The end of
September in Santa Fe was less strenuous while we played tourist.
Tesuque Flea Market
The world famous Native American, Tesuque Flea Market is a local favorite just 10 miles north of Santa Fe with more than 1,200 booths every weekend from March to December, offering an eclectic combination of new and used goods.
We met our Sarasota
friends, Don and Laura at the Market and shopped through the many rows of
vendors until lunch time.
Sharon found some gemstones to use in her own jewelry design. The jewelry designed by Native American jewelry artists was also amazing. There were treasures to be found by all!
We found spices from Chef Abdel. Renowned for his quality products from around the world, Abdel has been a local figure at the market for over twenty years.
We
purchased the Chef’s Special, an incredible mix of global spices to add a magic
flavor to any dish, containing green and red chili powder, Zaatar, Sumac,
Chipotle, Turmeric, ancho chili and red chili caribi (like an east meet west
mix). We also purchased a few squares of chili pepper peanut brittle (spicy hot)!
There
are many lavender farms in New Mexico.
One vendor sold lavender shampoo, lotions and soaps. Visit Gabrielle
Graham’s website at www.santafelavender.com.
Throughout our New Mexico
travels we noticed that dried chilies hanging in bunches - “Ristras” - were used everywhere for
decoration. Homes, businesses, even
churches had a bunch or two hanging outside.
They are said to bring good health and good luck! In the parking lot of
the Tesuque Market we found one of the local entrepreneurs with a combination
of advertising and transportation.
Tesuque Glassworks
At the end of our adventure
with Don and Laura, they took us to the Tesuque Glassworks. Tesuque Glassworks was founded in 1975 by
Charlie Miner. The glass shop gives
people the opportunity to watch the steps of blowing glass through daily
demonstrations by a group of six different artists.
The sight of glass in a molten, fluid state is surprising; the taffy-like consistency twirls, grows, and stretches into multitudes of colors from opalescent peacock plumes to earth tones. Watching this process from a round ball on the blowpipe (where the piece is held while created) to the annealing oven (where it uniformly cools overnight) is an amazing experience, one which Mike and our friend Karin experienced first-hand in Florida as seen below.
While Mike watched the
demonstration, Sharon shopped and found a beautiful pair of glass earrings that
captured the light with colors that reminded her of the fall season in New
Mexico. The artist, Jody Lusk, is inspired by the New Mexico light and loves to
translate that luminosity into wearable art.
Jody makes jewelry from hand blown art glass looped in sterling silver
findings. Each piece is made from glass
designed specifically for her earrings and pendants. Shapes are determined by individual
characteristics and unique qualities of the glass.
As Don and Laura went on
their way, Sharon and Mike stayed to meander through the outdoor sculpture garden
next door at the Shidoni Foundry and Galleries.
Shidoni – a greeting to a friend in Navajo – is an art gallery including
8 acres of sculpture gardens and bronze art foundry situated along the Rio
Tesuque on a former apple orchard. Although we were unable to tour the foundry
to watch 2000 degree molten bronze being poured into ceramic shell molds, we
did enjoy our stroll through the garden.
Of particular interest to
Mike was a skeleton chariot driver made completely out of junk parts such as
pipe, nuts and bolts. Sharon had a few
favorites as well. So much talent!
Turquoise Trail
On September 29 we spent what started out as an overcast
day driving the Turquoise Trail. The Turquoise Trail is a 62-mile national
scenic byway on Highway 14 between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. See www.newmexicodaytrip.com.
The first stop was the Bureau of Land Management for New
Mexico. The man we spoke with was very
informative and also happened to have attended the National Fire Academy, as
had Mike. They reminisced about the
quality of the courses and the history of the facility and the surrounding
area. We knew BLM property was open to
RV’s for boon docking (no hook-ups), so he showed us the maps we could purchase
of each region. In talking with him, he
also shared his favorite locations for exploring. We were glad we stopped.
The café was also a feed store. We were greeted by two colorful peacocks
sitting near the front entrance. Once inside, our view through the windows was
that of a coop with various turkeys and peacocks. Other turkeys and peacocks were left to roam
the property. It was a quirky business model combination!
Along the trail, we drove up to the Cerrillos Hills State Park but it was not a day for hiking, so we continued along the Turquoise Trail and stopped at the town of Cerrillos. While it was once seriously considered for the capital of New Mexico, today Cerrillos, with its dirt streets, is a picturesque reminder of the Old West.
The area turquoise and lead deposits were
critical to the jewelry and pottery making of the prehistoric Indians and these
mines influenced Spanish settlement. The
Cerrillos mining district from 900ad is one of the oldest and most marked of
the Old Spanish Mineral Developments in the Southwest. In fact, turquoise mined here found its way
to the crown jewels of Spain. Cerrillos
was full of hearty miners who extracted gold, silver, lead, zinc and turquoise
from area mines at its peak in the 1800s.
