Taos is a small tourist town in the ski hill region of New Mexico, about 90 miles north of Santa Fe. (It’s pronounced ‘touse’ like ‘house’ by the way.) Pictured below is the highway near Taos, with the Rio Grande in the valley below.
The campground was really well laid out and landscaped in the local fashion with sagebrush, stones and gravel with the occasional tree (see below). You can see the dramatic clouds in the sky - typical of the weather during our two day stay (comfortable days with a mix of sunshine and brief thunderstorms and quite cool at night 4 degrees C.) Glad we have a furnace…
We arrived in mid afternoon, set up camp and drove downtown, which was only about a mile away. We caught the end of a small Art in the Park display of fine craft and paintings and then window shopped along the main street. The Navajo style wool blankets and rugs were amazing but really expensive so we just looked. There were lots of well tended perennial gardens between the sidewalks and the stores and I got some good photos of these poppies below, another great painting subject.
About 4 pm we stopped for a couple of excellent margaritas and a quesadilla at a busy cafe patio right on the main drag before heading back to the campground. Then we walked a block to a Mexican restaurant, had another excellent margarita or three with steak fajitas, and turned in for the evening.
The next day the weather forecast was possible thunderstorms in the late afternoon so we fit in an awesome motorcycle ride on an 84 mile loop north of Taos called the Enchanted Circle from mid morning to mid afternoon. We only ran into a few raindrops and some tiny hail so it was a good ride but quite cool up in the mountains. The road was smooth and curvy and not too busy with traffic since this was the Tuesday after the long weekend. (On the weekend we saw a couple hundred motorcycles in and around Taos for the holiday.) Here are some photos of me (red bike) and John (white bike) on this tour.
I mentioned in an earlier post that the architecture in New Mexico blends very well with the landscape. Here are a few examples of this - a Staples store and a subdivision home in Santa Fe, both in adobe style. The residential areas use natural landscaping rather than lawns and flower beds, since water is so precious in this state.
The other remarkable thing we noticed was the beautiful designs and colours of the concrete overpasses on the freeways around Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Some gravel embankments were laid in sections of coloured stones that formed a swirling design. It’s a form of public art that we really enjoyed. You can do a lot when you don’t have to worry about frost damage like we do in Canada. Below are two overpasses we saw when leaving Santa Fe on our way north to Taos.
After two days in Albuquerque we moved our rig about two hours north up the freeway to Santa Fe, where we had booked a campground for four days over the Memorial Day long weekend. On the way there, I happened to have my camera in my lap when John saw a car rolling over about ten times in the median. I managed to get this photo of the incident. You can see the wreck in the dust just above the end of the guardrail. Several other cars stopped to help so we kept going. Sure hope the people were OK.
After we parked the RV in a nice, quiet KOA campground out in the country, we drove about 10 miles into old town Santa Fe to get our bearings. Lots of old adobe buildings, heavy traffic and narrow streets characterized the historic area.
The next day we caught up on emails and the blog in the morning and John did some data entry on the Scugog Council for the Arts web site (volunteer work even on holidays!).
After a nap in the afternoon, we headed into old town to visit the Georgia O’Keefe Museum (which offers free admission every Friday evening). We saw a short movie about the life of this famous American artist (1887-1986) who had lived and painted on a ranch near Santa Fe for the last 40 years of her life. In 2002, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum loaned one of its iconic flower paintings to the White House, Jimson Weed, 1932, (shown below on the poster outside the Museum) as one of a number of paintings selected from various museums for the walls of the dining room in the White House’s private quarters. Jimson Weed was returned recently, and was on display again for the first time in eight years. We found the whole exhibit very interesting and informative.
Every Friday the galleries on Canyon Road are open for a Gallery Walk, so we hiked over there and did the stroll through this famous Santa Fe district. We enjoyed the beautifully restored adobe buildings with lovely gardens and outdoor sculptures.
The next day, Karen spent some time finishing her Newfoundland pebbles painting (shown below) and then we drove into Santa Fe to visit the annual Native Treasures Indian Arts Festival in the newly completed convention centre. We saw some good quality jewelery, pottery, paintings and textiles by over 140 native artists.
The next day we drove down the old Turquoise Trail highway back to Albuquerque. We saw some great New Mexico scenery along the way (photos below). We toured the new National Museum of Nuclear Science for a few hours (quite interesting) and grabbed a delicious burger on old Route 66 before heading back to Santa Fe.
After two weeks on the road we finally reached New Mexico, the first of the four southwestern states we wanted to explore on this trip. The photo below shows the fairly flat landscape and big skies that greeted us. As we continued westward and upward in elevation to Albuquerque we saw several flat-topped hills (mesas) and lots of sagebrush type vegetation. The land looks very dry with subdued but interesting colours. We settled into a spiffy, treed campground on the west side of the city for a couple of days and caught up on the laundry the first evening. John figured out how to program the TV so we can receive the cable signals now.
