Socorro, The Very Large Array and the Bosque

OK it's the day before we are gonna be hunting in Deming and the day after Thanksgiving, up early and headed South , our first stop the VLA (Very Large Array) that you might have seen in the moview Contact with Jodie Foster and that hot young fellow Matthew McConnaghey (sp?). The VLA is located about 50 miles West of Socorro on the plains of San Agustin. It's a beautiful place. There were a small number of pronghorns nearby and two of the bucks had some of the best racks I've ever seen in NM or WY. There was also a good bit of rabbity habbitat that Vger and I checked out, actually he had a pretty good chase there. Going back to Socorro, as we went through Magdalena ( a small mining town) there were several neat buildings. The first is the Magdalena Depot pictured at the right, and of course the Magdalena Marshal's office. We also saw the Marshal cruising around in his car. He didn't look like Matt Dillon though. Then there was this cute and quaint little building labeled Townhome oddly enough so I had to wonder if this was what passes for a townhouse there in Magdalena. I don't know but you can be the judge.

On the way back out through Socorro I got my hunting license and we saw this spectacular church built in 1594 so had to take photos of it too. I would not have found it if not for stopping there for my hunting license as they had a bunch of postcards there of this there with this church on it so I picked one up and said oh my this is here in Socorro and was told yes so of course then I had to have directions to it. Thank goodness they were simple and it was close by. Then it was South to the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge before heading to Roswell. Lots of birds. Here's one of the many pintails ( I think that's what this ducky fellow is), snow geese and sandhill cranes, but my favorite favorite moment was seeing one of the two bald eagles that they knew was in the NWR. If you remember earlier I wrote that my friend Leonore had commented at the zoo when we saw 3 magnificent bald eagles that it was sad that most people would only ever see the national bird in a zoo. At that moment I was one of those people but when this fellow or gal appeared at the Bosque I could become one of those that had seen one in the wild. After the Bosque we drove East across the mountains to Roswell, saw a spectacular sunset in Valley of Fires lava flow ( most NM sunsets are spectacular though), we had a meal, I worked out in the gym at the hotel and we got ready to hunt the next day. The rest as they say is history. One of my boys won the breed hunt the next day and I decided to head home while I felt good on Sunday. Enjoy the sunsets!

Thanksgiving Day

Tasty Oh! Turkey breast rubbed in fire spice, cheese grits with peppers, oven roasted potatoes and chocolate volcano cake now those were the highlights I remember best. Many thanks to Leonore and her family for putting up with the two travelers (Nancy and myself) for several days and sharing a lovely Thanksgiving with them. After dinner I pulled out the laptap and watched bullriding videos with Leonore's very intense Border Collie girl Dot as you can see here. Like all girls she has a special place in her heart for cowboys, or was it the cows/bulls she was lusting after the opportunity to maybe herd around the arena a few times? At any rate she is a most pleasant video companion never complaning when you change the screen or the rider. Another amazing moment came when the snow began to fall in huge fluffy flakes and it stuck at least overnight and for a little while the next morning. It caused our friend Susan to leap to action and pack out of there on her way home as she still had to get home to get her dogs for the hunt that weekend. Below you can see my dog Vger the morning after Thanksgiving before I got he and CJ loaded up, they both enjoyed a romp in the snow.

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Sandia Peak Tramway and the Zoo

This first photo is looking West from the tramway, well looking West about 75 miles toward Arizona. the view may not quite translate to a photo reduced this much, so if you are in Albequerque area GO TO THE TRAMWAY it's worth the trip and the $$. The tower that we have just passed in the photo on the left is over 270 feet high and we are still looking West toward Arizona here. The tramway is the longest one of its kind in the world and was built by a Swiss company. The engineering specs on it are amazing. This next tower is the 2nd one and isn't nearly as high as the first. Look carefully at the third photo, yes there are PEOPLE ON TOP OF THAT TRAM. We were of course curious as to how one could rate that special seating arrangement and asked. You have to work there we were told. Okey doke.

Now here is the view from the top of the mountain to the East looking across the ski lift. Yes that is another guy standing on top of that ski lift working on it as best we could tell. After coming back down we then drove to the Albeq. zoo, the first critter here below is a capybara, yes that's right the world's largest rodent, a giant ratlike thing that only another rodent could possibly ever love. Blech. Lots of animals and I have pictures of most but won't overload the blog. We really enjoyed the polar bears too so thought I'd bring you one here. Of course zoo photos would not be complete without photos of lions so here are my obligatory lions. The male was just an enormous black maned fellow who was very interested in those of us who smelled like big dogs. Probably wanted to show us what a real predator looked like. The North American version of a lion was terribly interested in us too, the zoo has 3 pretty spectacular cougars or maybe it was 4 or 5. Then there was this handsome and inquisitive zebra stallion at the zebra enclosure. Now there were also some really interesting birds to be seen there, these big white ones were African vultures. Kind of pretty actually for buzzards as we would call them around here. Then there was this really agitated and angry looking African stork that hopped and skipped around and beat on the other one in his cage. After we left the zoo we were pooped and went by the grocery store I believe so we could pick up last minute Thanksgiving stuff. Can you IMAGINE how crowded that store was?

