June 1-2 Saturday
& Sunday Heber, Arizona
Hot, sunny, 84o, as we pulled out of our drive at
9:55 am starting with only 2996 miles on our new truck. Well, we did not get
too far before our first pit stop.
After listening to last night's news of the impending tariffs on Mexican
goods we decided to stop at Costco for Tequila. It is one of the things we were
out of when we packed up. Liquor is
cheaper in AZ so we decided to stop sooner than later. OK, OK since breakfast had been hours
earlier we opted for pizza for lunch too. Back on the road we noticed that the saguaro cacti are one of the
few cacti still blooming along the roadways.
Also spotted in the road: a
ladder and a 50# bag of onions. Go
figure! Diesel fuel is $3.03 per gallon
up here in Heber. It will be
interesting to see how much that fluctuates over the summer journey.
The Heber RV Park is simple but nice and so is the
weather.
At 7,000 feet elevation the
temps are only topping out at mid 70's and with a breeze, it is so pleasant.
I could easily see coming
here for a week of relaxation to escape the valley heat.
After setting up we decided to hit Saturday
evening mass at Our Lady of the Assumption Church less than a mile away.
Small town churches are often quite
surprising.
This newer log cabin
church, had an open airy feel, with gorgeous stained glass windows dedicated to
the highlights in Our Lady's life.
Even
the priest's vestments had a Blessed Virgin motif.
Being the Feast of the Ascension the message was one of
HOPE.
Also typical of small town
parishes:
the organist called in sick
so we sang only the closing hymn - a capella.
The lector was a no show, so father tapped a volunteer from the 70 or so
people in the pews. The pastor is pretty upbeat, and rolls quite well with the
punches having just come from a Las Vegas congregation a few years ago and will
celebrate his 25th jubilee in the priest hood next week.
"The Mass is ended, go in Peace, get
out of here and enjoy the weekend! " was how he dismissed us.
Start to finish about 45 minutes.
Pretty funny.
Dinner - Grilled crappie fish (from our next door neighbors)
and asparagus (good friends cleaning out fridge) and I made salad. I like a good Mexican mule and I wanted to
put that tequila to good use so I experimented. I had a bottle of ginger lime flavored sparkling ICE (brand name)
water and walla! A great quick
substitute for ginger beer; it was a
great tasty cocktail, lower in calories too and cheaper if you find the
sparkling water on sale. Next time I
will add a squeeze of fresh lime.
Sunday wouldn't be the same if we didn't go out for
breakfast.
June's Cafe is a small local place also close to camp that actually gets 4 stars on Trip Advisor.
Someone in Trilogy told us about it, but for
the life of us we can't remember who.
Good food, very fast service, friendly people.
Oh yeah, when was the last time you had coffee at a restaurant,
with free refills, for $0.94?
Definitely worth the recommendation.
We had to clean the windows in the RV today too.
Tony washed the RV before we left and there
were so many residual water spots it was hard to see out.
Washed the insides and screens while we were
at it.
Noticed a couple of horizontal
cracks in the exterior door.
Tony
chatted with the park manager, also an RV owner/jack of all trades, and then
took the door apart.
Does not look
serious, not sure the level of repair required yet.
Stay tuned.
June 3;
Monday-Thursday Santa Fe, New
Mexico
-
Monday's drive was pretty uneventful as we covered
miles of shrubs, grasslands and high dessert mesa rock formations.
We did see a few wild horses though and
plenty of casinos.
I-25 North to Santa
Fe, off of I-40, was a new road for us and more of the same scenery.
The New Mexico state capital, Santa Fe, is
higher in elevation than any other state capital, 7,199 ft.
Close to our camp is a little place Cafe El Camol
(The griddle) where we walked for dinner.
If we did not know hot green chili was before, we do now.
And they say the green is milder than the
red.
YIKES!
Good thing I asked for mine on the side.
-Tuesday morning is one of the farmer's market days
at the Santa Fe Railyard area
It is a
little early in the season for many fruits and veggies and many of the stalls
were empty but we still had fun.
The
colors and vibrancy of the spring flowers and early season veggies (radishes,
turnips, lettuces, early onions) were
 |
| My Happy Place |
uplifting. There is something
about home grown stuff that makes me happy.
The pride and care of the growers was very
evident even in the way the produce was displayed.
I bought some mild green chili, and negro medium chili powders to
take home.
I bet later in the summer
the market will be awesome.
