Took another trip through the Southwest, concentrating on southern Utah and northern New Mexico. I was again struck by the similarities between cruising on a sailboat and road tripping in a camper van. Both have moments of serene calm and awe inspiring scenery. And both require repairs of various components in remote locations.
Pretty scenery accompanied by the comforting tones of suitable tunes. Turn it up.Xena, the Warrior Princess, loves to dig holes and she’s good at it. And not just for pooping! Sometimes she lays in them. Sometimes she digs for the sheer joy of it and wanders off.More red rocks. Poor sound quality. Turn it down.We had snow at 10,000 feet in Northern New Mexico!An early example of the architectural style known as “brutalism” in an urban setting.Xena ponders her next move in the deserts of Southern Utah.The Winslow, AZ, tourist bureau, inspired by that Eagles song, created this corner. It was the first corner constructed in this part of Arizona.Xena. Looking particularly leopard-like.
Taos is organized around a central square, befitting its status as a town founded by the Spanish. Just beyond the perimeter of the square is the historic Taos Inn.
I had a nice room with a fireplace! I thought Xena would appreciate the fire, but she didn’t appear to notice. I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed it.
We had the surprise delight of early season snow! Just a dusting, but nice.Xena enjoys frolicking in the fallen snow, but would appreciate it not landing on her from above.Doc Martin’s is Taos Inn’s famous restaurant. The pic doesn’t do justice for the only chili relleno worth eating. My recommendation: schedule a trip to Taos at once for this comida muy excelente! Crispy herby crust on the outside, a chili inside that actually tastes like a pepper. Inside that, of course, is melty yummy cheese. In a world first, there may actually be too much cheese! No problem, though, because tortilla chips are available in abundance.
Millicent Rogers was a fancy, highfalutin socialite and heir to a bunch of the Standard Oil fortune. She made the rounds at galas and parties in New York and graced the society pages. Twice married, then had an affair with Clark Gable. He broke up with her, she turned pouty and moved to Taos, New Mexico. While there, she became a huge patron of Native American artists, bought tons of their work and died.
Now her house is the Millicent Rogers Museum, where a portion of her collection is on display. Very interesting and beautiful work, some quite old.
This dainty ornament is an example of the waterfall design and is sprinkled with rainbow moonstones. They aren’t really moonstones, though.
Imagine all of the work required to select these matched stones and arrange them with such meticulous care.
Simple and elegant in front, fine filigree on the back.
A pretty gold Greek Orthodox cross. One wonders how the Catholic imperialists allowed the artist to create such a thing.
This little mirror has too much frame, not enough mirror.
This black cross has gold inlays. Except…its not gold! They cleverly prepare wheat straw and corn husks, making it look like gold.
Millicent was fond of old things. She used this pot, 2,000 years old, for her cosmetics.
While IVO Taos (isn’t that a great acronym? IVO means In the Vicinity Of. Military people use it a lot.), I visited the ancient town of the Taos Pueblo. It is a perspective shattering experience to be in a town continuously inhabited for more than a millennium. No one can be sure, it could be substantially more. Native dogs roamed the pueblo and old women sold goods baked in traditional wood-fired ovens of adobe. I bought some and made little sandwiches for a week with the delicious bread. The baker assured me that the bread would be good for a week, “because it ain’t got no eggs or dairy in it.”
If a visitor could expel the inconsiderate swine other visitors and sit quietly for a moment, she could almost time travel to the ancient past, when humans lived in harmony with one another and their environment.
The Taos Pueblos was a center of trade before the Spanish thieves arrived. Residents hosted a trade fair every year after the harvest, attracting visitors and goods from all of the surrounding pueblos.
