On Tuesday, July 6th, my wife, Lil, and I flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico and rented a car. We then drove to Santa Fe which is about 60 miles or so to the north. The drive was pleasant (nice but not spectacular) and the scenery consists of various views of the foothills of the Sangre de Christo mountains off to the east.
We arrived in Santa Fe in mid afternoon and went straight to our motel which I had reserved in advance. After dumping our bags in our room and freshening up a bit, we drove to downtown Santa Fe to "scout things out".
Santa Fe is an old city and the downtown area, though extensively renovated in the 30's, still retains much of the "turn of the century" feel. The streets are extremely narrow and car traffic is a constant snarl. The shops and store fronts are all of adobe - which is what the 30's renovation was all about - prior to that, the early settlers had modeled everything with a "Victorian" style of architecture. Native American street vendors abound and their offerings for sale include everything from silver and turquoise jewelry to leather belts and other accessories. Most of the shops and stores offer similar goods - although a guide pointed out that it is sometimes difficult to know whether or not the goods are authentic.
At this point, I will make an observation that some will take exception to. I my view, a case could be made for saying that downtown Santa Fe is nothing more than a glorified and overpriced flea market. I mean, when you walk for block after block, go into shop after shop after shop and see nothing but silver jewelry and trinkets - this just gets old real quick with me. Maybe I'm just not the shopping type. But, that's my opinion. And we were really beginning to wonder what anyone saw (that was meritorious) in Santa Fe.
We found our way back to the motel, had a bite to eat, and both hit the sack agreeing that we were "pooped" and not in the proper frame of mind to be making judgements.
The next morning, we had a nice breakfast and then did something that actually turned things around for the better - we made arrangements to go on a two hour bus tour. The tour guide was a guy by the name of Tim who looked like a brother of Willie Nelson - complete with a pony tail hairdo. He was a real "down home" type of guy and he really seemed to know the history of the place. As he drove us all over Santa Fe, we found his patter to be very informative and easy to listen to. One area of town hosts a long street of exclusive Art shops and Tim pointed out that Santa Fe ranks third (behind New York and Los Angeles) in the U.S. for the most sought after Art markets. Santa Fe is also a favored retreat for many Hollywood stars - Cher, Val Kilmer, Gene Hackman, and Brian Denehey to name a few. I won't detail any of Tim's rhetoric here - but, suffice it to say that this tour went a long way in changing our perceptions about Santa Fe. Tim also recommended that we get a package ticket for tours of the area's 5 largest Museums. As time was now of the essence, we decided that we would take in the Museum tours a few days later on our way back through Santa Fe.
We left Santa Fe in the early afternoon and headed for Abiquiu where I had made arrangements for us to stay the night in a Bed & Breakfast (which I found out about by doing a web search!). We arrived at Las Parras de Abiquiu at a little after 4:00 PM and were greeted by Stan Bader, who along with his wife, Arlene, run the place. This B & B is really out in the boondocks but, the reason I chose it was because of its proximity to Ghost Ranch, the place where the artist, Georgia O'Keeffe spent many of her summers during the 20's and 30's.
Las Parras de Abiquiu turned out to be like something out of a fairy tale. If you ever want an "escape" place with a view (and an outside hot tub!), this would be the place. It's far away from any city and is tucked in with mountains on all sides. So remote is it, the rooms don't even have TVs - there is no signal to receive. Stan and Arlene moved here about six or seven years ago from Cheyenne, Wyoming and built the place from scratch. The B & B is a duplex, each half of which has a big room with a queen bed and fireplace and an adjoining bath room. Arlene has impeccable taste and the furnishings are very robust and lavish with lots of "little" extras. Each side has a patio from which there is a view "to die for". It is easy to see why Georgia O'Keeffe fell in love with this general locale. There is a four foot adobe wall surrounding the property and, at night as you look up at the stars, you get the feeling that you are all alone in the Universe (and you are!).
