Explorando Nuevo Mexico

Our “Exploring New Mexico” continues on. As the state is so named, New Mexico, it is very much a Spanish speaking state. Street, highway and neighborhood names are Spanish and probably were the original name back in the day. Thanks Google for the translate app.

Being a senior and a veteran got us a couple of tickets to the Albuquerque Aquarium and Botanic gardens for a mere $5 each. Scored! It’s all part of the city’s BioPark which also includes the zoo. The common thing that we have noticed during our stay here is that Albuquerque does a great job of maintaining first class facilities and parks, all with an artistic flavor.

Lots of fresh and salt water exhibits. Even a glass tunnel to walk through with sharks swimming around you!

Just Awesome! We spent a couple of hours in the garden area, it was that big!

Rio Grande Heritage Farm part of the Botanic Garden.

The botanic garden is currently being set up for a winter evening walk light show.

On Friday, we traveled 120 miles north following the Rio Grande River to the city of Taos, NM, an elevation of 7000ft. This area was suggested by a friend to visit. And he was right!

We started off by visiting the Rio Grande Gorge. It’s close to 800ft deep and surrounded by the Taos Plateau which is nearly a hundred miles long and about forty-seven miles wide. An interesting tidbit; NASA trained the Apollo Astronauts at this site in March and Sept. 1971, because of the striking similarities to the Apollo 15 moon landing site.

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, the second highest bridge on the U.S. Highway System. It was called the “bridge to nowhere” while it was being built because the funding did not exist to continue the road on the other side.

Most Pueblo Reservations prohibit public access as they are living communities. The Taos Pueblo allows a limited area open to the public. We were told when we got there to be mindful that Taos Pueblo was a living community and pay attention to signs indicating restricted areas. We decided to take the guided walking tour.

Each dwelling has been in the same family for generations. There is no water or electricity. Each year the outside adobe which includes roof and sides have to be re-plastered with adobe. We were able to visit the inside of a resident. (no inside pictures allowed). The walls were painted white, lots of ancestor photos hanging on the walls, a mat for the floor, a fireplace in each room. This resident had three small rooms; a sleeping room, a cooking room and a gathering room.

The original church was destroyed in 1847 by US Cavalry canons during the Taos Revolt. Over one hundred Hispanic and Native people took refuge in the church, all were killed.

On our way back out of Taos, we stopped at San Francisco de Asis Church in Ranchos de Taos. It is well known in the art world for its unique artistic architecture. Many artist were fascinated by the rustic adobe contours. I thought I would try to capture some of that myself. The sun angle was right and it was a perfect time to take some pictures.