Next we headed out highway 14 down the Turquoise Trail; a National Scenic highway.
Destination -
The Origami Sculpture Garden in Cerrillos.
It was worth the trip!!.
Metal
Sculptures made to look like giant sized paper origami figures.
Our private tour, since no others showed up,
was led by the artist Kevin Box himself.
Hearing about his research into paper folding and unfolding and the
message he wanted to portray with the various sculptures was quite
interesting.
The center piece was Master Peace, 500 cranes, and another 500 cranes positioned throughout the world. BUT, when you look at the base, you see the other 500. Against the high desert
landscape of his home garden/yard the sculptures and the experience was quite
unique and I would highly recommend it.
 |
| Master Peace |
Continuing down the Turquoise Trail we passed a wygu beef cattle
ranch and made a stop in Golden at Henderson Store (Native American Arts and Crafts), that has been family owned and operated since 1918.
In Madrid we stopped in at Jezebel's which
has it's original soda fountain counter and stools.
Refurbished but beautifully maintained.
True to the ads you can find the beloved green chilies even in
ice cream.
I had the locally made Vanilla, Caramel, Green Chili
Gelato which surprisingly was not bad.
The ice cream nicely tempered the heat of the chili peppers.
I would not run out and buy a gallon but is
was not bad.
The glass studio and other
galleries in town were fun to browse and quite a bit out of our price range.
My left over condiment sized cup of green
chili sauce from yesterday was more than enough to season my leftover pint of
beans and a quart of chicken broth I had from Arizona along with veggies for a
zippy soup we had for a late lunch.
The wind was picking up and rain was predicted but after
lunch and a short nap we decided to head the hour north to Chimayo. From the highway we could see some of the National
Military Cemetery.
All of the white
headstones lined up in perfectly symmetric patterns was quite moving.
From there we took the "High Road to
Taos" which is a Scenic byway and the clouds,
winds, mountains and curves
certainly made it memorable.
There
is a small shrine called "El Santuario de Chimayo" set in the Sangre de Christo Mountains where many faithful have made pilgrimages to experience the blessed dirt since around 1810.
Set on
the banks of the Santa Cruz river many have experienced healing, and there are
crutches and bandages and various artifacts left after the miracles. There are
several small shrines to the blessed virgin on the outside and seven stone
cross arches (days of creation) along the river and great examples of 19th
century Hispanic religious folk art.
Since
this was a spur of the moment drive this afternoon we neglected to bring
anything to hold the sacred dirt to bring home.
We touched the dirt and said our special intentions.
Father Sebastian was happy to give us a
special blessing for safe travels this summer and after he sprinkled us with holy
water spray, we got sprinkled with more holy water (rain) as we took in the
various statues, sculptures and shrines of thanksgiving for various blessings
from the many who have been here before.
On the way home we made a slight detour to try and see the Santa Fe
opera house.
But by now it was a full
baptismal immersion of rain water and cold wind and you really can not see the
opera house from the parking area.
That
was a bust.
-Wednesday Downtown Santa Fe, in particular the historic district, was on our agenda. After a little
 |
| St. Francis Cathedral Basilica |
 |
| Loretto Chapel |
research we decided to play like locals and take public
transportation.
The #2 bus goes right to
the downtown transit station from outside our campground, and is only $1 for
all day for seniors. Downtown there are
FREE shuttles that take you around the historic loop.
So we were off.
Most of
the historic sites are an easy walk from the shuttle stop.
We enjoyed St. Francis Cathedral Basilica
(after the funeral finished),
magnificent
gothic architecture with Italian artistry in the Loretto Chapel (famous engineering
marvel double helical staircase built by an unknown
 |
| San Miguel Chapel |
 |
| Santuario De Guadalupe |
carpenter with no nails or center
support), San Miguel a Tiaxcatan Indian Chapel circa 1630's,
and Santuario De Guadalupe (the oldest surviving
church in the US to our Lady of Guadalupe).
Around the Palace of the Governors many pueblos (each their own sovereign
nation) display juried art.
It was all beautifully
crafted.
The central plaza is a park
surrounded by stores, shops and galleries.
The colorful blankets, sculptures and pottery made it a sensory delight to walk and wander.
Many other artists
displayed their wares for the tourists around the plaza.
 |
| La Fonda Hotel |
A quick stop in the visitor center for restrooms and restaurant recommendations before going to the state capitol brought new
insight to the culture.