Stan is an Engineer who tired of the corporate scene and wanted to do something on his own. Arlene, on the other hand, is an ex marketing representative of a big camera manufacturing concern. Together, they make a wonderful team and each has a very pleasant and self confident demeanor. They are both excellent conversationalists. The breakfast setting was at Stan and Arlene's kitchen nook and we were joined by another couple who were staying in the other half of the duplex. This couple had been there before and were so impressed with the area that they purchased 250 acres of land that was located about 20 miles away. They were on their way back there to start building a house. Breakfast consisted of juice, fruit, hot muffins, and the house specialty - Stan's home made pancakes. The breakfast conversation was very stimulating and we finally had to tear ourselves away because we had to head on to Taos and our next B & B rendezvous.
The drive to Taos was very scenic although a bit unnerving for Lil. Taos is at quite a bit higher elevation than Santa Fe and the road there hugs the sides of many bolder laced mountains along the way. Frequent signs saying "Watch out for falling rocks!" dot the landscape. We lost a dear friend due to these very rocks about 15 years ago - so, Lil was quite relieved when we finally made it through the valley of the "shadow of death".
Taos is more spread out than (but not near as large as) Santa Fe in that is has narrow streets and lots of summer automobile traffic which creeps along just enough to offset gridlock. We found our way to the Haceinda del Sol which is on the north side of town. This is another B & B which I had found out about by doing a web search. While being a tad thread bare and starting to show its age, it was never-the-less hosted by a couple of fellows (Dennis and Elton) who were very personable and went out of their way to make our stay pleasant. Elton was also a great chef and his breakfasts seemed to be something that all the guests were eager to avail themselves of every morning. Of the two meals that we had there, we had banana pancakes one morning and a very tasty omelet the other. Of course, we always had lots of juice, fruit, hot muffins, and coffee or tea.
Taos was "discovered" by Mabel Dodge (the heiress of the Dodge automobile fortune) back in the mid 20's. She fell in love not only with the town but also with a Native American by the name of Tony Luhan. They were married soon after. Tony built a gigantic house and estate for Mabel which, today, has been restored and turned into a hotel and conference center. We visited the place and the overnight rates are such that, had I known about it previously, I would have probably had us stay there one of our two nights in Taos. Mabel Dodge Luhan (as she came to be known) was a big patron of the arts and must have been something of a "name dropper". She was famous for throwing lavish parties for big name guests that lasted for days on end. Painter Georgia O'Keeffe, novelists Willa Cather (My Antonia) and D.H. Lawrence (Lady Chaterely's Lover), dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, and photographer Ansel Adams (to name a few) were just some of the people that Mabel had as house guests at various times.
D.H. Lawrence was also an avid traveler and continent jumper and seems to have been especially "smitten" with Taos. He even tried his hand at painting although his works were (and are to this day) banned from England and branded as "obscene". Most of his originals are now on display in a private collection at the La Fonda Hotel in downtown Taos. Lil and I made a point of visiting the exhibit and, while Lawrence's paintings are very garish (some might even say, "ghoulish") and depict much nudity, we would not classify them as obscene. I guess it's another one of those "in the eye of the beholder" things..;-)! Lawrence bought a small ranch outside of Taos and spent much of his time in this mountain retreat. He spent his last years in Germany (home of his wife, Frieda) and requested that his remains be interred back on his beloved ranch in New Mexico.
There are conflicting accounts of what happened next but, the more accepted story is that, upon his death, Frieda saw fit to have Lawrence's remains cremated and brought the ashes back to the ranch at Taos. She then arranged to have a small memorial chapel built complete with a poured cement altar. Then, as the cement was being mixed, she dumped the urn of ashes in the cement and supposedly said, "There! Now let's see them try to steal this!" (or words to that effect). I gathered from all this that D.H. and Frieda had had their fill of publicity and "prying eyes". Lil, however, thinks this quip referred more to Frieda's chagrin with the many sutors who had constantly clamored for (and in some cases, succeeded in getting) D.H.'s affections! We visited the memorial chapel and I can attest to Lawrence's love of solitude - the ranch turned out to be on a dirt road five miles off the main road and at an altitude of about 10,000 feet. Then, after parking the car, we had to ascend another 800 feet or so up a narrow and winding path which is where the chapel is located. And, in that rarified air, I was really out of breath. (And, to tell the truth, I'm not sure the end result was worth all the effort - but, the view from there was really spectacular!)
