DAY 84- Taos...

When I left Santa Fe, I just happened to choose a road at random that was heading in the general direction that I needed to go.  I know crazy, huh?  But Taos is less than two hour’s drive away from Santa Fe and I had some time to explore.  I chose Bishop’s Lodge Road and just drove.  I drove through rounded hills covered with brush and short juniper trees where adobe houses would peak out here and there from the landscape.  It was like the houses were made to fit in with the landscape and it was very scenic.  I made a little contest to pick out as many as I could as I went along.

Photo- Houses hidden in the landscape north of Santa Fe.

Eventually, I came to small communities where there were adobe fences and rough wooden tree fences lining the road.  I imagine that two weeks earlier the barren tree branches hanging over the fences would have been filled with glorious Fall colors.  There were still some of the stubborn leaves hanging on.  Bishop’s Lodge Road came out along the Hwy 285 that I needed to take north to Taos.  I wasn’t choosing the straightest path but then when have I ever done that.

Photo- A variety of fences along the road.

I drove north through the small towns of Espanola and San Juan.  The Hwy started to turn into a northeastern direction towards Taos and I was driving through part of the beautiful Rio Grande Gorge area.  I stopped to take pictures and enjoy the scenery.  The Hwy was also climbing quite a bit.  Just before I got to Taos the road descended.   The scenery opened up and there was a rest stop on the side of the road.  It was amazing.  I could see the snowcapped mountains above Taos and off to the west I could see part of the Rio River Gorge.

Photo- The Rio Grande River Gorge Area.

Driving into Taos, there were more adobe houses and businesses along the road.  I drove north through the center of town and past my hotel.  It was too early to check in and I thought I might just drive around and check out the area.  Then, I saw the sign just ¼ mile up the road from my hotel—Taos Pueblo.  I followed the signs.  I left my camera and cell phone in the car.  I had read that they didn’t allow photos without permission and/or paying a fee.  I just figured I would forgo the hassle all together.

I walked through a gate that had a sign stating the next tour was in 2 minutes at the church.  I walked through an alley way between adobe buildings into a large wide open area.  Off to my right was a church with a walled courtyard.  I walked through the courtyard arch and into the church.  My watch must have been off because the tour was already starting.  I sat down in a pew and listened to a young college aged Pueblo male talk about the symbolism and importance of different things in the church.  He told of the history of the church and that this was not the original church.  The first one had burned down but some of the figures are saved from the first church.

Next, we were led out of the church between some adobe homes and over to the cemetery where there were ruins of the old church.  He explained how all of the crosses in the cemetery had a first and last name on them.  He told how his people had adopted this from their Catholic Christianity and that originally his people only had one name.  The church had burnt down in a rebellion with the Spanish. 

He told of a horrific story of his people being trapped in the church and it was set on fire by the Spanish.  Then the Spanish stood with armed guns outside the only door to the church. There was only one woman that had survived and she had run out of the church that was on fire, through the gun fire, and hid in another building to the north.  She had saved one of the Mary figures from the old church.

Next, he led us our tour group over to an adobe oven which he went into detail about how it worked and when it was primarily used.  He also explained about how currently there was only about 50 people that were living in the pueblo area; most of the other 2800 Indians were living on the reservation outside the pueblo walls.  Most of those members that were living in the pueblo would go outside the walls to shower and bath, but that there were some propane that was used for lighting and heating. 

He lead us back over to the square area and over along the river that runs through the middle of the pueblo.  He explained that you could drink from the stream because it’s so clean.  They own all the land up to the top of the mountains and nothing is developed to contaminate the area.  He mentioned some of the ceremonies and festivals that took place along the river and within the pueblo.  It was all very interesting.  After the tour he invited everyone to stay and visit any of the adobe houses that had an open sign next to their doors.  Those were the homes that had businesses. 

I walked across the square over to a table and looked at some goods as a white middle aged female asked the vendor about the symbolism on a piece with art work on it.  There was jewelry on display on too.  I continued on and ended up following a group of visitors into another house.  Along one wall of the house was a bragging wall would be the only description I could come up with.  There were pictures of family members with Hollywood stars and other famous people that had visited the pueblo.  I looked at the prices of some of the artwork and jewelry; and I understood the bragging wall.  But there was a small little isquare.com sign where they could take a credit card too if you didn’t happen to have the hundred bills on you.

I followed the group to the next house and another.  It was the same story over and over; high priced pieces and one of them even had a laptop computer with a HUGE battery backup with a cup of Starbucks coffee sitting next to it.  She told one lady how she was addicted to Starbucks and gave directions as to where it was in Taos.  I was disappointed with the whole thing.  What was the point of no electricity and what not within the pueblo when all of these outside things were brought in?  I’m not sure what I had been expecting but I just thought that they would be a little more traditional within the pueblo walls.  I wasn’t expecting them to be running around in buckskin clothing but I just thought that it would be different.

