Life of Wry

Today is go home day. We straightened up the house a bit, ate what we could of our various foods, packed, then headed out… back to the Turquoise Trail and eventually on to Albuquerque for the flight home. New plans for the return trip, though… First stop was Cerrillos, a mining town with something like twenty one saloons in its heyday (1880s) and once under consideration as New Mexico’s capitol, but now pretty ghosty. Tons of turquoise came out of there (and gold, silver, lead and zinc, too).  Its streets are dirt and its building have seen better days.  Not terribly charming, but old… bunch of movies have been shot there, so there’s that.

Then we went back to Madrid (pronounced MA-drid (MA, like cat) and spent a lot of time exploring the galleries and small shops. Now that the festival was over, you could actually go into some of the stores. It’s not chic (at all) like Santa Fe, or even Taos… but lots of authentic stuff, especially stones and pottery  I bought a turquoise ring (but of course).

Then, highlight of the day: a fourteen-mile, steep climb to the high point of the Sandia Crest:  10,678’… not a trivial elevation!

It was actually cold up there, and there was a little bit of snow still.  I was dying to wander around along the crest, so did.  There were great views!

From the Albuquerque side, a tram takes people to the top.  You can just barely make out the tram station and can see the cables in this picture. They say this is the longest aerial tram in the world (2.7 miles).  I’d been on it long ago, but not today.

From the Crest House, I didn’t go all the way over to the Tram Station (1.5 miles), but got to this..  

and took a more interior route back, which had some good uppity/downity.. and a pretty meadow:

Next time will hike there… seems like there are a lot of great trails. We then hurried down to downtown Albuquerque and met Carol and Bill for a fast and late lunch at the Standard Diner (on Route 66, of course).  Great sandwich (meatloaf, here) and vanilla cream soda (with actual cream poured in.. fantastic). Flight left at 5:30, and had a 3-hour layover in Salt Lake City… lots of time to upload photos!  The SLC airport is in a very spectacular setting:

Marc picked us up at about 11pm, and with that… trip over.  As time allows, I’ll fill in more trip details.  But bottom line: wonderful, full, easy.. good variety: fantastic house to stay in, beautiful weather and views everywhere, several museums, a few churches, many really nice dinners and lunches out, a bit of hiking, some shopping and material acquisition, friend meet ups, amazing natural wonders (gorge, rock formations, mountains, river), countless galleries and art everywhere. Seriously… ALL THAT.  The time with Carrie was easy-going and fun, and it was especially nice to be there as she learned the location of her brother’s ash scattering some forty years ago… Anyway..more details to come.

Leftovers make great breakfasts… a bit of Cafe Pasqual’s enchilada, some fried banana, yesterday’s chips –> chilaquiles with hot red chile from the take out… can’t really do better than that. Plus dark chocolate and coffee while the eggs were cooking.

(Those healthy things in the upper left? Grapes.)

Then we hiked.  Not hiked so much as strolled through the Audubon’s land at the very end of Canyon Road. But wow, it was nice to get out and smell the conifers.

Just a couple miles, were all. But nice.

We drove around some of the neighborhoods up on the hill… some lovely non-Californian fence design, including the ever blooming cottonwoods that are distributing blossoms all over town and causing lots of sneezing hereabouts:

Next were a pair of museums. First, the Georgia O’Keeffe, which, happily, had an exhibit called, “The View from Abiquiu.”  Explained a lot the place I was confused about yesterday.

Some shots:

Here’s G.O’K (really, what’s not to love?):

This is a bit blurry, but explains the exhibit:

Here’s her view from Abiquiu:

And a picture I shot yesterday:

(Cool, huh?)

And another of her paintings.. down the valley:

Her very wonderful kitchen, just because:

Love those built-ins.

We also went to the New Mexico Art Museum which was lovely, small, and worth the visit. Saw a couple really nice G.O’Ks there, too, but couldn’t take pictures of them.  The courtyard was really pretty.. ristras all around.

And a nice exterior shot of a Santa Fe downtown building, mostly because I can’t get enough of the architecture and sky.

Came home and took a snooze on the deck (sorta) and enjoyed more sky:

Dinner at the Shed coming up…

… now back.  On way to the restaurant, enjoyed this sky:

The Shed was fine. I was expecting a more fine-dining experience, but it was, instead, a taco, burrito, enchilada, margarita kind of meal.  All good.

Tomorrow, we leave.

Another day, another bunch of great adventures and sights.  And another evening when my cotton headed brain can’t possibly form the sentences to describe all the photos I want to share…. so…. just uploading and will provide detail later.  Again.

After a lovely morning on the deck with large mugs of coffee, tweeping birds and expansive views, we packed the car with guidebooks and headed north to Taos via the “High Road.”