The next day we drove the motorcycles on Route 66 back into old town Albuquerque and toured the Turquoise Museum. We learned all about the different colours (white, green, blue), where in the world it is mined and what causes the different patterns in the stones. A fascinating, informative visit. Then we drove a few blocks to the historic section of the old town, parked the bikes and walked around the shops and galleries for a few hours. Everything was built in the adobe style, mostly single story. We came across a gorgeous prickly pear cactus in flower in a courtyard and I took a bunch of photos. Excellent painting subject - the flowers are about three inches across.
After we enjoyed a spicy al fresco lunch at a Mexican cafe I found a store that sold Navajo hand made jewelry and I bought a silver bracelet and earrings with turquoise inlay, using my Christmas money from last year. Thanks Mom!
That night we drove around the city, cruised a while on Route 66 (neat old restaurants and motels!) and toured a residential street. The homes are all pinky-beige adobe style with adobe garden walls or palisade style twig fences. We are really impressed with how New Mexico architecture blends so well with the landscape. Even the commercial buildings and gas stations are done in adobe and signs on buildings are very low key.
We went to a cinema and saw the new Star Trek movie (really entertaining). The next morning I got caught up with emails and my blog while John had the brakes inspected on our truck (they were fine) and then we moved to Santa Fe which was only an hour away, up in the hills at 6000 ft.
The tiny town of Adrian in west Texas marks the midpoint of historical Route 66 between Chicago and Santa Monica, CA. We learned at the Amarillo visitors’ centre that the Midpoint Cafe served awesome pies, so we detoured off the interstate for a mid morning treat. The Midpoint Cafe, pictured below with our rig on the right and old Route 66 in the foreground, was built in the late 1930’s and was inspiration for Flo’s V8 Cafe in the outstanding Pixar animated movie ‘Cars’.
John and I had some delicious warm cobbler and talked to the owner who was very hospitable and took our picture in front of his famous ‘Ugly Crust Pies’. Then it was ‘westward ho’ to New Mexico…
We enjoy staying at least two nights at a campground so we have a non-travelling day to explore the local area. The Texas panhandle was no exception, so we booked two nights in Amarillo and had a busy time there. We have reached the hot weather regions now - very flat land with low bushes and lots of red rock and red soil.
We arrived early afternoon and found out the main attractions with a quick stop at the visitors’ centre. We enjoyed a delicious filet mignon late lunch at the legendary Big Texan Steak Ranch restaurant, home of the free 72 oz. steak dinner (free if you can eat it within one hour that is). No we were not even tempted to try it!
The second largest canyon in the USA (Grand Canyon is the largest) is in Palo Duro Canyon State Park, about a half hour drive south of Amarillo. We got an early start the next morning and drove into the bottom of the canyon and then spent about 4 hours hiking to the famous Lighthouse Peak and back. These photos below show John reaching the peak and then the view across the peak.
During our hike we saw lots of tiny spring desert flowers, cactus, lizards and this 6 inch turtle on the trail. It was really warm but there was a breeze to cool us off and we had lots of water in our knap sacks to the hike was good but tiring.
We drove to the town of Canyon nearby for a late lunch in a 50’s style soda shop cafe (the vanilla milkshakes were a meal in themselves!) then back to the campground for an hours nap…bliss!
We stayed two nights at a very pleasant KOA campground in western Oklahoma. The first evening a big storm blew by to the north of us and I took this good photo above of the racing clouds.
The next morning we decided to stay put and have a ‘catch up day’, so I got out my paints and happily worked on a couple of paintings that I had started at home, one of pebbles in Newfoundland and one of burgundy and cream irises. John spent the morning trying to figure out why our TV wouldn’t pick up the cable signal. (We’ve had the RV for a year but had only used the TV antenna before, since we seldom watch TV. We are finding many US campgrounds offer free cable TV so we want to try it out.) He bought some new parts and installed them but still no signal…
It was nice weather in the afternoon so John got the bikes out of the ‘garage’ (shown above) and we drove about 15 miles on old Route 66 to Elk City and back. Saw some interesting derelict motels and a 2 or 3 foot dead bull snake on the road.
We really enjoyed our day off!
Two fairly uneventful days took us from Illinois, across Missouri and into Oklahoma, more or less following Route 66. John read about a Frank Lloyd Wright skyscraper in Bartlesville, OK, so we detoured slightly to stay two nights in this town north of Tulsa. What a great decision!
Arriving early afternoon, we set up camp and drove to downtown which ended up being only a few blocks away and visited the free Phillips Petroleum Co Museum. We saw a short film about the company’s history and how it became Phillips 66. Then we spent two hours looking at all the exhibits and memorabilia. Very worthwhile and informative visit. Found out they made the plastic that made the Hula Hoop possible, as well as many other common plastic products, being granted over 15,000 patents.