Photo- The Rio Grande Gorge as seen from the bridge that spans it.

Next, I went northwest out of Taos and across the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge; now THIS was amazing!  I drove into the rest stop immediately off to the west of the bridge and got out.  I hiked over to the fence area and took pictures of the gorge.  Then, I walked along a sidewalk and across a rough worn dirt path to the highway area.  I walked along the sidewalk of the bridge out to the middle where there was a viewing area.  I tried not to look straight down or I would have gotten dizzy and it WAS a ways down.  The river only looked to be a few feet wide from the view up top but I’m sure it was further than that across.  What a view!  Vendors were set up along the road in front of the rest stop.  You could buy jewelry, hats, leather goods, and drums.  There was even an old colored bus that sold coffee and ice-cream.  Capitalism is very much alive in New Mexico!

I swung back into Taos, past my hotel again (still too early to check in) in search of a nail place.  I was in bad need of a mani-pedi.  The polish was worn off, torn nails, and rough heels; need I say more? I found a small place called Star Nails in a strip mall.  There were only two people and I ended up with the untalkative man.  I asked him about Taos and he said he had only two words to describe Taos… Small Town!  That kept me laughing for a bit. 

I checked into my hotel clad in the cheap paper like thongs because my toe nails had to dry still.  The hotel clerked looked at me a bit strange.  I told her I just treated myself to a mani-pedi and she said she was hoping so but didn’t want to say anything because she’s always seeing some strange stuff going on in the area.

Next I decided to do to a local bar called the Adobe Bar in Taos’ Historic Inn.  I showed up and there was live music going on.  The place was packed but I still managed to find a table.  I watched the football game from my table and the live music too.  This was cool!  It turns out that every Monday night is Open Mike night at the Abode Bar.  The area certainly has a lot of musical talent.  There were even a couple of standups too; one was a little boy about 7 or 8 years old that had to tell some jokes before bedtime.  It was too adorable!  I lost interest in the football game and moved over closer to the stage area.

The whole time I was getting checked out by several men.  I had one offer to buy me a drink and I told him I was just drinking ice water.  He came back with a fresh glass of ice water for me.  My glass was refilled twice without asking by the same man.  A musician had packed up his gear and was heading out.  He stopped, put his gear off to the side, and stood right next to me; almost leaning on me.    

Photo- The final song of Open Mike Night at Adobe Bar in the Taos Historic Inn.

He started talking and I asked questions about the Open Mike night.  Mark was giving me the full court press as far as hitting on me.  I had to laugh and teased him about if he had already gone through the local girls in town; Taos being a small town and all, and now he was hitting on the visiting girls. No, he claimed that was not the case.  But he said that me being a visiting girl was a bit of an aphrodisiac.  Note to you men out there— there are better lines for picking up a female.   I thanked him but told him I wasn’t interested.  He continued to be a bit persistent.  I agreed to put him in my blog in return I was hoping that he would keep his hands to himself.  I shot Mark down again and left as the Open Mike came to a close.  But Mark here’s the picture you took…

Photo- Myself and Mark.

DAY 76- Phoenix Marathon & MIM…

I got up early and went down to the gym.  I managed to run a good 2 miles on the treadmill and then managed to be out of the shower before Laura was awakened by her alarm.  As she was getting ready she mentioned that all the other nuns were trying to leave ASAP today before the Phoenix Marathon disrupted their shuttle ride from the hotel to the airport.  I had no idea that there was going to be a marathon today; and it was going right by the front of the hotel.  Cool! I thought and after having breakfast with the nuns, I went upstairs grabbed my camera and went down to watch.

Photo- About the 5th mile marker of the Phoenix Half Marathon.

I found a bench, took some pictures, and did some clapping-cheering as the runners went past.  It brought back fond memories of the two half marathons (Salt Lake & Park City) that I have done.  It appears that the hotel was about mile #5 of the half marathon part of the run; everyone was still rather fresh and most of them were looking like they were doing well.

Laura came back from the finish of the retreat and the plan for the day was the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM).  I went down to the front desk to ask directions around the marathon while Laura got her stuff together.  Mary at the front desk was so excited when I told her where we were going.  She told me that it was her FAVorite place and that she was sure we would have fun.  She explained how I could drive out “the back way” and get to the interstate and after that I should be fine.

Photo- Laura playing around near the orientation area of MIM.

Off we went and I sometimes amaze myself that I actually find places without a GPS and just a short hand version of Google directions.  I paid for our entrance; the least I can do since Laura is paying for the hotel room.  We get our headphones and we go to the orientation area.  We watch the short film that explains about the museum and the operation of the headphones.  Then, we head upstairs to the United States and Canada area.  We had been told by people at the hotel to start there and then work our way to the rest of the museum.  Quite a few people had said that they had gotten bogged down in the African music area and missed quite a bit of the museum because they took too long in that area. 

