Monday, July 25, 2016

Santa Fe #1

As we drove into Los Suenos RV Park, our friends from Granbury, Geri and Bob, were waiting to welcome us.  This is the third year we have met here.  Even though we are all from Texas, we have never managed to get together except here.  

In the past, Geri and Bob have visited in an RV, but this year they opted to stay in one of the cabins on premises.  We settled in and all went out for drinks and dinner at the excellent Harry’s Road House on Rodeo Drive.  The patio area is lovely and shaded, and we had a great meal and even better conversation.

Our stay in Santa Fe included a visit to their famous Farmers’ Market, where we dodged locals and tourists to visit booths and stalls filled with vegetables, fruit, jams, jellies, honey, cheeses and a variety of artisenal offerings.  



The Frank Ortiz Dog Park was also one of our first stops.  Built on the site of an abandoned landfill, it offers miles of trails through stands of piñon, along ridges and through the arroyo.  It’s a great hike for people and dogs alike, and one of our favorite dog parks.


Not only are their miles of trails down arroyos and across the ridge tops, there are also trailside attractions.  I'm not sure whether they are memorials or decorations, but they're entertaining.


And, if you lose your keys, there is a good chance someone will find them and hang them on the post for you.


And speaking of the dogs, one of their favorite outings is right out the back gate of our RV park.  The Arroyo de los Chamisos runs for several miles, and is full of bunnies, ground squirrels and other interesting critters.  



You can tell there hasn’t been much rain lately, as there are a number of stacked rock cairns scattered along the bottom of the arroyo.  Viewed from different angles, several of them look almost human. 



The deep sand in the arroyo makes for strenuous walking, so after a mile or so we climbed out and took a street-level trail back to the park.  One side is a path through the sagebrush and cactus, and the other a nice, paved bike path.  

It was also good to see our friends, Rob and Donna, who live here in Santa Fe full-time.  We enjoyed a Mexican seafood dinner with them at Puerto Penasco on Airport Road and good conversation there and back at our place.

On Sunday after breakfast and church (a video of our pastor’s sermon from last week), we had a brisk walk at the dog park before it got too hot.  As we finished our walk, the clouds were building over the mountains, and it looked like the seasonal rains might begin today.  Usually by this time of year there are afternoon showers almost every day.  However, this year a persistent high pressure ridge until now has kept much of the center of the country hotter and drier than usual.  


Anticipating showers, we put the dogs inside for naps, and John and I headed for the Meow Wolf Art Complex.  Friends had recommended we take in the “interactive art experience” called House of Eternal Return.  The brochure says the exhibit features “a wild new form of non-linear storytelling which unfolds through exploration, discovery and 21st century interactivity.  Visitors choose their own path, walking, climbing and crawling through an imaginative multiverse of more than 70 unique rooms created by a team of over 500 artists.”  

Billed as “The amusement park for people who want a weirder Disneyland,” the L.A. Times calls it “part haunted house and part jungle gym—giant artwork that people can step inside.”  The exhibit did not disappoint.  Here are some of the images I made while John and I wandered, climbed and crawled through. 














In addition to florescent paint and black lights, there was other-worldly music, some initiated by visitors to the exhibit.  We were almost at sensory overload by the time we finished, but it's an experience I hope you'll have an opportunity to enjoy.

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