Day Trips

October 28, 2010

Still enjoying Santa Fe, the rain and ominous clouds finally blew away leaving sunny afternoons and early morning temps in the 20's. The leaves that have been so golden are beginning to get tired of these cold mornings and give up their claim to the trees. We have used the time to see a few towns on the outskirts of the city.

PECOS/GLORIETA
This pair of towns is east of Santa Fe on I-25, about 25m. We knew that Glorieta was the scene of a Civil War battle and we had heard that Pecos is beautiful. We caught a glimpse of what may have been the battleground on our way to Pecos where we stopped at the Ranger Station. Yes, that was it, a large rock with a plaque constitutes the entire exhibit. So we counted that one as done. The town of Pecos sits on the Pecos River, just as that town in Texas. The New Mexico version is far smaller and way prettier, not meaning to offend anyone in the good city of Texas. We drove up the canyon following the river to its source, although we didn't get that far. On the way we passed a Benedictine Monastery, a fish hatchery, a variety of campgrounds, a town (closed for the winter), aspen, cottonwoods, pines, and the river. We also saw a few people, but not many. I believe that most of the picturesque homes we saw have been vacated for the season. The area had not had snow yet, but I'm sure the next weather system will take care of that. All that driving caused a craving for a Blizzard run to the DQ, which we had passed on the way into town.

SANTA FE
Strange to say I did a day trip intown, but I went down to the historic town to see the missions, window shop and visit the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. The air was biting, but a bright sky helped moderate the temperature. I had a wonderful time just wondering around. The museum was less than I expected. Everyone I had talked to said how wonderful it is. the paintings are pure O'Keefe, and therefore terrific. But I thought there would be more of them and a greater variety of her many years of work. The videos were very well done and helped to explain her life and work. I did see a couple of paintings that were new to me that I really did enjoy

MADRID - that's MAD' rid
We had passed through this artsy town a few weeks ago but didn't stop. So this was a trip about 25m south just to check it out. It is a former mining town that sat dormant for several decades until the 1960's when it was revived, a lot like Jerome, AZ only smaller. the landscape is high desert mountains, dotted with junipers and not much else. We found out that the movie "Wild Hogs" was filmed there, adding a little more mystic to the place. One house-turned-store was a hotel of sorts in its previous life and had seen the likes of Walt Disney and Thomas Edison stay there. We had very good hamburgers and homemade fries at the historic Mine Shaft Tavern. We walked the half mile of town with the other tourists and enjoyed the afternoon.

Altogether, it has been a nice stay in Santa Fe, but we need to get south before it gets too much colder.