So up the escalator and down the hall to the United States and Canada area we went.  When we got to the area we went in and quite a bit of the first section were Native American dancing and music.  Each section had a screen that played a video and you would hear the audio through your head phones as you got close to it.  Once you moved onto another section with a video, the headphones would pick up the new audio.  We wondered around and listened to American Rock and Roll, Jazz, Country, Bluegrass, Marching Bands, and the list went on and on.   There were areas where musical instrument makers would talk about making instruments. 

Photo- Catching some play time in the interactive room.

Next, we decided to grab lunch at the café downstairs.  We hadn’t even really made a dent in the museum.  There was THAT much to see and do.  You could’ve taken days in it and still not seen everything.  We decided we needed to pick up the pace just a little bit.  We went over to the museum store to do a bit of shopping real quick while we were downstairs.  I was disappointed with their postcards and they didn’t really have the staples of what I would consider the normal souvenirs.  There was some neat stuff but a lot of the items were not specific to MIM(Musical Instrument Museum).  I didn’t purchase anything. 

Photo- One of the drums from the Olympics.

Photo- A large mechanical instrument that we saw a demo of while at the museum.

We decided next to check out the Artist Gallery which for some reason I had in my mind was going to be two dimensional art about music.  Don’t ask me why; it’s just how my mind works sometimes.  In the Artist’s Gallery, they had current and past musicians that were on display with their outfits and instruments.  They had the last guitar that Elvis played and one of the HUGE drums from the Olympics in Beijing.  They did a demonstration in the Mechanical Music Gallery of a HUGE wall area that was basically a mechanical organ, drum,etc. instrument.  It was built in the late 1940’s and had been in a dance hall somewhere over in Europe.

Photo- A Lur horn from Denmark. 

 

Photo- A violin made from an old Dutch wooden clog?
Yes, another interesting one.

Next we went back upstairs and decided to hit the Europe area.  It was wonderful and amazing all of the music and dancing that go on throughout our world. It was also fun seeing some of the unusual instruments.  There must have been about 17 different versions of the bagpipes in different cultures made out of different skins and bladders.  There was even one instrument that was made out of a pigs bladder that looked like a violin over a bladder.   There were all kinds of horns too; long winding horns and horns with four horns coming out of one.  The variety and the sounds were all unique but what was even more interesting is getting insight into all of these other cultures around the world through listening and watching their music and dancing.

Photo- A musical instrument that has a pig's bladder? YEP!

Laura gave out half way through Europe, but she encouraged me to continue on.  I picked up the pace through the rest of Europe.  Then I picked up the pace even more as I headed into Latin America and Oceania.  I was practically at an almost speed walked through the Asia area.  I gave out before I even got to the Middle East or Africa part of the museum.  I went downstairs where Laura was and ended up grabbing a coffee.  We had been at the museum for almost 5 hours and I needed caffeine before I drove us back to the hotel.

We opted for an easy night on the way back.  We swung through a fast food place.  Then back to the hotel where we ate the fast food, threw on our swimsuits, and went down to the hot tub to relax.  It was a full day of fun.

DAY 75- Rossen House, Heard Museum, & Loneliness…

Shortly after 8AM I found myself in an elevator heading down for breakfast at the Fairfield Inn in Phoenix.  Laura was trying to convince an older man in the elevator that it wasn’t an LDS Women’s Group that was meeting in the hotel.  He pointed at my coffee cup and said obviously I wasn’t a part of it.  I chuckled and thought if you only knew.  The real irony was that Laura was the only one of the nun’s retreat that was from Salt Lake City.

We got down to the table and Laura introduces me as everyone this is Biker Chick and Biker Chick this is everyone.  Then, Laura went on to say what my actual name was and that Biker was a nickname.  We sat down and then quite a few of the nuns introduced themselves to me.  We also found out that one of the other nuns had started the rumor about there being an LDS Women’s group at the hotel.  She thought it was terribly funny; nuns and their sense of humor.

Photo- Rossen House in downtown Phoenix.

After breakfast, I was left to myself to fend as the nuns and my friend Laura went off to their retreat.  I decided to head downtown to the Historic Heritage Square where I purchased a tour ticket for the Rossen House.  It’s a house that was built in 1895 by a doctor and his wife.  Amazingly, the house was all built within a 6 month period and had all of the modern conveniences of the time like; electric lighting, phones, and hot & cold running water sinks in the upstairs bedrooms.  It was restored to its original beauty and had been quite thee place in its day.  The doctor had been the mayor of Phoenix at the time it was built but they shortly moved out because they had over spent most of their money.  They ended up renting it out to a newspaper man and later sold it. 

