New tricks under the sun...for an old dog

Here I am, at 76 (!) and experiencing stuff that I'd refused to do before! Two new things fall into this category just this year—I must not be dead yet.

The adventures I'm referring to are two which I'd previously considered 1) too expensive and 2) too cheesy. But I'm not too big to admit I was wrong!

First up, on our trip to the UK a few months ago, was the London Eye (see my blog post about that day's adventures here). When I was there in 2008, we shunned this souped-up ferris wheel, but now, with grandchildren, we thought it would be worth a go.

And was it ever fun! The great views of London—changing so slowly as you rotate—were just spectacular. Of course, we were fortunate this day as most of our days on that vacation, to have fabulous weather. So the Eye is expensive, but well worth it, I now believe.

Next up was an attraction somewhat closer to home. On a road trip to Colorado with daughter and granddaughters, we spent two nights in Santa Fe to allow a visit to the original Meow Wolf—again, a place I had just thought was not for me.

Was I ever wrong again! It was a blast! All those oddly interconnected rooms, the super-clever art embedded everywhere, the corridors leading to unexpected glorious weirdness—it was so much fun!

This was my favorite room: all the walls are covered in found objects of trash. You can't really see the best examples here (I should have taken more pictures!). But there were old toothbrushes, old cassette tapes, about a billion bottle caps, and so much more.

How long it took the incredibly creative artists to do all this, I can't even imagine! Another example of the amazing Meow Wolf art is at the top of this post.

And here is a shot of a room the kiddos particularly enjoyed...

"Under the Sea"...sort of

We didn't even get into the mystery story that's supposedly embedded in the "house" you wander through. I guess that will have to wait for my next visit. And there are Meow Wolfs in different cities...must sees for me now!

Of course there was lots of other fun to be had in Santa Fe. I particularly enjoyed these pieces of rocky public art:

And monkey grandkids couldn't resist climbing on this one:

This wasn't exactly "public" art, but I was very impressed with this carved doorway in our Airbnb. Isn't it lovely?

I guess the old saw about grandchildren keeping you young is a truism. If they can get me to spend $$ and embark on adventures I had thought were not for me—and end up thoroughly enjoying them. I am for sure one very lucky Gramma!

Art in ABQ

Better late than never, I guess, to tell you about my brief but fun stopover in Albuquerque on the way home from my extended Colorado stay.

In addition to the fun of a New Mexico United soccer game played at the Isotopes' field, plus of course enjoyable visits with good friends, I was also able to take in a couple of cultural high points. (High points not related to ABQ's most famous recent cultural phenomenon, however  )

First stop was the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, a very nice museum featuring—along with an excellent restaurant that made a fine lunch stop—not only live action art...

...but also modern pieces...

...as well as charming folk art, like this cheerful bird and the storytelling snake at the top of the post...

On next to the Albuquerque Museum, whose grounds were all we had museum-energy left for, but which offered some wonderful, and whimsical, pieces. (I'll have to take in the whole shebang on my next visit.)

The gates that lead out the back of the Museum to ABQ's old town are impressive works of art themselves, we thought (this is just part of one set):

But whimsy is the most common theme of this sculpture garden. The lady below isn't always holding her cell phone, but it's easy enough to add that detail...

Here's one of her "colleagues," getting his news in a more old-fashioned manner:

I thought this amalgamation of a lovely rock and some industrial chic was quite arresting...

...and this handsome take on the King Kong motif is terrific, don't you think?!

I couldn't help but be reminded of the etched panels at the American Air Museum in Duxford, which I visited in 2008. Although of course that sculpture is much more somber in tone, I still noted the resemblance of the planes here. And art can always call up multiple emotions, especially when you've been treated to such a wide variety of forms in such a wonderful setting.

Wordless Wednesday: old and new tourism magnets

Wordless Wednesday: Somos unidos! [and go Isotopes]

Roller-rafter

I'm taking a tip from what a lot of TV shows do these days and showing you the last shot first. Of course, this technique is inherently super-spoilery: you know that we survived! But it's artful  .

So imagine a title now that says: "Several Seconds Earlier..." and then you'll see...

... our progress through Aragon Rapid on the Rio Chama, faithfully recorded by action photographer extraordinaire Larry:

both driver and passenger grit teeth as we approach the rock and its hole

tension mounts...I'm the one who can see clearly how deep the hole is!

down we go...note white knuckles

flattening out

"piece of pie" (a favorite 2010 quote of mine)

almost time to relax

NOW it's fun!

masterfully rowed!

This rapid is actually not that scary, especially in the cataraft (some of our friends in canoes had more exciting rides). Unfortunately, for the dramatic content of the blog, at least, I can't show you the rapids that are kind of scary further downstream. We made it through them alright, but had a couple of anxious moments hung up on rocks that required some rather strenuous weight-shifting and rocking.