These dwelling units have been continuously inhabited for over a thousand years. The street-level doors and windows are a recent addition, only a few hundred years old. Originally, the entrances to the individual dwellings were through the roof. When neighboring cities raided, these people simply pulled up their ladders and waited them out. Apparently raiding parties never thought to bring their own ladders. So there! Ha!This is the new church, constructed in 1850. When the state-sponsored terrorists arrived from Spain in the 1600s, they informed the indigenous people that their religion was wrong and forced them to convert to Catholicism. They also enslaved them and, under the lash, made them build churches to the glory of an all-merciful and ever loving god.This is the original church, also built by enslaved indigenous people. When Governor Bent (the first appointed governor of New Mexico) was killed by rival imperialist gang members in nearby Taos, the American government blamed the pueblo residents. They, mostly women and children, sought refuge in this church. God declined to intervene; the United States Army unleashed a cannonade to destroy the dangerous women and children hiding in the church. Mission accomplished. All were killed and are buried here in this abandoned cemetery.This little tributary of the Rio Grande flows from the sacred Blue Lake straight through the pueblo. A thousand years of generations have drawn water from this stream to sustain their households. They do the same to this very day.
Everyone thinks of the Rio Grande as the ditch separating the US from Mexico, but it has another life, far upstream. Flowing down from Colorado into New Mexico, the Rio Grande has carved an immense gorge, second only to the Grand Canyon. It is beautiful and serene, quiet and isolated. Also only 20 minutes from the dubious civilization of Taos, New Mexico. Did you know Kit Carson lived and died there? He did, and they named a national forest in his honor. Perhaps, if you moved there and died there, you would get a national forest named for you, too!
The Rio Grande Gorge. Awesome and deadly. Some ambitious anglers test the trail to tempt tiny trout.
Minuscule and lonely, pine trees eke out a living from these stingy, unhelpful rocks.
An idyllic campsite perched on the rim of the gorge. Scenic, with views both near and far. Xena, the Warrior Princess, enjoyed exploring the rocks and charging the impertinent ground squirrels dwelling therein.
Note: I found this draft post from a while back. I guess I forgot to press the publish button. I think I may also have forgotten to finish it.
A beautiful, twisty road leads to Carlsbad Caverns.
We found a dispersed camp site just 30 minutes from the park gate. It was a rough and rocky road to get there. Xena surveils the environment, keeping a steady watch.
The Caverns are 750 feet below the surface. Visitors can either hike down a switchback trail or take an elevator (the elevator is required for all on the return trip). The photos can’t convey the beauty and enormity of the caverns. You have to make the trip and see for yourself.
Archeologists from the University of Southern New Mexico have recently unearthed a well-preserved village near the the pueblo of Las Cruces. Dubbed “Mesilla” (pronounced meh SEE ya), this village displays the physical village arrangement typical of the first band of Spanish thieves. They established a sense of place by creating a town square called an “alameda,” after an island in San Francisco Bay.
Building papist churches was a high priority among the gang of Spanish thieves. Look closely and you will see the graven image of an unwed mother in front of the edifice. The motif of the Unwed Mother, along with other imaginary personages, was prominent among these thieves.
This is an early example of well-executed graffiti, typical of the early days of imperial conquest. Archeologists have determined that this sample is literally translated as “Window of Mesilla,” but no convincing explanation of its meaning to its contemporaries is proffered. It is worth noting that the juxtaposition of the varied type faces is deprecated in modern graffiti.
This signage indicates the location of a restaurant, which provides sustenance to locals and visitors alike. They accept US currency and some credit cards as forms of payment. The name is a mystery. “La Posta” means female letter carrier or female mail man. Despite the many hypotheses seeking to explain why anyone would name a restaurant after a category of postal worker, none have proven satisfactory.
A close reading of the historical record indicates that a misunderstood and culturally downtrodden person called “Billy the Kid” was accused of killing a few people. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to hang in this building. One wonders if Mr the Kid saw the irony of being tried in a building named for him! Legend says the judge declared him guilty and sentenced him to hang until “dead Dead DEAD!” To which Mr the Kid is said to have replied, “I’ll see you in hell Hell HELL.” At which point he ran away, to the consternation of the authorities. He escaped the noose, only to be shot and killed a few days later.
This is a gratuitous image of a black cat, Xena, the Warrior Princess; neither the image nor the cat was uncovered during the excavation of Mesilla.