But walking through that front door of the Rossen House was really like taking a step back in time.  I was the only one on the tour and the lady was able to explain and answer questions for me specifically which was wonderful.  After the tour in the house she took me to another building where she enthusiastically showed me pictures of the house in the 1970’s before it had been restored.  She also showed me some pictures during the actual restoration project.  I found it all fascinating.  I thanked her for her time at the end of the tour.

Photo- A busy lunch spot in Phoenix is the Pizzeria Bianco.

Next, I decided to go have lunch at a place on the square called Pizzeria Bianco which was situated in an older 1929 building that had housed the Baird Machine Shop at one time.  This pizzeria is equipped with a large wood burning brick oven.  It was very busy but being one I was able to find a place at the bar area to sit and order.  I must have arrived close enough to the time that a gentleman that was next to me; because the next thing I know we are both getting menus and being asked what we want to drink.

I looked at the guy next to me and said I think he (our server) thinks we are here together.  We both tell the server that we are not together to which a couple of woman to my right quickly tell me I’m not playing it right and that I should’ve let the server assume and I could’ve gotten my lunch paid for.  We all laugh and I order my drink.  I ask the gals how large are their pizzas at the restaurant to which they reply that they are 12”.  Owf!  That’s a little much for one I think and I must have said too.  The guy next to me orders the Wise Guy Pizza which is wood roasted onion, smoked mozzarella, and fennel sausage which ends up being what I wanted to order too. 

I asked if he wants to share a pizza.  He said yes, and we introduced ourselves.  Trace is his name and he’s a freelance sports writer from Washington DC.  He’s covering some baseball in the area and once he says that the guy on his other side starts talking his ear off for a few minutes.  Trace eventually said he wanted to get back to talking with his “lunch date” (ha-ha) and after Mr. Baseball fanatic leaves I asked Trace if he felt like he’s having a working lunch.  He laughed and said he could’ve stayed at the ball park if he wanted to have that. 

I asked Trace some questions and he told me about his wife and his daughter who HATES baseball.  Then, I told him what I’m doing and told him a couple of quick stories.  He said that he would love to do something like what I was doing but it would probably be one of those things he talked about doing but never actual did.  The next thing I know he’s having me take the 2 extra pieces from the pizza and has paying for our lunch wishing me luck on my trip.  He also leans over and thanks the gals for teaming the two of us together which gets a laugh as he walks out the door.  One of those gals asked me a couple of questions and then I send off the parting shot that I DID end up with my lunch being paid for after all.  The gals laughed as I went out the door.

I took the pizza left overs back to my car in the parking garage and then walked over to the Arizona Science Center which looked very interesting but they are having a scavenger hunt with tons of kids and its terribly crowded and noisy.  Naw!  I thought to myself I really don’t want to do this.  I decided to take the pizza back to the hotel and figure out things from there.  On the way back I notice that there’s a Heard Museum just two blocks from the hotel.  I jumped on line and find out what it’s all about.

The Heard Museum is touted as being a masterpiece of blending the American Native story from the first person perspective with American Indian art.  The real bonus was that this gem was only a three block walking distance from the hotel.  I walked over and paid for my entrance.

Photo- An inside courtyard just before the museum's entrance at Heard Museum.

I just happened to time it that there was two docent American Indian Natives giving a tour right after I got there.  I followed through with their group.  It was a really wonderful tour because the two of them would blend in personal stories of personal experiences with their families into the tour as they talked about certain areas within the museum as they gave the tour together.  They took turns.  It was a young girl who was of Pueblo decent and a young man who I never did hear which tribe he was from.  They would interpose some humor here and there in their stories.  Also some of the other people asked some very good questions and I found it a very enlightening and educational experience.  After the tour, I walked through some of the other areas of the museum that were not covered in the tour.  I also watched a film about a girl’s coming of age ceremony.  All too soon it was closing time for the museum; 5pm had arrived.

I walked back to the hotel where I visited with Laura for a short bit before she was off for another segment of her retreat.  After she left, I ate left overs and then threw on my bikini and went down to the hot tub.  I was hoping that I might run into some people down there.  Nope!  There was no one down there but me.  I was feeling a bit lonely and was really hoping to have someone show up that I could just talk with.  It was really strange because it was like a rush of feeling lonely hit me; maybe it was a sense of being home sickness.  I don't know but it was like a wall hit me and I just felt terribly, terribly lonely. 

It was almost an hour and no one else had come down to the hot tub.  Still feeling lonely I tried calling my Aunt but got no answer.  Then, I tried a couple of other friend’s numbers but no answer.  I didn’t want to go back up into the hotel room change and go to a bar just so that I could have someone else to talk with.  It’s funny because this was the loneliest I have ever felt on this BIG Adventure so far.  I finally was feeling like a raisin from sitting in the hot tub for so long and went back upstairs to watch a bit of TV.