Maybe on a future trip I can watch our boats go through these bigger rapids from the safety of the riverbank and be able to take photos for you.

NOTE: Henry has a blog post featuring a gear-less run through the rapid in a friend's canoe.

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Thus ends my series of posts on our multi-faceted August-September vacation. I have a little while to catch my blogging breath before more excitement happens next month in Austin. Stay tuned!

Ghost hike

Our last morning in New Mexico, Henry and I found time for a short, but very enjoyable hike behind the last cabins at Ghost Ranch.

We weren't up for anything very strenuous, as well as needing to get on the road, so we opted for this "On a Lark" Trail (the last one listed on the webpage). The most popular hike is to Chimney Rock, but it takes a few hours. We did get to see the distinctive, eponymous feature from our trail...

...as well as a lot of other spectacular scenery...

Perhaps the "ghostly" (sorry about that) presence of Georgia O'Keefe inspired me, but I was especially on the lookout for artsy compositions on the hike. Here's a sample:

dead trees are always an artistic draw, and keep well with the "ghost" theme, eh?

it was nice to see some flowers still in bloom,
and so artfully close to another dead tree

Lake Abiquiu in the distance

There were so many really great rocks along the hike, and I got a little carried away taking pictures with them as framing elements. Here's another, one of my favorites:

I even caught this guy from the other side, too. The red box encloses the artistic cleft that framed the mountain so nicely in the shot above:

Hope all the ghosts and goblins among my readers have a safe and happy Halloween!

Wordless Wednesday: Abiquiu

Ghostly glorious clouds

By the time we got off the Chama on Labor Day and unloaded and repacked all our gear, it was almost sunset in the New Mexico desert. But fortunately, we didn't have far to drive to reach supper, showers, and a bed.

The famous Ghost Ranch lodge is just a mile or two up the road and we had wisely reserved a room there for the night. What a wonderful time of day to see this glorious landscape! 

The one fly in the ointment was that we arrived just after their dining room stopped serving dinner. Now we ate so well on the river, we didn't really need another big meal, but against all logic, we were hungry. And we must have looked rather pitiful, since the nice lady at the reception desk called over to the dining hall and asked if we could sneak in before they put up all the food, and the kind kitchen staff agreed. Whew! a supper of granola bars and prunes averted!

So, thanks to these nice folks, we were able to enjoy the amazing scenery and sunset on full stomachs. The clouds, I think you will agree, were particularly spectacular this evening.

that's Chimney Rock on the lower right horizon; you'll see it
again in a future post in different lighting

the road to the lodge is just visible on the right

on the bottom right is the parking lot of the welcome center, where
kind folks took pity on us and arranged for us to be fed after hours

My camera usually doesn't take very good low light pictures, but the photography gods smiled on me for this one, taken outside the group of rooms where we stayed the night:

The cool clouds stuck around until morning, too, when I took this not-too-long-after-sunrise shot:

We got to see more of the Ghost Ranch scenery, in closer detail, later in the day, before we hit the road for home and Colorado. I'll show you scenes from that hike in a future post.

Wordless Wednesday: reflections and reality at Ghost Ranch

Signs and portents

I've always been somewhat attuned to highway hazard signs, I guess ever since my parents used to play "find the snake in the road" with us on our trips in the Montana mountains.

But I wonder if I've been remiss in noticing a new trend in these signs, or if it really is a recent development. I'm referring to a new variety, especially when it comes to wildlife cautions.

(Perhaps I'm newly sensitized after noting the difference between US and Canadian deer on signs north and south of the border?)

At any rate, on my last driving trip, it seems that there was a lot more wildlife to look out for than ever!

These signs on both sides of IH-25 South near Raton, New Mexico, are great examples. Apparently there are a lot of bears in these Rocky foothills!

On the same road, I saw not only a sign featuring this handsome elk (?)...

...but (if you can; sorry for the blurriness of the photo) also check out the cute sign designed for the safety of two-legged creatures: it says "Slow Down! My Mommy works here!"

Earlier, on one of our [many] trips to and from Denver in August, I snapped this warning about bighorn sheep...

You might notice, a bit further down the road, a fire engine warning sign, too. Yes, there also seems to be a proliferation of what one might call cultural/technological hazards. Like this one near Westcliffe, Colorado, on the gorgeous short-cut state highway 69:

So I'm looking for new signs all the time now, and, as often happens when you really look for something, you find them everywhere.

I know this specific warning hasn't always been displayed at this railroad crossing here in San Antonio:

But it's very appropriate! I've scraped bottom more than once on the little hill supporting the train tracks here. 

If there are other sign connoisseurs among my readers, you might enjoy these posts from my London blog. Now, British signs are really different and fun!