After supper in the campground it was really hot and humid and I was doing a few loads of laundry when our neighbour said there was a big storm headed our way and a tornado had touched down about 50 miles away. We checked the weather channel and saw Bartlesville was in the path of a circular weather pattern with thunderstorms and golf ball sized hail.
I hurried over to take the last load out of the dryers before the rain started and a lady stopped by the laundromat and joked that we all might get blown away but at least I would have clean clothes. (Ever practical!) She said the campground office would be opened as a shelter for the campers in the event of a tornado. I hiked back to the trailer with my clean laundry, collected my camera, my purse, oh yes and John too and we headed to the office, which was a cement block structure. By then the tornado sirens were going in the town but it still wasn’t raining yet. The owners told us to stay away from the glass windows in case they broke.
About 20 of us sat around, talked and watched the weather channel for about an hour. Some people stayed out on the porch and watched the rain and wind. After an hour the owner got a report that the storm had gone past our location without becoming a tornado, the rain slowed down and we all went back to our trailers. It was an exciting experience! I was not fearful of our own safety, but if our truck or trailer had been blown away it might have put a crimp in our trip…
After the storm the weather turned nice and cool and the next day we spent exploring downtown Bartlesville on foot. In the morning we walked by some lovely large mansions owned by the oil baron’s families and then had a personal tour of the interior of the Price Tower Arts Centre, (pictured below) which was designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright in the mid 1950’s as the corporate headquarters for an oil pipeline company.
This 19 story skyscraper was the only one FLW actually built and it is still occupied today. It houses the art centre that owns it, a restaurant/bar, an inn and several floors of commercial tennants. You can read all about it at http://pricetower.org/about-ptac/. We felt so privileged to be able to tour and learn about such an elegant and historic property. Then in the arts gallery wing on the ground level, we saw an hour video presentation about the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, which was an amazing event for its time. They had Ferris’s first Wheel which held over 2,000 passengers on each ride. This was part of an exhibit of the history of all the world’s fairs and will be touring for four years but the first venue was the FLW skyscraper. Very interesting.
After lunch we took a guided tour of the Frank Phillips mansion, shown below. Frank was the founder of Phillips Petroleum Co. The house was donated to the historical society by his granddaughter, with all its furnishings and decor intact, so the tour was most informative and full of anecdotes about the family when they lived there.
Then we walked back to the Price Tower to have a drink and a snack in the bar on the 15th floor before walking back to the campground. A very nice day. Tomorrow we head across Oklahoma towards Texas on our way to New Mexico.
Our journey began with a four-night stay at a KOA campground in Shipshewana, Indiana, accompanied by our friends Fran and Karl. Together we explored the famous Shipshewana flea market on it’s opening day and drove around the area to see the sights. The Amish farms looked very prosperous and well maintained and we saw lots of their horsedrawn black buggies on the roads.
The second day we found a treasure trove at Bontrager’s Surplus, the largest warehouse (rabbit warren?) of RV parts and accessories we have seen and had a fascinating tour of the Jayco trailer factory (Jayco being the manufacturer of Fran and Karl’s trailer). We also toured the RV Museum and Hall of Fame to see a super collection of historic trailers from the early to mid 20th century. It was amazing how many innovations they had way back then. We ate a farmstyle Amish dinner at an 1,100 seat restaurant in the area and found it to be a simple meal, tasty but heavy on the starch (excellent fried chicken, mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, boiled noodles, bread with apple butter or peanut butter spread, green beans boiled within an inch of their life and a selection of about 20 homemade pies). We left stuffed…
The next day we toured Hostetler’s Hudson Auto Museum (Karl owns a 1951 Hudson) to see the largest collection of Hudson cars and trucks in the USA. Quite remarkable. We learned all about Amish, Mennonite and Hutterite history and beliefs at the Mennohoff Museum. We enjoyed a BBQ supper back at the campground and our last evening with our friends before they left to return to Ontario the next morning.
We drove to Chicago and camped for the weekend at a KOA about an hour outside of the downtown area. We used the excellent public train system to travel into the city (only $5 each for an unlimited weekend pass!). On Saturday we made a beeline for the Oak Park suburb of Chicago to take an audio walking tour of a tree-lined neighbourhood of gorgeous homes built in the 1880’s to 1920’s, several of which were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I took lots of photos of the beautiful homes. We were privileged to have a tour of the interior of his completely restored first home (shown below) and drafting workshop. The interior details were astounding and the design and craftsmanship really appealed to us.
Sunday we took the train to downtown Chicago and walked to see all the famous skyscrapers. I must say, Chicago (pictured below) is a lovely clean city, filled with tulip displays that would rival Ottawa’s tulip festival I am sure. Since it was Mother’s Day there were lots of families walking around on the streets and in the parks. We had a Chicago style deep dish pizza (interesting) at Pizzeria Duo and bought some chocolates at the Hershey’s store. We saw an amazing sculpture in Millenium Park at the waterfront and took a photo of ourselves and the Chicago skyline reflected in it.