The miners supported the town’s 21 saloons and four hotels.
Our destination on the Trail was a quaint little town called Madrid. It is located about 30 minutes south of Santa Fe. The village of 300 is populated almost entirely by artists, musicians, writers and small business owners who have transformed the town into an arts destination.
Our first stop was at Seppanen & Daughters Fine
Textiles featuring textiles from all over the world. The owner was from Germany and we enjoyed a
colorful conversation with him. Also of
interest to Sharon was the music he was playing. It was an artist we had not heard of. We didn’t write it down but we thought it was
Jack White.
So later, we searched I-tunes to locate the particular song we
thought we heard. It was harder than we thought. Still not sure we found the
right artist!
We found a convenient parking spot and with camera in
hand, started our walk through Madrid.
After a few shops, we stopped at Maggie’s Diner formerly the diner
featured in the movie, “Wild Hogs.” It is now a store selling t-shirts, motorcycle
biker gear, leather vests, jewelry and memorabilia from the movie “Wild
Hogs.”
See www.wildhogsmadridnm.com. We asked for a recommendation for lunch and she directed us to The Hollar
Restaurant down the road. After purchasing a Harley T-shirt for Sharon’s
brother, we continued on.
We found another shop called Weasel & Fitz with
whimsical recycled, found objects and folk art.
Sharon especially like the roadrunner, but too large. “Clark” reminded her she would have to add it
to our bunk! “Meriwether” already wears her cowboy boots to bed, so she
purchased a unique pair of copper earrings with turquoise. One good thing about jewelry, she
rationalizes, she can wear it vs. store it!
For lunch, we ate at The Hollar Restaurant. Part of it was a converted railroad boxcar. As we sat at a table outside, the clouds were
building and it drizzled a little as we wished we had carried our umbrella or
rain jackets! Rain or shine we ventured on.
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| Local cowboy |
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| Another local |
After a few more shops, including a gallery where Mike had to photograph this spider, we stopped at the recently
renovated Madrid Old Coal Town Museum.
It was in back of the restaurant, where we purchased tickets from the
bartender! The museum was a walk into
the past with a fascination clutter of artifacts and local history. The museum is also connected to the Engine
House Theatre, which hosts performances, events and exhibitions year round.
Nestled in the ceiling inside one of the buildings on the museum grounds were some bats that fascinated Mike, so he spent a while trying to get a photo, but was unsuccessful as it was just too dark!
Madrid was once the town of Coal Gulch. It was founded in the mid-1800s. It was a coal mining boomtown that, in its
heyday, was home to 3,000 people. Thomas
Edison lived here for a time, and left behind a power plant that made Madrid
the brightest town west of the Mississippi.
In the early 1920s, the village put on its inaugural “Madrid Christmas”,
a festival featuring 150,000 Christmas lights, and attracted national
attention. It was in the early 1950s
that Madrid made a swift decline as neighboring towns switched from coal to
natural gas. In 1954 the power plant
closed and the town went dark. Finally
in 1973 the land was split into 200 parcels that cost between $500 and
$2,000. The entire town sold in less
than three weeks!
According
to the LA Times a few years after the town’s rebirth “Madrid became a way station for wandering
young people and a home for artists and others who bought property and settled
in.” The article described a band of persevering “misfits” that struggled
through many hardships – from wells that were black with coal dust to
collapsing houses – to make Madrid the miniature arts capital it is today.
On our way back to the car, we stopped at a few more
shops. Stuck in a jewelry shop, of all places, came the downpour! We waited a while, but no letting up, so we
ran down the road a ways and stopped at another shop to get dry before making
another run for it!
The next town we wanted to go to was a ghost town called
Golden. Well, we never found the ghost
town, it must have been invisible to the naked eye! Golden appeared suddenly in
1839 as the New Placers gold-mining town called El Real de San Francisco de
Paola. When some years later the US post
office arrived, there were already other San Franciscos, and so they called
this one Golden.
We continued our drive on the Turquoise Trail toward
Albuquerque to turn around and head back North on I-25. We wanted to get off the exit that we would
have to take in October for the Balloon Fiesta to be sure we could find our way
at 4:30 in the morning from our drive from Santa Fe. It was an easy route!
So homeward bound, even though the weather was not sunny,
we still enjoyed the adventure! The
Turquoise Trail is a must do day trip!
Taos Pueblo Festival
There are nineteen Native American Pueblos in New Mexico,
eight of which lie north of Santa Fe:
Nambe, Picuris, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara,
Taos and Tesuque. Some Pueblos, such as
Taos and Santa Clara are open to the public several times a year.
