This spring break my family traveled to New Mexico to see the Carlsbad Caverns. I LOVE the National Park Service and all the wonders they steward, so I’m always dragging the fam off to “look at more rocks and trees,” as they put it. We saw (parts of) Santa Fe, Roswell, Carlsbad, Taos, and Cimarron Canyon in 4 days. Lots of driving, but there is nothing quite like the Great American Road Trip. We love a sort-of agenda with no fixed schedule and lots of time to talk and gawk. I’m a fan of wide open spaces that invite your stare, demand your wonder, and lovingly empty your mind. It’s a marvelous planet.
The pictures say more, so here you go:
Colors of Santa Fe I
Colors of Santa Fe II
Hurrying down a street in the downtown art district, I just happened to glance down and who do I find on the Santa Fe Artists’ Walk of Fame?
I thought it was pretty cool that a plum tree decided to bless Willa with a blossom.
We stayed at the Inn at Loretto, adjacent to the Loretto Chapel, with it’s famous Miracle Staircase. Legend has it, the staircase was built by a mysterious stranger who came out of nowhere, built the staircase with NO center pole (defying gravity and calculating some outrageous math), then disappeared without asking for payment. The Sisters of Loretto had been praying to St. Joseph for help when this man appeared and offered to do the work. When he left they speculated that it was St. Joseph himself who had built the staircase.
The Loretto Chapel
The Miracle Staircase at Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico
The stained glass windows were made in France.
Open wide and say “Awwww….”
St. Joseph was a good dad.
Jesus looking pretty white….
Mary too.
The altar, featuring some amazing lighting.
We of course visited the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Here are my pics from that exhibit, though evidently my favorite O’Keeffe paintings still dwell in other museums.
White Rose
Horse skull with white rose
My two favorites from this museum:
Clamshell with seaweed. This is only about 10×12″ but oh so powerful.
Cherry Blossoms. An early work that shows her classic training but also the woman about to take off to find her own style and truth…and therefore beauty. Go, Georgia, go!
As we were leaving, I had to stop and stare for quite some time at The Barns at Lake George. Her painting technique of sharp edges of paint showing intense contrasts between light and dark or different colors is less obvious here, but the main barn looked almost 3D. I had to get very close to see how thick the paint was and I darn near fell into a trance. There’s some sort of compulsion there that almost scared me.
The Barns at Lake George
Last, we visited the famous St. Francis of Assissi Cathedral, with its impressive rose window and baptismal font.
Rose Window, St. Francis Cathedral
St. Jacob with some mad blue lighting going on behind him. The wind was blowing and the shadows of the trees made it look like the aurora borealis was his halo.
Cathedral interior
I was raised Catholic, so I can’t resist lighting a candle for a devotional, but that cathedral has the scariest bloody Jesus I’ve ever seen in my life. Believe me, I’ve seen plenty of bleeding Christs in various stages of agony, but never have I seen one with actual hair! The ghoulish tint to his skin and jagged rips in his flesh were over the top as well. I wanted to take a picture, but that seemed even creepier, so I said my prayers, stared long enough to inspire a few nightmares, then mozied on.
Evidence of more right-handed people than south paws in this world.
A few shops later and we were ready to hit the road for Carlsbad and the Caverns, with a curious stop in the freaky town of Roswell. To be continued….
Beautiful! Love the colors, the fabrics, the glass, the sky … sweet!