Enchanted New Mexico Part II
If you read my previous post, you’ll know just how inspiring I found our recent visit to New Mexico. So inspiring that although it was only a week long stay one post was insufficient to give you a sense of the sites and sights that made this such an amazing trip…and with this, it’s still just a taste.
Santa Fe is such a beautiful city in part because of the strict building codes. Building is required to be done in territorial or Spanish Revival style and there are no high rises to obstruct the view of the mountains that surround the city. This is a residential subdivision – can you spot the houses? Clicking to enlarge the image may help, but maybe not.
Cactus mixed in with pine and juniper as well as various deciduous trees and shrubs make the landscape in the hills above Santa Fe look as though they’d been planned by a garden designer.
Pinion nuts. My husband discovered that extracting them from the cone is a sticky and tricky process.
A flower behind snow fence. I just liked this shot.
On the rocks near the Santa Fe River is a site containing hundreds of petroglyphs created by early Pueblo Indians and later Spanish colonials. Clearly this part of the world has been inspiring artists for hundreds of years.
One of my favourites. I’m not sure exactly what this ‘bird in a box’ is supposed to represent but it’s a great image.
This definitely looks like a frog.
Not far from the petroglyphes is a rare tin can tree. Apparently these are a very threatening species as it’s fruit is full of bullet holes.
Breathtaking Bandelier National Monument. Like the petroglyph park, choosing only a few images was exceedingly difficult. This is a shot of Tyuonyi Village from the trail leading to the many cliff dwellings.
From inside one of the cliff dwellings – talk about a room with a view.
The image isn’t one of the more spectacular views of Bandelier but entering this room literally brought tears to my eyes. The wood protruding from the smoke blackened ceiling (shown) and depressions in the floor were there to support large looms on which were created ceremonial weavings. It made me feel very connected to artisans who went before.
One thing I didn’t expect to see in New Mexico were vineyards. We were delighted that Vivác Winery outside Taos offered not only some very respectable wine but also my other favourite antioxidant: chocolate.
The leaves were just starting to turn colours the third week of September but there were still many fields bursting with wild flowers. I also couldn’t resist throwing in one more dilapidated building.
Goodbye for this visit with a beautiful New Mexico sunset.
Thank you for the pics & comments. Brought back lovely memories – we definitely didn't have enough time in the area either.
Thank you for stopping by Lydia. I'm glad this brought back good memories for you. With so much to explore, is there ever enough time?
These are beautiful pictures. I love their building code strictness. I never wanted to go there before, but I do now
Thank you Paula, I'm so glad you enjoyed them and thrilled to think
that they may have inspired you to visit this magical part of the world.