We were told
that almost all of the restaurants, except those in hotels, close from 2-5pm
for siesta time.
In fact when we got
back to the plaza it was very evident that there is a 2 pm guideline cutoff.
Most of the pueblo artists had packed up and
left and all of the other artists around the plaza were gone as were most of the tourists. The La Fonda Hotel also on
the Plaza was kind of disappointing.
It
was one of the original nicer hotel stops on the Santa Fe rail line where
travelers could get decent, high quality food served in an upscale
environment.
The lobby had historic
architecture and the dining room was bustling but I saw no information giving
you a history or insight to its origins.
AND there were no pictures paying homage to the Harvey girls who were
the servers and no recordings of the Harvey girls singing.
The historic district is very walk able; we
only used the shuttle once at the end of the day to get us to the stop to get
on the city bus home.
When we finally made it for a late lunch at the Plaza Cafe
(does not shut down for siesta) I went with another traditional local offering
"pozole".
It is a stew made
with hominy and chicken or pork and served of course with chili sauce.
The flavor was very good, the green chili on
the side was still very hot, and there was too much hominy.
Served with thinly shredded cabbage,
cilantro and red onion toppings I liked it, but would not order again.
My stomach felt like it was going to blow up, but hominy is lower in carbs and calories than rice and higher in fiber.
Treating the dried corn with the alkaline
solution after removing the outer shell makes it more digestible and softer and
the vitamin B nutrients more readily available; so it is often considered a
super food.
Tony went the safe route (burrito)
and the sopapilla
(puffy fry bread), was
not as good as the one yesterday.
 |
| Ceiling at the State Capitol |
 |
| State Capitol Rotunda floor |
One of the biggest bonus items we saw was the New Mexico
State Capitol building.
It is not very
imposing or striking from the outside with its low adobe walls and modern glass
windows but step inside and enjoy.
The
friendly staff gave us a brochure telling what to see on the three public
floors including the senate and house chamber
rooms.
The state seal in the rotunda and glass dome skylight (depicting a basket weave pattern)
 |
| "Out of the Blue" Exhibit |
 |
| Buffalo Head from trash |
were beautiful. Along with the
requisite pictures of past governors, their collection of artwork is
amazing.
Paintings, sculptures and the
current traveling exhibit "Out of the Blue" has many, many beautiful
quilted and hand sewn 3'x3' cloth and textile works depicting everything from nature
scenes, and abstract art to people.
One of
their most famous pieces is a buffalo head which if examined closely is
composed of pieces of trash the artist picked up riding her bicycle all over
New Mexico.
Well worth the stop.
No other tourist we talked with today had
seen those displays.
A hidden gem and
consequently not very crowded either.
Lots of scenery and history to be
If only the roads could talk!
Since being here in Santa Fe we have been on parts of El Camino Real
(700 mile road between 21 missions starting in California), the original Santa
Fe Trail (870 mile 19th century transportation route between Franklin MO and
Santa Fe NM), High Road to Taos (56 mile scenic, winding, byway travels through
Sangre Cristo mountains, through found in this part of the
country. Spanish land grant villages and pueblo Indian villages), and the
Turquoise Trail (54 miles long scenic byway connects Santa Fe and Albuquerque).
Thursday- After a leisurely morning with coffee and
breakfast we headed back to the downtown area to finish up a few sights. First stop Goodwill store to look for a
clock. Ours fell on my head when I
leaned over a few days ago to rest the heavy Corian sink covers against the
wall. I must have bumped the wall and
ended up with a bump on my head and glass from the clock face shattered
everywhere. Surprising how dependent
you become on looking in a particular spot for the clock. Yeah, we are on vacation, but still!! No luck at Goodwill.
 |
| Oil on Canvas Painting |
Next back to Santuario De Guadalupe.
When we arrived yesterday they were closed but
got pictures of the outside and the walk able outdoor rosary with individual
stone "beads" for the 5 decades of the rosary honoring 50 parishes
dedicated to Our Lady around New Mexico.
We really wanted to see the interior.
The interior is rustic and not ornate but rich in history.
The altar wall hanging is the original oil
on canvas painting from 1783 that depicts the story of the Virgin Mary (Our
Lady of Guadalupe) appearing to a peasant farmer (Juan Diego).
He appealed on her behalf to the bishop in
Mexico to have a church built.
It is
estimated that this was the start of a movement that converted over 8 million
pagans to Christianity around the same time that Martin
 |
| Back of Santuario De Guadalupe |
Luther left the church
with about 8 million followers.
 |
| Relics |
St.
