June 4, 2013

  • Final Tales from Out West

    5/29/13   We got up early and hit the road to Santa Fe.  There were just a few of the Native American vendors set up on the north side of the plaza when we arrived.  That was nice.  It wasn't crowded and we could take our time looking at the jewelry and other crafts for sale.  We had a fun conversation with one man, about the different Indian symbols...we bought a sand painting magnet from him. It's a bowl with cobs of different colors of corn in it.  I also got a pair of silver earrings from a woman who had designed the way they hang and dangle out of a single piece of silver.  I also fell in love with a bracelet because of the stone.  I was told it came from the area around Denver.  Most of the turquoise we saw was the typical blue or greenish.  There was also some white turquoise that my dad was quite taken with.

    We ate at "The Shed".  It was good but a bit hotter than I am accustomed to.  The menu had a disclaimer about how hot their salsa was.  If we ever go back, I'll ask for the salsa on the side.  They use blue corn for their tortillas.  I had the burritos, and they were good.  Just a tad too much heat.

    We also visited the St. Francis Chapel which is just off the plaza. It has the oldest Madonna statue anywhere in the United States.  It was carried with the Spanish army when they were driving the Moors out of Spain back in the 15th century. The original chapel was built centuries ago, by a wealthy Spanish family.  It's been destroyed several times and rebuilt, each time larger and more elaborate. 

    We also visited the Loretto Chapel and saw the "miracle staircase".  A carpenter appeared and built the staircase out of wood, and left without telling anyone his name or charging for his work. Some say it was St. Joseph who appeared and built it. It is a steep spiral and has no visible supports.  Originally it didn't have a handrail, but the nuns found it too scary to climb and the rails were added later.

    Our final stop was the state capitol building. They had a display of quilts...but quilts that are paintings.  It was absolutely amazing.  Some were nature landscapes and 2 were of vehicles...one was an old truck out in a field and the other of a 50's chevy cruising down the street. No photography allowed, unfortunately.  These quilts were amazing.  It was a temporary exhibition, so it was lucky we got to see it.  The 2nd floor rotunda has incredible artwork as well.  

    5/30/13

    Taos.  

    My mom found a turqoise bracelet she liked and bought it.  It's a bit heavier than mine, with a more traditional blue turquoise stone. Very pretty, but I like mine better.  We had the best meal of the trip at Graham's Grille.  I had their Southwest Chicken Wrap with a green salad. As we were leaving Taos, we stopped at an "import" place (probably all of it came from Mexico) that had everything from from A-Z.  We found some painted ceramic numbers to put on our house.  Which created another project for me...to put a B on our mailbox and paint some similar flowers to those on the numbers that will hang  above the mailbox.  I'm looking forward to it.