I had to get a new military ID card, and White Sands Missile Range is the closest installation, so off I went. It’s a dry, dusty and very flat place with widely spaced buildings, most of which are surrounded by tall fences and razor wire. Apparently, the Army has difficulty keeping its soldiers where they belong. I wanted to take pictures of these brutalist buildings, but they threatened to shoot me if I did. The post bills itself as the “Birthplace of America’s Space Program.” I suppose it is, courtesy of Nazi Werner von Braun.
This is an example of an early American modification of the Nazi V-2 missile. They used them, unsuccessfully, to frighten Londoners into becoming Germans. Although the museum is covid closed, the missile park is open. They have dozens of missiles on display, some as small as your arm.
I’m spending a few days at Aguirre Springs Campground on the eastern slope of the Organ Mountains. The mountain peaks form a backdrop to the west and, to the east, the Tularosa Basin houses the missile range, White Sands National Monument and Holloman AFB. I avoid campgrounds when I can, but I admit that this one is pretty nice. The campsites are spread far enough away I can almost imagine that I’m alone. Xena loves climbing the trees and exploring the rock piles.
I think the designers of this campground and its environs were amateurs. The sculpting of the mountain peaks seem a little overwrought to me, with the slick rock faces and pointy peaks. Just doesn’t mimic nature very well. Moreover, the landscaping has no coherent design schema that I could discern. Just plants stuck in the ground willy-nilly Finally, the nature soundscape is far too loud (not to mention repetitive); they need to turn the bird sounds down.The Organ Mountains, standing tall to keep Las Crucians out of the Tularosa Basin.The plain containing White Sands Missile Range and White Sands (gypsum) National Monument.
Xena, the Warrior Princess, is an excellent tree climber. She was right on the heels of a Texas squirrel in San Antonio. Until she ran out of string.
A programming note: I’ll be back in Oakland the first week of April.
While passing through Eastern New Mexico, I discovered a town quite infatuated with aliens: Roswell, New Mexico! I even met one, who was quite shiny and friendly.
There are numerous businesses in town focused on extra-terrestrials (as aliens are sometimes known). My favorite was this Scottish restaurant shaped like a flying saucer!
They even have food shaped like flying saucers!
Although I was unable to participate myself, one could purchase priceless alien artifacts and eat alien donuts while in Roswell.
Departed Las Cruces (adios, amigos!). Up and over the Organ Mountains, through White Sands Missile Range and White Sands National Monument. I learned that the name “White Sands” is an early example of government misinformation…the dunes are actually gypsum.
In this part of the country, the government has established a series of checkpoints called White Checks. The whiter you are, the easier it is to pass through.
At the risk of inciting unending envy in all, I will report that I visited Pistashioland, near Alamogordo, NM. One under-appreciated aspect of nuclear weapons testing is the enormous size of agricultural products that are now realized. This particular pistachio is about 3 times the size of my van-house and can supply the average American family with 2.7 years of pistachio nut meats. Imagine what would be possible with additional thermonuclear explosions!
Beautiful mountains lay to the east of Alamogordo. The mountains are the ancestral homelands of the Mescalero Apache. What a fine place to live in harmony with the land! Lincoln National Forest participates in dispersed camping, so I settled into a secluded site nestled in a valley. Patchy snow remained from a recent storm. Outside temp was 17 degrees in the morning, 60 in the van.
Xena, the Warrior Princess, got to experience her first snow! She loved it. (I don’t know how to embed a video, so you have to click on the link to see her cavorting)
Evenings in my tiny van-house are comfy. I’ve been watching The Expanse.
And enjoying clear blue skies in the day.
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Doc Martin’s is Taos Inn’s famous restaurant. The pic doesn’t do justice for the only chili relleno worth eating. My recommendation: schedule a trip to Taos at once for this comida muy excelente! Crispy herby crust on the outside, a chili inside that actually tastes like a pepper. Inside that, of course, is melty yummy cheese. In a world first, there may actually be too much cheese! No problem, though, because tortilla chips are available in abundance.