Juan Diego's cloak that held the roses he picked as a sign for the bishop and was
imprinted with an image of the Virgin is on display in Mexico City.
The oil painting was
miraculously unharmed through two
catastrophic events (fire and a bomb) that destroyed much of the church since
its origination.
It is in a poorer
neighborhood and at various times they have had problems with theft and
vagrants, but the congregation with faith presses on.
Our docent was a local lady who had made her
first communion and confirmation in this church and still belongs to the local
parish.
She was very reverent and let us get an up close view of the
painting with the date and several other sacred relics of Hispanic origin they
have locked in a separate room.
The
Hispanic, Mexican and Indigenous Peoples are all very reverent and steadfast in
their devotion to Mother Mary and especially Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Lunch was at a small local joint called the Tune-Up
Cafe. A friend had recommended it having
seen it on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on Food Network. Quaint, and not too far from the church we
opted for some classic diner food. Tony
went for an omelet served with the fixings on the bottom and eggs and green
chilies on top, and my grilled chicken came on cheesy jalapeno bread with
grilled onions and avocado. So there
were a few twists thrown in. Not
wanting to leave many stones un-turned we went back to the visitor center to
ride the free shuttle for the other loops just out side of the city
proper. Canyon Drive is full of shops
and galleries and many have outdoor artwork you can see as you drive by, or in
our case ride by! Museum Hill has
several museums including one for children, folk ark, southwest art and a
botanical garden. We figured we had
seen a lot of art in town and in the churches so we stayed on the bus for a ride
around the loop.
There always seems to be something
we can use at Walmart
and it IS on the way back to camp.
The
shuttle driver told us that the Creamfield Sour cream dip comes in two flavors
and both are good.
I had only gotten
the green chili version.
We needed a
few other non-essentials like tennis shoes and emery boards, a spray bottle and
coleslaw, so we got the jalapeno flavor dip also.
Fuel up for tomorrow's departure and a stop at Home Depot rounded
out the afternoon.
Just for grins and
giggles I went to the garden department to scope out the various types of
pepper plants the locals have available.
With varieties like MuchoNacho, Big Jim, Coolapeno and many others I had
never heard of; it was an education!
Speaking of education: there is an Indigenous Language school just down
the road that is supported by nine local pueblos.
Interesting things you see when traveling.
We attempted (twice) to go to Meow Wolf.
Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return is an
interactive art experience that we didn't get a chance to experience due to
extremely high numbers of people already there (it was just reviewed on
Good Morning America last week).
They
are supposed to build one in Phoenix (2022?), so we may have to
wait till then, or go to Las Vegas which is opening one later this year.
The Heber RV Park is simple but nice and so is the
weather. At 7,000 feet elevation the
temps are only topping out at mid 70's and with a breeze, it is so pleasant. I could easily see coming
here for a week of relaxation to escape the valley heat. After setting up we decided to hit Saturday
evening mass at Our Lady of the Assumption Church less than a mile away. Small town churches are often quite
surprising. This newer log cabin
church, had an open airy feel, with gorgeous stained glass windows dedicated to
the highlights in Our Lady's life. Even
the priest's vestments had a Blessed Virgin motif. Being the Feast of the Ascension the message was one of
HOPE. Also typical of small town
parishes: the organist called in sick
so we sang only the closing hymn - a capella.
The lector was a no show, so father tapped a volunteer from the 70 or so
people in the pews. The pastor is pretty upbeat, and rolls quite well with the
punches having just come from a Las Vegas congregation a few years ago and will
celebrate his 25th jubilee in the priest hood next week. "The Mass is ended, go in Peace, get
out of here and enjoy the weekend! " was how he dismissed us. Start to finish about 45 minutes. Pretty funny. 
Sunday wouldn't be the same if we didn't go out for
breakfast. June's Cafe is a small local place also close to camp that actually gets 4 stars on Trip Advisor. Someone in Trilogy told us about it, but for
the life of us we can't remember who.
Good food, very fast service, friendly people. Oh yeah, when was the last time you had coffee at a restaurant,
with free refills, for $0.94?
Definitely worth the recommendation.
We had to clean the windows in the RV today too. Tony washed the RV before we left and there
were so many residual water spots it was hard to see out. Washed the insides and screens while we were
at it. Noticed a couple of horizontal
cracks in the exterior door. Tony
chatted with the park manager, also an RV owner/jack of all trades, and then
took the door apart. Does not look
serious, not sure the level of repair required yet. Stay tuned. 
