In the time spent at the debate camp I had also become aware that my maternal grandmother was part Native American, probably Apache, which helped explain the natural affinity I had for the area. Like in Scotland, where we’ve always felt at home, we feel the same way in America’s SW.

Back view of famous adobe church in Rancho de Taos.

La Hacienda de Los Martinez Museum. This late Spanish Colonial period “Great House” was built in 1804 and was the northern terminus of the Camino Real connecting New Mexico to Mexico City. 

The museum, located on the outskirts of Taos, consists of several themed rooms in the hacienda and some outbuildings on the picturesque grounds. The museum makes a very pleasant and interesting visit.  

Taos Art Museum at Fechin House. The building was the home of Russian artist Nichola Fechin, a writer, painter, and craftsman, who promoted Taos as an artist colony. The museum houses the Fechin permanent collection and hosts special exhibits from members of the Taos Society of Artists. 

Fechin's estate donated the house after it was registered as a National Historic Property in 1979. The special exhibits are displayed in the original Fechin studio which also hosts a fine gift shop.

The Harwood Museum, founded by the Harwood Foundation (Bart and Elizabeth Harwood) in 1923 is just a block off the Taos Plaza. The museum houses a permanent collect of 1700 pieces of art and 17,000 photographs [I would count those as works of art, as well]. 

Interesting?

Most of the collection reflects the influence of the Taos artist community. The Harwoods originally opened their private library to the public who didn’t have a town library at the time. Much of that library is still on display.

Ansel Adams' Photo

Found Art -- Reflection off an Ansel Adams' Portfolio.

Georgia O'Keeffe Painting

Taos Friends. When we spend time in either Santa Fe or Taos we always make sure to visit Jasmine,  the daughter of our debate camp friends, Bill and Cat Bennet. Bill, recently passed, was a text book author and coach/director at CDE. Cat was a speech teacher and coach at Taos High School.

L to R: Zea (5), Mays (3), Jas

Zach, photo taken with my camera by Mays

We, particularly Anne, spent a lot of camp time with Jas. There was one strikingly memorable incident when Jas was 6 or 7. The camp was in Durango at Fort Lewis College when Jas spent the best part of a morning nurturing a friendship with a small wild mole until she got it to eat grass out of her hand. Jas grew up to be a pretty and intelligent student who qualified for the National High School Speech Tournament in her senior year. She went on to get her degree at UNM, but instead of becoming a lawyer or academic, she got married and with her husband Zach has built up Wildhood Farm (look up Wildwood Farm on Facebook). The farm is an organic and sustainable farm in Truchas, NM, an hour out of both Santa Fe and Taos.  Zach does some teaching at UNM and both put on workshops at the farm. They sell produce and products at Farmers Markets and to local restaurants. Their two children, Zea and Mays, are bright, outgoing, and charming kids whom we love to visit with. The family currently lives in a yurt with outbuildings while finishing their homemade cobb house at 8500 feet in the New 

Mexico mountains.

Farmhouse Cafe

Big Lunch

We met the family for lunch and play time in the orchard at the Farmhouse Bakery and Cafe in Taos. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND BLOG VISITORS. Bob & Anne

Mountains coming into Salt Lake from Albuquerque.

#208 SW Fall 2023, Part 2

 

SW Fall 2023, Part 2

Along the Rio Grande River between Santa Fe and Taos, NM.

This post continues our story of our fall trip to Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico with pictures I hope will give a sense of the beauty we find in the American Southwest. I’ve already presented images of the Sangre de Cristo mountains, but we also took a couple of day trips from Taos hunting for special scenery. In previous trips to the Taos area I’ve taken photo tours with local professional photographer Geraint Smith—both were fantastic experiences. 

A Geraint Smith photo we purchased last year at a Taos gallery now hangs in our living room.

In fact, they were so good that I thought I could find the great scenery myself. Boy, was I wrong. This time I found good photo subjects, but more than anything else I proved how valuable the knowledge of a professional guide can be. I owe Geraint even more thanks. Please take a look at his work on his website [ https://geraintsmith.com ]. Let me know if you enjoy the following tour of the areas around Santa Fe and Taos.

Another view along the Rio Grande.

Camel Rock. Between Santa Fe and Taos just off the freeway is a rock formation worth noting. Camel Rock is a 40 ft by 100 ft chunk of sandstone that (with a little imagination) resembles a camel. The view of this 450 million year old structure is better from the parking area than the close-up view at the end of the short trail up to the rock. 

A view from Camel Rock.

The Camel

The camel image was stronger before a large piece fell off in 2017.

Arroyo Hondo Cottonwood Tree. One of the scenic spots Geraint took us to on our last tour with him was a spot we revisited (after driving past it twice). It’s a particularly picturesque lone cottonwood tree just off Hwy 522 north from Taos just before reaching Arroyo Honda, a small unincorporated village. We past the village on our way toward Colorado and when we drove the Enchanted Circle. 

The tree is lovely particularly as it changes into its fall colors. We were a little early this year, but it’s still  a photo worth a stop.

Last Year's Colors

Garcia, Colorado. One of the spots we visited with Geraint was, according to residents, the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the state. Garcia (7730 ft) is a small village off Colorado state highway 159 (NM 522). 

The area around Garcia is criss-crossed by a multitude of small paved and gravel roads. 

Ute Mountain, CO

Anne and I found some good photo subjects, but missed some of the great subjects of the year before.

Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway is an 84 mile loop into the high scenic area in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The route goes from Taos north (the way we did the circle) on NM 522 to Questa where you take NM 38 through Red River to Eagle’s Nest. From there drive NM 434 to Angel Fire where you catch NM 64 to go back to Taos.

Climbing up to the first mountain pass.

The route goes through mountain passes as high as 9500 feet and large valleys or plateaus.  

Both Red River and Angel Fire have well developed ski area and the road encircles Wheeler Peak, the highest mountain is New Mexico at 13,161 feet. We stopped in Angel Fire for lunch, but instead of going to the tourist restaurant (fancy and expensive), we opted for J & A Cafe, a rustic off the main road local's spot which was filled with locals. There we shared a fantastic lunch of fresh catfish and chips for $11.95.

When you drive the Enchanted Circle you are passing through scenery made famous by “Easy Rider” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” which were filmed in the area. The last adventure for us of the Enchanted Circle was the mountain road construction project about a mile out of Angel Fire. We wait almost an hour to drive the five miles of curvy construction up to the last pass over into Taos. I ended up being the lead car (after the working truck) and led a mile of traffic the last 18 miles of the trip.

The road into Taos, after the roadwork area, is a wonderfully colorful canyon, but there are very few turnouts and with a mile of cars behind me I wasn't about to stop. Anne did get this great view from our moving car.

NEXT: Museums and Friends in about two weeks.