Santa Fe, New Mexico

We have moved from Taos to Santa Fe.  We did this on Monday and it was a nice short drive, 80 miles.  We took a back route instead of the interstate and it was very picturesque.  We arrived in Santa Fe to some fierce winds.  I believe the gusts were upwards of 35 mph.  I thought for sure the awnings covering our slides would ripe apart, but everything came through OK.  We are staying at an RV park about 10 miles from downtown, so it is very open and has expansive views of the area.  The interesting thing at this park is the number of large, expensive motorhomes (huge diesel pushers) that are here.  In most parks you get a good mix of smaller motorhomes, smaller trailers, fifth wheels and large diesel pushers.  For some reason this park, each night, has about 2/3 of the occupants to be huge, expensive, diesel pushers.  Even the majority of the fifth wheel rigs here are the high end models. 

Our rig parked in its row

A sampling of what surrounds us

On Tuesday, since the wind died down, we decided to explore downtown Santa Fe. 

The cathedral

Inside the cathedral

The alter

Organ and rose window

Loretto Chapel

Inside the Loretto Chapel

The Loretto Chapel is famous for its “miraculous staircase”.  This is a staircase that goes from the chapel floor to the choir loft.  It is spiral and made out of wood with no visible means of support.  There is a whole inspirational story behind it you can read at http://www.lorettochapel.com/staircase.html

We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the plaza, walked around the shops then took a tram ride touring the city. 

  City claims this is the oldest house in America dating back to somewhere between 1200 and 1600.

San Miguel church.  Claims it is the oldest church structure in the US.  It is made of adobe.

Santa Fe Plaza

The Palace of Governors.  Claims to be the oldest government building in the US.  The people you see on the walkway are Native American vendors selling jewelry and art.  They have been doing this at this spot for something like 150 years (obviously not the same people!)

And of course the shops.  Jewelry store, art store, clothing store, repeat, repeat, repeat…………….

On the tram tour we were taken on Canyon Road which is where all the art galleries are.  There is something like 200 galleries on this one road.  Some looked very interesting so we may make a return trip to take a closer look.

Taos, New Mexico

We left Colorado Springs on Thursday, which was a few days later than we planned as we had to wait for a FedEx package to arrive before we could depart.  To get to Taos I put in the address of the campground into our GPS unit and selected fastest route and did not think anything of it.  The mileage came up as 249 which I thought was a little longer from my previous calculations.  I saw that the GPS was taking us via Interstate 25 to US Highway 64, which is where the Taos RV park is located, so I figured that would be the most direct route to go.  It was not the most direct route but it did take us the most scenic route.  Highway 64 is part of the Enchanted Circle route that surrounds Taos.  Our route took us on half of the circle and the views were just spectacular.  It was a narrow two lane highway which meant some slow going pulling our rig, but it was worth it.  Here is a map of the Enchanted Circle, we were on Highway 64.

I had picked out a little RV park outside of Taos as the reviews were good and the view from Google earth made it look nice.  It is not that far from town and it has great views of the surrounding mountains.

There are only 18 spaces in this RV park and the landscaping, as you can see, is natural desert. 

Today we went sightseeing.  First stop was the San Francisco de Asis Church, which is something like 200 years old.  It was made famous by Ansel Adams in photographs and Georgia O’Keefe in paintings.  It is constructed of adobe.

From there we went to downtown Taos to the historic district to walk the plaza, window shop and have lunch.  Here are pictures of the plaza

Lunch was outdoors at a café in the John Dunn Shops plaza, The Bent Street Café.

From there we went to Taos Pueblo which is a working community of Native Americans living in the original pueblo buildings. 

Interesting note for this attraction.  There is an entrance fee for each person, plus a fee for each camera! 

From there we went to the Rio Grand Gorge bridge.  This is a bridge that spans a very deep gorge created by the Rio Grande river.  It is only a few miles from our RV park.  It is fascinating  to be driving on the highway and all you see if flat land with mountains in the the distance then you come upon this gorge that is something like 900 feet deep.  Can you imagine what the settlers traveling west must have felt when they came to this!  We have bridge, they did not.

The bridge

The gorge

The gorge

View down from the bridge

Last stop was a housing development just past the bridge that is called Earthship.  These houses are made into the earth using recycled materials and are completely self sustainable.  It was interesting to see, but actually it seems like a pile of junk in the desert!

The visitor center

One currently under construction

That was our day.  We did not plan on seeing all these sites in one day, it just worked out that way.  The weather is spectacular with sunny, warm days and cold nights.  We are here till Monday when we will move to Santa Fe for a week.