First stop was “El Santuario de Chimayo,” a town and church that attract thousands upon thousands of people seeking healing. They say up to 30,000 alone participate in the Good Friday pilgrimage each year.  Most dig a small shovel full of red dirt from an anteroom in the church and take it home, or write messages on stones that comprise these giant crosses, or make their own crosses out of twigs and attach them to fences, or post photos of ailing loved ones, or just sit in the circle, or …  it’s quite a place.  I have lots of shots of all this, but for now, here’s one of the famous church:

Then we drove up and up and up, through Truchas and Las Trampas and past Penasco and Picuris Pueblo.. it was all incredibly beautiful. Some shots along the way:

Then, it was Taos.  That included walking around downtown a bit to look at art and architecture:

Then we wandered down Ledoux Street and stopped in at the R.C. Gorman gallery for a very long and enjoyable conversation with a guy who knew a lot about Gorman’s life and his work (here is a bronze statue out front):

And here’s inside:

Then a stop for lunch on the patio at the Taos Inn.. this is green chili and dark beer:

Then a little bit of shopping:

(just a couple of pillows, really..)

Then it was out of town, past the mountains..

And over to a bridge that crosses the Rio Grande Gorge:

The gorge… yikes.

And a view from the bridge… quite unsettling.

And then we were on our way to Abiquiu to see where Georgia O’Keeffe hung out.. but not before we found a road that went right down to the river and we couldn’t resist going down:

(It was a little scary.. very steep, windy, slippery gravel.. but we got to the bottom and it was worth the initial scare.)

THEN on to Abiquiu. Here’s a road shot:

When we finally got to Abiquiu, we were disappointed to find out we couldn’t just visit Georgia O’Keeffe’s home. But I did get a shot of the view from her home… this is what inspired her… the Chama River valley and surrounding mesas and mountains:

On the way back to Santa Fe, we stopped in Espanola to get some food to go.. this place is pretty well known for its great food.. in particular red chili (we tried green earlier). There were a steady stream of people who came to the window and ordered food to go… we felt like locals!

And back. Pooped. Will fill in details later.

Yeah.. I’ll work on that title later.  Again, way too tired to write (and apparently to come up with good blog titles), but a day worthy of many, many photos.  Here are a few that tell today’s story.  And again, I’ll come back and fill in with detail later, but for now:

Started the day on the deck, taking in the daytime view.  Uh… wow.  Nice place we got here..

Then, after breakfast, packed up and headed into town for the day. Parked over by The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Didn’t go inside today (looked around yesterday), but got a nice perspective on its front facade:

Then wandered through the Palace of the Governors, had lunch at a quick burrito place, then spent a lot of the afternoon at the New Mexico History Museum.

Learned a little about this (sigh)..

and a lot about the many different periods in New Mexico’s incredibly interesting history.

Unrelated to all of that, there was a fascinating exhibit on the top floor on pinhole photography.  Outside that exhibit, was this piece that I just loved (note the shadows cast by these tiles… see the individual faces..):

(It was great in person!)

Then walked over to Canyon Road.  Whoa… in my many trips to Santa Fe, I’d never seen this.  Touristy, ya, but wow… lots and lots of incredible art.  Here are a couple shots:

And, I found the most perfect end tables for our bedroom.  This may take a little convincing, but I fell in love with all this guy’s work. Take my word for it: whimsical, handsome, fun, well-crafted, unique. While the photo doesn’t do it justice, the colors are fantastic (and did I say perfect?):

We ambled off the main drag and into a residential neighborhood.  So lovely. So Southwestern. So many doors, gates, walls and flowers.  A feast:

Ended the day with a long stay at a sidewalk restaurant called El Ferol.  Had just planned to have a drink then go out to dinner back in town, but got the notion to contact Richard Lowenberg to see if 1) he were in town and 2) if he could join us somewhere for dinner. He was and he could, so he did.  We decided to stay there for dinner and had tapas and some nice malbec/syrah wine. Both good.  Seeing rl was a great unexpected pleasure.

Here we all are.  Happy.

I will return with a more detailed story. But for now, some images from today along the Turquoise Trail… a stretch of back road between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

Passed through the tiny village of Cedar Crest..and ate lunch at the Greenside Cafe:

Then drove through Madrid, an old coal mining town, now more or less a revived artist colony (which today was having a jazz festival so there were a lot of people milling around):

Madrid is also the site of the oldest and first lighted baseball field in the entire United States. How’s that for a statistic?  It’s seen far better days, but here it is:

This isn’t the Turquoise Trail, but after traveling since 4:30am on only two hours of sleep, this was such a welcome sight… it’s the view from the driveway of the house we’ll be staying in for the next five days on the outskirts of Santa Fe.  It’s an incredible house. Will post pictures later, as well as Santa Fe shots. But for now, good night:

Leaving on a jet plane in about four hours…ugh.. going to be a short night and a long day (maybe I’ll make a promise to myself to endeavor to get more sleep upon my return.)

