Diagonal trees

Single track

X ? X

I really do not know what these markings mean. It is a bit of a mystery. They are doing some work in the parking lot and have indicated where patches are to be made with X marks, but this is the only question mark. And the only two tone marks.

Yes, he's back... the Colonel

Colonel Sanders is back, pitching his buckets of chicken. I've seen him on TV.

Pretty good for a man who died in 1980.

And he really was a colonel, a Kentucky Colonel, officially given the honorary title by the governor of Kentucky.

The man survives even if his company name has changed... Kentucky Fried Chicken just does not sound healthy these days, but KFC does not seem to have the same stigma.

Late evening sky

Salvatore's

Meanwhile back in Rochester (actually East Rochester), it feels good to return to my normal routine and capturing scenes from my everyday.

My grandmother used to say "It is always good to go away but even better to come home."

Anonymous tree

I don't remember exactly where this tree was other than the EXIF tells me it was July 13th at 9:00 AM, so I know it was in Santa Fe. The morning light, textured bark and wispy sky make for a pleasant scene, even though the tree has apparently had some issue over the years.

Near the end

We had about ten days in Santa Fe but I have been posting images for almost a month. The trip was one of my favorites and I would be ready to return tomorrow if possible. But all things come to an end, so they say.

Barn mural

Just sitting on the side of a secondary road, miles from any real town.

Nicely done, wouldn't you say (whatever it is)?

Hot metal

Shidoni Bronze Foundry... fascinating to watch molten metal poured to make art.

The bird

Chimney smoke

Spotted this contrail and could not help lining it up with the chimney. A little visual humor that may only be funny to me.

Santa Fe restaurants

This post is not intended to provide recommendations for places to eat, although I am sure each is good. The selection of pictures seemed only to point out the variety of choices available in Santa Fe. This first is a nice spot right on the historic plaza with cool colored lights in the dining area.

This little Mexican style restaurant  was so small it seemed to push into the alley. It is located, by the way, on call Burro Alley where years ago would have been filled with actual burros (yes, I saw the picture!).

This last picture demonstrates that no matter where you go you will find oriental food choices, even sometimes in adobe inspired buildings.

Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

One of the smaller museums in Santa Fe but with quality exhibits and this sunny courtyard.

Lunch under red umbrellas

Rio Grande down below

That's the Rio Grande down there and it looks pretty small, but I am 565 feet above it on the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, one of the highest bridges in the US of A. What is striking is the way the flat high plain has been so effectively cut so deeply by the river.

Ghost Ranch

We visited Ghost Ranch, essentially Georgia O'Keeffe's backyard. Easy to see how she was drawn to this landscape with its multi hued rock and deep blue sky. We toured on horseback and needed to stay with the other four people on the ride. Consequently my photos were taken while in motion. I thought a 1/320 second shutter with an image stabilized lens would produce good images, but I was bitterly disappointed that motion blur was still an issue.

The pano was shot with my iPhone with feet planted on the solid ground. The image quality of the iPhone is impressive in good light.

Pueblo burial ground

Taos Pueblo

One of our day trips was to the Taos Pueblo, a little over an hour drive north of Santa Fe. These structures are a thousand years old and were built, and have been continuously occupied, by a tribe of Puebloan people.

I found myself walking in the footsteps of Ansel Adams who photographed these same structures in the 1940's. Here is a link to a very poor reproduction of one of his photos on the Government National Archive site.

Being constructed of only mud brick and log supports it is impressive that the three and four story structures have stood the test of time.

City of art

Santa Fe is a mecca for art lovers. There are over 200 art galleries in Santa Fe, and then there are a half dozen world-class museums that feature not only history but presentation of art. I was told that Santa Fe ranks number two behind New York City as destination for art collectors. And it is not just indian or southwest art... there is a good representation of many styles even including contemporary abstract painting and sculpture.

Not bad for a comparatively small town with a population of only sixty thousand.

Windows and doors

Newspaper

Every morning outside of our hotel this old man stood, in the center of the street, bent over, apparently reading the news. I came to realize that not only was he reading, he was selling. Cars would stop momentarily and exchange a dollar bill for the daily news. It really did not look that safe as it was a pretty busy thoroughfare, but that did not seem to bother him.

The oldest house

I was surprised to learn that Santa Fe has the oldest church, oldest government building and oldest house in North America.

The section of the oldest house dates back to the 1600's but parts of the foundation have been determined to have been laid in the 1200's by an early Pueblo tribe.

That is pretty old for North America.

Almost pink

The Scottish Rite Temple building in Santa Fe is on the fringe of what is acceptable architecturally. It certainly is not Pueblo style, and only skirts the look of Mission style, and the color is more pink than what is traditional.

After several days of looking at architecture in Santa Fe it occurred to me: I bet the local Home Depot does't stock a wide variety of exterior paint colors. This color must have been special order.

Sunny courtyard, dark sky

Seeing red

Ken, once again I am stealing one of your ideas.

Every night at the historic plaza in Santa Fe there was something going on. Always a band playing, lights in the trees, lots of people, and on this night about a hundred classic cars parked around the perimeter. You have to admire the work and dedication these collector/restorers do and the care they provide their hobby.