New Mexico, Part Tres

This is King, and he was kind enough to carry me around the next morning in Red River. We went horseback riding with the funniest, most polite cowboy I have ever met, up into the mountains, and it was beautiful. I sort of remembered how to ride. A little bit. Enough that I wasn't too sore the next day, at any rate!

After lunch we left Red River and headed for Angel Fire. The town is so-named because of a crazy light phenomenon that happens sometimes at sunset, where the mountains are painted red with light. We checked into our hotel and then went on a drive to visit some local artists.

This man and his wife make pottery in a wood-fired kiln. As you can see, it's bigger than he is! When this thing gets going, they have to continuously feed the fire for 40 hours straight.

That night we had the best meal of the whole trip at a restaurant called the Roasted Clove. Exquisite food cooked up by a chef who used to be the vegetarian chef at the North Pole!

Sunday morning we had some time to ourselves before heading up to the top of the mountain on the longest chair lift in the US. Then they packed us back in the vans and heading to the Buffalo Thunder Casino Resort in Pojaque.

Finally, on Monday morning, we visited el Sanctuario de Chimayo.

This church is a pilgrimage destination because it is said to have holy, healing dirt. It's also a photographer's dream.

That night, I got to have dinner with Larry and Zana, and then flew back the next day. It was an amazing trip and an amazing experience, only cementing my love for Northern New Mexico.

New Mexico, Part Dos

We last left New Mexico on the gorgeous expanses of Ghost Ranch. In the above photo, you can see Georgia O'Keefe's beloved Peternale (the mesa).

From there, we got lost (only briefly) and then went to Tierra Wools which is a shop just outside Chama trying to keep the old traditions alive by ranching traditional Churro sheep that the Native Americans used to keep here, and then dying and weaving their wool in traditional ways. This shop keeps 25 local weavers employed full time.

That night, we were hosted at a reception by the Jicarilla Apache nation, and they sang and danced for us — and then we all joined in! It was very cool, and they were extremely friendly and willing to tell us all about their customs.

The weather was bitterly (and unseasonably) cold, so most of us hadn't packed appropriately. On the way to the train the next morning, our PR host let us stop at a Dollar General, where we cleaned them out of gloves, hats and scarves. It made us all a LOT happier on the train!

Because of the cold, we got a really unusual treat: snow and changing aspens at the same time! The ride through the mountains on the Chama railroad was absolutely breathtaking. The train stops at the top, half way, where you have your choice of turkey dinner, meatloaf dinner, or soup and salad for lunch. It was actually very, very good!

That isn't everyone who was on the trip, but all of us who rode the train. Carol (second from the left) turned 65 that day! So we celebrated with Little Debbie cupcakes I bought at the Dollar General! ;)

That night we were treated to a cowboy dinner, complete with entertainment, which was when I decided that I needed me a set of cowboy children. They were all so cute and polite and helpful… when they weren't trying to lasso one another.

That's it for now! More to come!

Northern New Mexico Trip

Last month, I had the amazing opportunity to go on a press trip to Northern New Mexico for work. It was an eight-day trip of epic proportions that I will be writing about for our annual travel issue in 2010.

We started in Santa Fe, which I'm sure many of you know, is one of my favorite cities in the world. There's something about Santa Fe that simply defies explanation: is it the light? The air? The people? The food? What makes this place so magical that even common doorways and mailboxes are photo opportunities?

I can't say that I know, but I do know that I was taking full advantage of every history walk, every restaurant stop, every moment — and full advantage of our new camera.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was a restaurant tour we took through the Santa Fe Cooking School. They take the group around town on foot, visiting four or five different fine restaurants, where you get to meet the chef and then sample some of his food, sometimes even right in the kitchen!

After Santa Fe, we trucked up to Los Alamos and Bandolier National Monument. It was a gorgeous day, if a little chilly, and our guided tour of the dwellings with the ranger was fantastic. (We also got a lecture on proper terminology. The people who lived here are no longer called Anasazi [which is the Navajo word for "strangers"], they are the Ancestral Puebloans. And, because in native beliefs, everything is always as it should be, they are not ruins, because there's nothing ruined about them! They are dwellings.)

We also got some of the history of Los Alamos when we went back to the city, which was fascinating. Because the city didn't actually "exist" during the war, the 150 children who were born there at that time all have "P.O. Box 1667, Santa Fe, NM" as their place of birth on their birth certificates. We stayed in a hotel directly across the street from Brandon's apartment, and ate at a restaurant where he and I used to eat!

After Los Alamos we headed to Abiquiu to visit Georgia O'keefe's home. (They don't allow any photos of her home, but it was lovely: very minimalist and modern.) Then we went on to Ghost Ranch where she had a second home and where she painted much of the scenery. We took a great tour where the guide pointed out the scenery and then showed the painting of it, which was fascinating. Beautiful country, too. It's now owned by the Presbyterian church, which uses the facilities as a wellness retreat center.

That's all for now! More when I upload more photos. To see the whole set that I've uploaded so far, click here.

Christmas Photos!

It was an excellent Christmas in Dallas, filled with family and lots of good times.



We must have all been very good, because Santa (and Mom and Dad and all the family) was very good to us!







The food was good, the company even better. To see all the photos from Christmas, click here.

And happy new year!

So. Much. Snow.

So, the drive from Santa Fe to Denver that should have taken about six hours, maybe seven because we had a leisurely lunch? Took TWELVE HOURS. We got to Colorado Springs and everything just stopped. It usually takes about an hour to travel the 60 or so miles from Denver to Colorado Springs. Last night? It took four hours.

Seriously. Four hours. I wanted to kill somebody. Particularly CDOT, who had not plowed the roads. At all.

That's the end of my complaining, I swear. Photos to follow.

Photos from the State Fair of Texas!

Photos from the State Fair of Texas!

My friend and coworker Hernan and I had so much fun at the State Fair! Petting zoo! Baby goats! Dog show! Ferris wheel! Fried bacon! :D

I think the fair was actually more fun than I remembered it. It wasn't nearly so hot!

Did you know that the Texas Star is the largest Ferris wheel in North America?
(And did you know that Ferris wheel was capitalized? It is.
This is what you learn writing travel guides.)

Chicken fried bacon! Seriously!

More photos soon. I took some with the old-fashioned film camera, and they still need to be developed.