Another Tourist Destination

I added the post about the snow on Saturday and forgot all about our a visit to Seven Falls on Thursday.  Here in Colorado Springs there is a large  waterfall called Seven Falls and is one of the tourist things to do.  Now what I find so interesting here is that these tourist destinations are privately owned so you must pay to see them.  This was the case for the Royal Gorge Bridge, The Manitou Cliff Dwellings and now Seven Falls.  You must pay to go see a waterfall!  Pikes Peak is controlled by the city and there was a charge.  Garden of the Gods was a donation from a family to the city with the stipulation it had to be free to the public, great idea and thank you!

Seven Falls is actually one large waterfall, something like 180 feet high that falls in seven steps.  The drive to the falls is really quite cool as you drive in between two very large towering cliffs on either side of you.  They have it set up so you can take a elevator up to a viewing platform, which gives you a great view and picture taking opportunities.  You can also walk up the falls via steps installed and then hike to another little waterfall about a mile further.  We did both.  The walk up the falls is 224 steps straight up!

The falls were nice and it was worth the admission charge, but really, how does someone own a waterfall!!! 

Here are the pictures

The parking lot for the falls

The falls from the viewing platform

The stairs to walk to the top of the falls

The view down from halfway up

Yeah, you are smiling now!

View from the top

This is the fall we walked for a mile into the woods for once we walked all the steps up.  Not much, but it is late in the season so water flow is very low.

A view of the falls from the top.

Snow

The good weather could not last forever.  Rain started on Friday night and continued all night and this morning it switched over to very wet snow.  Very little would stick on the ground but the flakes were huge as they were falling.  Here is a picture from our door (note the streaks in the picture, those are the snowflakes).

It is funny as on Friday I was talking to the campground host about how nice the weather has been and asking her when does the snow usually begin around here as we are at 6,500 feet elevation.  I guess my comment prompted the change.  However, as I write this at mid-day on Saturday the temperature is now in the 50’s and everything has melted.

As we are moving to Taos and Santa Fe over the next two weeks so we will have to keep a close eye on the weather so we don’t end up stuck in some major snow.

More Rocks

Over the course of this blog I have given you information and pictures on the Hoodoos in Banff, Monument Rocks in Kansas along with pictures of the Canadian Rockies and other mountains along the way.  Now I give you Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  Funny thing I did not even like earth science in college because of the rocks!

Garden of the Gods is a beautiful park on the way to Pikes Peak.  It is set up with a nice loop drive through it with many trails you can walk/hike.  Great thing it that it is all free.

Here are some of the pictures I took at the park.

Balancing Rock.  That is 700 tons balancing on top of another rock.  (note: they have stabilized it with some concrete).

Following our visit to Garden of the Gods we went to Manitou Springs which is very near the park.  This town has a historic district filled with old shops and restaurants.  It is also known for its mineral springs which are wells that have been drilled with small fountains located at various points on the street for you to taste the water.  Each fountain is a different well and so has a different taste.  The water is naturally carbonated so, to me, it was not that great to taste.  We walked the street, visited some shops and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  The weather was spectacular.

Here is Manitou Springs.

Air Force Academy

Today our tourist destination was the Air Force Academy located just north of Colorado Springs.  The academy is situated at the base of a mountain and has spectacular views.  The grounds and buildings are just beautiful.

A tour of the facility includes the iconic chapel that most everyone has seen on TV, in a magazine or such, the visitor center, the Doolittle Center and overlooks along the road to take pictures of the chapel and of a B-52.

Here are some pictures of the famous chapel

Taken from an overlook on the road

Up close

Interior, alter

Interior, pipe organ

Alter

The above pictures are of the Protestant chapel.  One floor below is the Catholic, Buddhist and Jewish chapels.  Only the Catholic chapel was open.

Catholic Chapel

The chapel was closed when we arrived so we had to wait a few minutes until the function inside finished.  While we waited we were able to view the cadet area of the academy.  Classes were letting it out and hundreds of cadets filed out.  What was fascinating was to see some of the cadets only walking on the marble portion of the walkway and making sharp turns to stay on the marble.  We could only speculate that those cadets were first year or “doolies” as they are called.  Fourth year cadets, or seniors, get to wear a blue beret. 

Cadets leaving class

What was funny to watch during this class change was when an officer would walk by.  The officer had to return salutes from all these cadets.  I think if I was an officer stationed here I would only move around while classes are in session, otherwise you would have to ice down your arm each day!

Some other pictures from the academy

Doolittle Center

View from the academy

B-52 on display