On the last day of September, we drove up to the Taos Pueblo
for its annual Feast Day. Taos Pueblo means “Our Village.” It is the only
living Native American community to be designated both a World Heritage Site by
UNESCO and a National Historic Landmark.
The Pueblo was built sometime in the 13th century and stands
virtually unchanged in the shadow of the Taos Peak. It is the seasonal home to
nearly 2,000 people. That makes it the oldest living community in the United
States.
The multi-storied adobe buildings have been continuously
inhabited for over 1000 years and the architecture of Taos Pueblo actually
inspired “Pueblo architecture” as it is known today. It is the only pueblo of
all pueblos that restricts the infrastructure of electricity and plumbing
within the sacred village.
Feast days are age-old religious ceremonials essential to
Pueblo and universal well-being. They are occasions to renew friendships and a
continuance of Pueblo traditions, heritage and customs. No photos are allowed
on Feast Day, but during daily self-guided tours of the pueblo, shops and
galleries that showcase Taos Pueblo artists, admission and camera fees are
required.
As we entered the Taos Pueblo, one of the locals invited
the public into her home to sell her jewelry.
She also sold traditional homemade fry bread served with honey or
powdered sugar. It was a very simple two room adobe with dirt floors, a living
area and a kitchen with a propane stove.
During Feast Day, visitors were only allowed in some of
the shops, but many of the Taos Pueblo artists as well as artists from other
pueblos were set up in booths that lined narrow roadways around the dance
plazas or clustered in spots off the plaza.
There was anything from every form
of traditional to contemporary art forms, paintings to photography, sculptures
to performance arts, drums to pottery, beadwork to leather goods.
We walked up and down the vendor lined isles where Sharon
admired the works of some of the more talented artists. There was a lot of sterling silver pieces,
including lost wax casting.
There were a lot of food vendors and we had to eat, so we
decided on a hamburger served on fry bread…it was huge, something we should
have shared! We planted ourselves along the river to eat lunch and watch
people.
We missed the religious ceremonies that were held at sunrise. But while eating lunch, we did get to see the
native “clowns” who emerged from the Kiva and ran about the grounds stealing
fruit and other gifts from the visitors and vendors. Of course all of the
vendors covered up their wares so the clowns would not steal anything they were
trying to sell. One unlucky visitor ended up being abducted by the clowns and
thrown in the icy waters of the nearby river and they stole his cell phone! So of course “Meriwether” would hide behind
“Clark” to avoid being spotted by the clowns!
It was very entertaining. Wish we could have taken some photos!!!
The clowns would take all of the gifts up to the roof and place them in the
Kiva, a ceremonial and social chamber built by the Pueblo Indians, which is separate from the dwellings. The traditional round shape of the earliest
kivas contrasts with square and rectangular forms common in residential Pueblo architecture. The
circular shape recalls the round pit houses of the prehistoric Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) from whom the Pueblo tribes
are thought to have descended. A small hole in the floor of the kiva (sometimes
carved through a plank of wood, sometimes dug into the earth) served as the
symbolic place of origin of the tribe; although a kiva’s most important purpose
is as a venue for rituals, kivas can also be used for political meetings and
casual gatherings of the men of the village. Women perform their rituals in
other venues and rarely enter kivas.
From the Taos Pueblo, we stopped in the town of Taos on our way back to Santa Fe. Taos sits at the foot of the tallest stretch of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The town of fewer than 6,000 inhabitants is a rich, cultural hub that holds more than 1,000 years of history, and is the starting point for myriad adventures.
Although the
date of construction of the building where Kit Carson and his family lived
cannot be established, the small four-room house (children’s room, family
bedroom, kitchen and parlor/office) was certainly built around or before
1825. In 1843, he purchased the house as
a wedding present for his bride. They
occupied the house from then until 1867, except for a few years when he was ranching
or posted to a military garrison. Carson
died in 1868 of ill health at the age of fifty-eight, less than a month after
his wife Josefa died at the age of forty-five after giving birth to their
eighth child.
The
home/museum has many artifacts such as shotgun used by Carson, a spyglass
similar to one he used, and a .50 caliber Hawken rifle that is an exact replica
of his rifle, photos, the Brigadier General’s jacket worn by Carson, his
Masonic hat and other artifacts.
Visit www.taos.org for more information on
outdoor activities, cultural events, art districts, day trips and creative
adventures. We only had time for a day
in Taos. Certainly a place to return to and explore. “Clark” agreed!
“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the
journey that matters, in the end.”
Ursula K. Le Guin, B. 1929