Going to Santa Fe and Taos with Carrie for five days.  Should be GREAT fun… lots of southwestern cuisine, some desert air and rugged mountains, certainly art, history, a day or two of hiking, much reading and a wee bit of cooking. We’re largely planning on the fly. Looking forward to deep conversations and good times. And southwestern cuisine. 

If I can find the time and connection, will blog.  If not, will catch up next week.  

This, in combination with last week’s trip to PV, is a mini travel flurry before a medium good stretch of no plans.  So, you see that hammock? That’ll be me swinging in it in a week.

Any ideas what this is?

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How about this?

This ought to give it away:

It’s a bottle cap self portrait. I don’t know too much about it or the artist, other than a discussion of it came up in a Facebook thread Jim was part of this morning and the art piece piqued his interest. All he knew was that it was in a bar on the west side of G Street, so after lunch we went hunting. Turns out, it’s here, at The Davis Beer Shoppe:

(Which, I’m chagrined to admit, I didn’t really know existed..) It’s in the back of the shop and, from a distance, looks like this:

It was cool.  And good to know we have a beer store that’s got a ton of different kinds of beers (reminiscent of Mansion Cellars back in the 80s, which was both a wine and beer tasting store, and which held that great challenge, Around the World in 80 Beers, where patrons logged the beers they’d tasted for a chance to get their name engraved on a large piece of wall art if they purchased 80 different bottles of beer over some period of time… which I did, which was great fun.) The Davis Beer Shoppe Looks like a pretty nice place to hang out.. low key, not too fancied up. Maybe the real deal if you’re a beer person.

The day started gorgeously and fitnessly, with a few-mile walk in PV.  Tried a new one: Started in the alley behind my mom’s house (really, a city boundary/property easement between Palos Verdes and Torrance) and wandered about 2/3 mile down to and across PV Blvd. Shaded by eucalyptus with a nice ocean view… at 9am, it was already 90 degrees.

Continued up to the Plaza, behind the post office and up to the top of Skunk Hill. Dropped down, crossed the creek (dry), across the drive/bridle path, and home. Probably three miles of up/down. Very sweaty, dusty, but great.

Then: ate breakfast, packed, watched some tennis with mom, and at 1:30 headed out for the long drive back to Davis. Apparently, I dodged a wild fire or two and made great time (for those keeping score, 6 3/4 hours, which included a 30-minute stop at Harris Ranch), arriving home just before dark.

Which…. gave me time to appreciate my Mother’s Day gift: the hanging of our hammock in a new (and shady) location, suspended above newly-planted landscaping and our newly-laid flagstone path.  wOOt, wOOt!

Took it for a spin:

I am so ready for summer.

My, but it was warm at the beach today.  Did I wish I was making like a dolphin, cruising in and out of the cool, rolling waves? Enh, enh, enh, enh… enh, enh, enh, enh!

(Or however ya spell that.)

I grew up in what is known as the Valmonte area of Palos Verdes. My mom’s still in the house on Via La Selva, about a mile from Valmonte school. A friend who lived on the hill once said, “you’re so lucky; you live in the trees.” Definitely the trees… we are deep into the thick, miles-long eucalyptus forest (our street translates as “by way of the jungle”) interspersed with pepper trees. I think most would agree that the larger, flashier houses are those perched on cliffs or along the sides of hills, with terraced yards and multiple balconies with jaw dropping ocean views.  But, we have shade.

As a kid, I didn’t much appreciate the area, at least not in an adult way. I liked it plenty, but not because of its relaxed, peaceful beauty. Now, because I’m down here so often visiting my mom, I see the neighborhood very differently, and, yeah, I totally appreciate it.  Streets don’t lay out in any kind of order… they’re all curvy and undulating, and dark with shade. And quiet.

I’ve got a walk I like to do when here (one of many). It’s about an hour long and takes me down and around by the PV Golf Club …. took this shot this morning just beyond the intersection of Paseo del Campo and Via Campesina.

An interesting thing about this particular spot: My parents first moved to PV from Manhattan Beach in 1957 when I was one. A teeny house on Via La Selva. They then had my brother Jay and within another couple years my mom was pregnant with Chris (3rd of 4). They realized they needed a bigger house. They found one on Paseo del Campo that they really, really wanted but lost it to another bidder… heh.. it was probably about $50k… pricy!  So instead, they found a larger house just a block up La Selva, and my mom’s now been there for 55 years!

Had they bought the house on Paseo del Campo, this would have been the view (the above photo).  The mountains just visible over the trees are the Malibu mountains on the other side of the Santa Monica Bay. The “hill” is just to the left, out of this picture.

I found this aerial shot. The narrow strip part of that dark spot is the Valmonte area of PV. The point at which that dark strip nearly touches the coast is the end of my mom’s street. The highest elevation on the peninsula is about 1500. Good sized hill.

On a map, it looks like this. The big red dot is, more or less, the end of my mom’s street.

Anyway.  The hood.