-Monday's drive was pretty uneventful as we covered
miles of shrubs, grasslands and high dessert mesa rock formations. We did see a few wild horses though and
plenty of casinos. I-25 North to Santa
Fe, off of I-40, was a new road for us and more of the same scenery. The New Mexico state capital, Santa Fe, is
higher in elevation than any other state capital, 7,199 ft. Close to our camp is a little place Cafe El Camol
(The griddle) where we walked for dinner.
If we did not know hot green chili was before, we do now. And they say the green is milder than the
red. YIKES! Good thing I asked for mine on the side. 
-Tuesday morning is one of the farmer's market days
at the Santa Fe Railyard area It is a
little early in the season for many fruits and veggies and many of the stalls
were empty but we still had fun. The
colors and vibrancy of the spring flowers and early season veggies (radishes,
turnips, lettuces, early onions) were
Next we headed out highway 14 down the Turquoise Trail; a National Scenic highway. Destination -
The Origami Sculpture Garden in Cerrillos.
It was worth the trip!!. Metal
Sculptures made to look like giant sized paper origami figures. Our private tour, since no others showed up,
was led by the artist Kevin Box himself.
Hearing about his research into paper folding and unfolding and the
message he wanted to portray with the various sculptures was quite
interesting. The center piece was Master Peace, 500 cranes, and another 500 cranes positioned throughout the world. BUT, when you look at the base, you see the other 500. Against the high desert
landscape of his home garden/yard the sculptures and the experience was quite
unique and I would highly recommend it. 
Continuing down the Turquoise Trail we passed a wygu beef cattle
ranch and made a stop in Golden at Henderson Store (Native American Arts and Crafts), that has been family owned and operated since 1918. In Madrid we stopped in at Jezebel's which
has it's original soda fountain counter and stools. Refurbished but beautifully maintained. True to the ads you can find the beloved green chilies even in
ice cream. I had the locally made Vanilla, Caramel, Green Chili
Gelato which surprisingly was not bad.
The ice cream nicely tempered the heat of the chili peppers. I would not run out and buy a gallon but is
was not bad. The glass studio and other
galleries in town were fun to browse and quite a bit out of our price range. My left over condiment sized cup of green
chili sauce from yesterday was more than enough to season my leftover pint of
beans and a quart of chicken broth I had from Arizona along with veggies for a
zippy soup we had for a late lunch. 
The wind was picking up and rain was predicted but after
lunch and a short nap we decided to head the hour north to Chimayo. From the highway we could see some of the National
Military Cemetery. All of the white
headstones lined up in perfectly symmetric patterns was quite moving. From there we took the "High Road to
Taos" which is a Scenic byway and the clouds,
winds, mountains and curves
certainly made it memorable. There
is a small shrine called "El Santuario de Chimayo" set in the Sangre de Christo Mountains where many faithful have made pilgrimages to experience the blessed dirt since around 1810. Set on
the banks of the Santa Cruz river many have experienced healing, and there are
crutches and bandages and various artifacts left after the miracles. There are
several small shrines to the blessed virgin on the outside and seven stone
cross arches (days of creation) along the river and great examples of 19th
century Hispanic religious folk art. Since
this was a spur of the moment drive this afternoon we neglected to bring
anything to hold the sacred dirt to bring home. We touched the dirt and said our special intentions. 
Father Sebastian was happy to give us a
special blessing for safe travels this summer and after he sprinkled us with holy
water spray, we got sprinkled with more holy water (rain) as we took in the
various statues, sculptures and shrines of thanksgiving for various blessings
from the many who have been here before. On the way home we made a slight detour to try and see the Santa Fe
opera house. But by now it was a full
baptismal immersion of rain water and cold wind and you really can not see the
opera house from the parking area. That
was a bust. 
Lots of scenery and history to be If only the roads could talk!
Since being here in Santa Fe we have been on parts of El Camino Real
(700 mile road between 21 missions starting in California), the original Santa
Fe Trail (870 mile 19th century transportation route between Franklin MO and
Santa Fe NM), High Road to Taos (56 mile scenic, winding, byway travels through
Sangre Cristo mountains, through found in this part of the
country. Spanish land grant villages and pueblo Indian villages), and the
Turquoise Trail (54 miles long scenic byway connects Santa Fe and Albuquerque). 
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