The Best Laid Plans or Petroglyph National Monument

of middle aged tree huggers often go awry. I had set aside Tuesday before Thanksgiving to drive out to Chaco Canyon. If you read my blog you remember reading that unfortunately due to a bit of an accident with a tire rim the day before that I didn't get on the road early enough for that so I opted for the Petroglyph National monument there in Albequerque. Hiking, ancient peoples and volcanoes what more could a girl want? This first photo is of the huge lava flows that created the box canyon that you wander through at one of the three sites to look at the "glyphs". Not very artsy but that is pretty much what this place looked like. I hiked around 7 miles here that day. My traveling buddy was worn out after going to Taos with me the day before. Here's another view of this canyon, hard to tell how enormous this thing is. I would put this on the must visit list though if you go to Albequerque. Ah well, it is those glyphs though that you are putting up with my blog here to see, so on with it. Not sure what the glyphs on the left are I think the spiral represents how connected everything is. The one on the right here looks like a scorpion to me though. The one with the circle divided??? The second one here on the right is a cat I believe the sign said, and this one to the left looks like a turtle and a chicken to me but I really don't know. This other one to the right below looks like a masked figure on the left, maybe a turtle, bird and snake thrown in for fun and balance?

There are dozens and dozens of these glyphs around the canyon but you do have to do some hiking to get back and sometimes up the lava flows to see them.

What we have here are masked figures, a macaw, a macaw in a cage and a represented yucca plant. Now don't ask about the two here because I haven't a real clue. After about 4 hours in the lava fields I moved on to the volcanoes. No glyphs there but still mighty fascinating. This is the first of the 3 major cone volcanoes just West of Albeq. NM. I had to hike in then a half mile access road then hike up and down. Great fun. Here's a couple of photos of me at PNM and the volcanoes. It was warmer in the box canyons than it was on top of the volcano I can tell you!! For me and my love of odd rocks, hiking and volcanoes, this was a spectacular day even though it did not start out that way.

Turquose Trail, Yurts, Taos and Sacred Dirt

After the day long trip down the Salt Missions trail, we planned a trip to Taos (we being myself and Nancy another teacher who works where I do). We took the old Turquoise Trail which goes through several old mining communities including the one that the movie Wild Hogs was filmed in and about. To the left are some partial remnants from a mine along that trail. To the right and I don't know how well this will show up is this hysterical little building with an old West storefront facade on it and over the gate "Kickin Ass Ranch". Must be something about moving out West that makes you name things oddly. I'd be terribly reticent if I didn't show you the Mine Shaft Tavern also located in Madrid (ie. movie Wild Hogs). OK it is hard to tell in this next photo but the buildings in it are actually yurts (sp?) yes that is right leather covered round tents used as permanent dwellings in cold Asian countries and apparently also parts of New Mexico along the Turquoise trail, so of course as the ever ready tourist I whipped my van over to the side of the road, leapt out and took a photo. If there had not been that wall around their property it would have been a better picture. What are these people expecting privacy just because they live in the true boonies at over 7000 feet? We didn't stop anywhere in Santa Fe just kept driving north to Taos, now just south of Taos is Rancho Taos or the truly old part of Taos where the most photographed church in the US is, ie. St. Francis de Asis . This is the old adobe courtyard across from the church. The church itself is just spectacular although I can think of another I found even more so. I took several photos of the churcch but this one reduced the best so here it is. To the left here more of the old adobe plaza surrounding the church If you are on the road to Taos this is a must pull the hell over and get photos stop. Taos seems to be a town of doors and gates, so of course I have some of the obligatory artsy photos of those. I liked some of them so well I enlarged them and I'll have to frame them. The walkway right is part of the historic Taos Inn. The store fronts are on the very last wooden walkway left in Taos, and here is a view of it from a different perspective. You can almost see John Wayne or Gene Autry types walking with that loose hipped swagger, and hear the jingling of their spurs as their cowboy boots clip the boards. The big round sign says "Horsefeathers" its an interesting shop with preloved boots and cowboy hats run by a tall and handsome cowboy type worth checking out for no other reason than the cowboy type running it in my humble opinion. We interupt my musings on handsome cowboy types to bring you yet another artsy Taos doorway photo or more than just one. I love that Taos blue about as well as everyone in Taos seems to love it. No, of course that's not the only artsy photo I'm going to subject you to, just keep looking. Taos is an artsy kind of town and you just can't help yourself. Not so artsy but just as "Taos" is the Kit Carson state park there in town which is actually a cemetery where Kit Carson and one of his three wives ( the last one) are buried. I'm sure no one will want to miss that action either. Oops I feel another artsy gate photo coming on. OK enough of that. After we left Taos proper we HAD to drive out to the Rio Grand Gorge bridge, it's maybe 15 minutes at most outside of town. The bridge is like 700 feet over the water. Here's a photo taken from the nifty little platform in the very middle of the bridge and which feels like it is going to bounce off when a tractor trailer crosses it. Now even cooler than this view and this was pretty cool are the parking areas on either end of the bridge where local Native Americans from Taos Pueblo set up shop and sell their wares. Yes, I did some serious shopping for Christmas and for myself there. Most excellent. After we left Taos we took another scenic route (Taos High Country Byway or some such) on the way to Chimayo where what I think should be the most photographed church in America is and on the way found another lovely old adobe church I had to photograph. This one is not as pretty because there is some renovation being done thus the scaffolding. Now here it is the loveliest and most spiritual place I have probably ever been, Sanctuario de Chimayo, this little church sits under a mountain in a little village and is often referred to as the Lourdes of America. I understand in the spring especially around Easter that there is a mass pilgrimage to the church and the basement there is full of testimonials about the healing power of visiting there and the blessed dirt. You'll just have to go to the link and read about it. Next up the Petroglyphs and volcanoes of Albequerque.