July 29, 2006 Jack and I take off for our annual trip to Snowmass for the Aspen Family Business Gathering. Our route took us through the mountains east of our home heading Northeast toward Payson. We had not taken this route for several years and what was striking was the residual of the fires over the last two years. There were many barren or charcoal areas; trees that were black skeletons of their former selves, and the earth was parched. What was striking was to see the contrast of the path of the fire to the green, lush vegetation around it. Very sad.
This route takes us through Sonoran desert with many saguaros, beautiful rock formations and climbs through pine-covered mountains with junipers and mesquite. Before hitting I-40 to take us east, we traveled across wide-open plains with brush and some mesquite trees, alfalfa and occasional cows. All along we listened to Sarah Dashew’s great new CD: Jealous Girl. Great fun.
Our day ended in Gallup New Mexico where we just missed the annual tribal ceremonial. I had looked into the dances but understood them to be next weekend! Instead we visited a few stores and “trading posts” and found an interesting collection of fetishes to add to mine. This shop where I made my purchase was owned by a Palestinian family: first and second generation. Over the past 10-15 years, there has been a growing population of Middle Eastern traders moving into this area. One young man was helping me. He attends college and is studying business. While he told me about the artists from Zuni tribe who made these fetishes, he noted that his brother was really the expert. His older brother later came in and added his 2 cents worth to the discussion. He was a bit condescending to his brother. I noted that he had done just fine!
They recommended Olympus Restaurant: it had Greek (to be expected) food, as well as Mexican and Italian and good old American fare…we went and it was pretty good. The owner told us he decided to have that sampling to appeal to the range of tourists who lodged right around the hotel. .
While at the hotel, I read a brochure about New Mexico that talked about July happenings and noticed that the Spanish market was in Santa Fe this weekend. Well, that created a need to make a detour! Instead of heading directly to Pagosa Springs (about 4 hours away) we will head east to Santa Fe and then slightly North West and make our drive for the day 6 hours. We will see if the detour is worth it. Beautiful morning sunny and 68 degrees. Nice to have a bit of coolness in the air!
July 30 Pagosa Springs, Colorado
We arrived in Pagosa Springs by 5:00PM—just as we planned, even before we changed our course to go to Santa Fe. And yes, it was worth it. Our drive from Gallup took us just three hours and we drove straight to the Plaza and found a parking place on the street-immediately adjacent to the square. Now that was a blessing from the parking gods!!
The weather was lovely, in the 70s. A blue sky with some clouds. At 10 am the crowds had not appeared and so we had the opportunity to browse the four hundred booths of Traditional Spanish art (i.e. art that represents a continuation of Southwest Spanish traditions) and contemporary Hispanic art. Along with booths selling this art work, were demonstrations, and wonderful live music. This was heavenly!
After wondering around for 3 hours, we returned to the car and headed northwest on highway 84. WE went through Espanola, Abiquiu, Cebolla, Tierra Amarilla, and Chama in the Mountains of New Mexico and the Carson National Forest. We were surrounded by peaks as high as 11,000 feet and passed by many beautiful green meadows with grazing cows. Being surrounded by the cool green of the mountains was a refreshing respite from the heat of the desert.
In Abiquiu we stopped to pay homage to Georgia O’keefe’s home (although it was closed) and had a bowl of green chile. Below is a church near Georgia's home.
In Chama we stopped to look at the old Cumbres and Toltec Scenic railroad. We were “treated” to road construction which slowed down our journey some and required careful navigating of messy roads. Then we crossed into Colorado and continued to wind around pastures, forests and small rivers and lakes and came to Pagosa Springs-hot springs-where we will submit ourselves to the healing powers of the pools and indulge ourselves with some massages or golf-you can guess who is choosing which!
fisherman in the san juan river in Pagosa Springs
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