Taos has lots of great restaurants and we had our fill of many Mexican dishes. A place of particular note was Michael's Kitchen. Any place where you have to stand in line usually means the people know something you don't - and that was certainly true of this place. (I swore upon leaving the Navy I would never stand in chow lines again - but, I do make occasional allowances!) Lil had some type of fajita dish while I opted for some very tasty (but a tad hot - as in spicy hot!) enchiladas.
We also went on a tour bus trip in Taos although, overall, this particular guide was rather disappointing. This fellow had written a book and he spent more time hawking and plugging his writing (and hoping that you would buy a copy at the tour's completion) than he did telling us about the sights of Taos. While on this tour, we did make an hour long stop at a Pueblo Indian village that was quite interesting. At the village (Taos Pueblo), we were taken on a separate tour which was hosted by a Native American girl who called herself, Swan. She was very intelligent and had a good tour guide demeanor. Swan told us that this village had been there for over 1000 (one thousand) years and, for the most part, looked today pretty much as it did in the beginning. Sometimes places are destined to be focal points of cultural history - the Taos Pueblo is such a place, according to Swan. Its magnetism drew in people such as Kit Carson, and then there was the drama of conflict among the Pueblo Indians, Mexicans, and Mountain Men. Swan also gave us much insight into the construction of the many adobe faced structures as well as the daily lives and routines of the inhabitants. Another little interesting tidbit was that, while we were there on the Taos Pueblo grounds, we were under the jurisdiction of the Taos Pueblo laws - which are separately chartered and apart from New Mexico law. Had any of us done something wrong (taking pictures without authorization is a big NO - NO), we would have had to answer to the tribe's own Judge. We were also told that the Judge was very partial to sentences of "thirty days in jail"!
On Saturday, July 10th, we headed back to Santa Fe and immediately purchased the package museum tickets that Tim (the first tour guide) had told us about. This entitled us to see the Museum of Fine Arts, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, the Palace of the Governors, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, and the Museum of International Folk Art.
The Museum of Fine Arts was a wonderful place and I was actually surprised to see such a fine collection of artifacts from around the world. As expected, however, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum was our favorite. This is one of the largest O'Keeffe collections anywhere and, of course, all the works are originals. To give you an idea of the lengths to which the curators of this museum have gone to ensure authenticity, the floors were poured with a special cement which is colored and textured to look exactly like the hard dirt floor that was typical in the type of cabin where O'Keeffe actually lived and worked. Between these two museums, we took up most of the day. After having a wonderful dinner at La Casa Sena, we got back to our motel room late in the evening.
On Sunday, after a nice breakfast and a look at the New York Times (which I found without too much trouble), we found our way to two of the museums that are located quite a way from the downtown area of Santa Fe. The Museum of International Folk Art was a real surprise and I really think one could spend more than a half a day just in this place. It tends to be specialized in children's toys from around the world. If anyone has nine to eleven year old grandchildren, this would be a "must see" for them - very fascinating place. Right next door is the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Nothing has been spared in this exhibit and, if Native American is your fancy, be sure to visit this place.
It was now getting late and we honestly didn't have time to take in the Palace of the Governors. That would have necessitated going back to downtown Santa Fe and we needed to be going south. We left Santa Fe and headed back to Albuquerque so that we could arise on Monday to make an early morning flight back to Indianapolis. And that's about it. Overall, it was a nice trip and, even though Santa Fe won't go down on our "favorites" list, we really are glad to have visited and the museums were certainly a treat. Taos was nice and we really loved the "artsy" feel that was in the air. The Bed & Breakfast at Abiquiu, however, was the "crème de la crème" of the entire trip. Years from now, when we look back and reminisce, this is the place that will always come to mind. I am reminded of a line from the movie, "Field of Dreams." Shoeless Joe looks at Ray Kinsella and asks, "Is this heaven?"
Copyright © 1999 - Thomas R. Fisher, All Rights Reserved.