Summer 2021 Taos, New Mexico Episode 1: Angel Fire and Vietnam Veterans Memorial

On November 2, 2021November 1, 2021 By LToddIn Travel2 Comments

On July 9, 2021, the two-hour drive from Santa Fe to Taos made for an easy moving day. Taos Canyon Stop RV Park was our second choice for staying near Taos. Yet it turned out to be one of our all-time favorites. The wildflowers outside our back window were a surprise, and we treasured the quiet after our stay in Santa Fe.

Terraced lots with brick retainer walls gave us the feeling of having our separate space while encouraging conversation with our neighbors. The drawback was the lack of cell service or usable Wi-Fi, although lack of connectivity has its benefits. An online break now and then can be a good thing.

Purple and yellow wildflowers blanketed the Angel Fire valley

Angel Fire Resort

In search of decent Wi-Fi, we drove up to Angel Fire, a ski resort area in the winter and a mountain bike trail during the summer. Horseback riding, hiking trails, and a golf course are other amenities available.

We drank our decaf mochas and caught up on internet stuff in the lobby area outside of the coffee shop. The cozy-cabin décor looked comfy and instead of typing away on my keyboard, I would have preferred curling up on the sofa, reading a book.

For a ski resort, Angel Fire, incorporated in 1986, is more low-key than other such resorts we’ve visited. This could be due to the village’s population of around 1,000 people. Participation in sports activities seems more important than shopping, although there are a few sports gear and other types of stores. With the hotel and plenty of condos near the ski area for accommodations, the resort’s popularity is clear. The Village of Angel Fire is 28.84 sq mi (74.68 km²) and encompasses the entire Angel Fire Ski Resort.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Angel Fire is also home to one of the best Vietnam Veterans Memorials we have seen where visitors will find a chapel, visitor center and gift shop, and an adjacent cemetery.

According to the memorial’s website, the David Westphall Veterans Foundation honors, “America’s veterans and members of its military forces by memorializing the sacrifices they have made and by recognizing the sense of duty and the courage they have displayed as they answered their country’s call to arms.”

Foundation partnerships with the National Veterans Wellness and Healing Center in Angel Fire and the Village of Angel Fire provide free retreats for veterans and their spouses diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dr. Victor and Jeanne Westphall conceived the memorial to honor their son, 1st Lt. David Westphall, who died in combat during a 1968 ambush in Vietnam. Constructed between 1968 and 1971, the memorial was the first major Vietnam memorial in the United States and recognized by congress in 1987 as a Memorial of National Significance.

The A/C 670 Huey helicopter, known as the Viking Surprise, served with 121st Assault Helicopter Company (AHC). Damaged, repaired, and reassigned to the 118th AHC. New Mexico National Guard donated it to memorial grounds in 1999. Restored in 2016-17.

Inside the visitor center, we found a walled-off corner where the HBO movie, Dear America: Letters from Vietnam, was playing. We settled into chairs and watched for a few minutes. Then I understood why someone had strategically placed tissue boxes nearby. When our emotions ran high, we left. Better to watch in the privacy of our home.

Senator John McCain is featured in the photo on the bottom left.

Lakota Nation-Oglala Sioux Tribe Display

Jon served in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam during 1969-70

The US Military Aluminum Mermite Hot/Cold Insulated Food Container shown in the photo below brings back memories from 50 years ago for Jon. The days when the helicopters arrived in the field lifted his spirits. Along with fuel and ammo for the armored vehicles, the choppers also brought hot meals in the Mermites for the soldiers.

After looking at all the photographs and memorabilia inside, I felt the same sorrow, solemnity, and peace I experienced during our visit to the USS Arizona Pearl Harbor Memorial in Oahu several years ago. The thought of all the lives cut short and the families and friends that mourned for their loved ones became oppressive, sending me outside to wander among the trees and flowers and bushes.

State Veteran Cemetery Angel Fire, New Mexico

The State Veteran Cemetery is a recent addition to the memorial and held its first interment on July 2021.

Coming up in future episodes, we explore Downtown Taos Historic District, Red River ski area, Kit Carson Home & Museum, Earthship Biotecture, and much more.

Safe Travels

Summer 2021 Tour Santa Fe, New Mexico Episode 6: Wrap-Up

On October 16, 2021 By LToddIn New Mexico, RV Travel, Travel2 Comments

In some respects, we were glad to move to Taos after our two weeks in Santa Fe. In other respects, we were sad to leave. We had tired of our cramped spot, the daily traffic on Cerrillos, and the screaming kid a few doors down. Yet, we hadn’t checked everything off our “To Do” list. There was so much more art and history to soak up; fitting it all in proved difficult. What follows is an apology, list of sites we missed, and a few words about memorial conflict.

An Apology

Before we get into all of that, I first need to apologize to what I consider the “main event” at the New Mexico Capitol Building. For some strange reason, I failed to include his photo in Episode 2 of this series.

*Buffalo* mixed media sculpture by Holly Hughes

My friend Lani Longshore alerted me to my faux pas, which allowed me to update the post and include him in his rightful place. Knowing people don’t often revisit previously read posts, I present him here to ensure everyone has a chance to meet him.

What We Missed

And now, back to the wrap-up. We never had a chance to visit any of the many galleries, not even the one that captured my imagination several years ago when we stayed in the city: Georgia O’Keeffe. Although we had been there before, I was certain the paintings displayed this time would have been different. Canyon Road contains historic sites, galleries, restaurants, Cristo Rey Church, the First Ward School, and the Randall Davey House and Audubon Center &Sanctuary. Nor did we see House of Eternal Return at Meowwolf, a contemporary “Experience of the Unknown.”

Our day trip to Cochiti Lake, discussed in Episode 5, included Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. Unfortunately, the monument was closed due to COVID-19 restrictions at Pueblo de Cochiti, the monument’s gateway. It remains closed as of October 15, 2021, until the Bureau of Land Management and the Pueblo de Cochiti work together on plans to reopen. We noticed many of the pueblos and casinos throughout the state were closed. The American Indians were doing all they could to reduce virus exposure in their communities.

Photo credit: “American Hiking Society Instagram Takeover: Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, New Mexico” by mypubliclands is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Then there was Los Alamos. Our day trip planned for Bandelier initially included the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Los Alamos, the Valles Caldera National Preserve, and the Jemez Historic Site. Why I thought we could hit all four places in one day was beyond me.

We got up early so we could eat breakfast in White Rock at the Pig + Fig. Thank goodness we arrived before a long line formed.

To get our bearings, we stopped in at the Visitor Center to pick up flyers and brochures. We left the truck in the parking lot and rode the shuttle bus to Bandelier. I would compare the ride up the mountain to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland. At times, I thought the bus would fly off the cliff until the driver careened around a curve. On the way down was more to my liking.

Art inside the White Rock Visitor Center

Outside the visitor center: *Kinetic Wind Sculptures*, Lyman Whitaker

After Bandelier, we nixed Valles Caldera and Jemez from our list and drove to Los Alamos. As we drove through town, we felt like we had entered an episode of the Twilight Zone. Very few people were out and about, and the Bradbury Science Museum, Los Alamos History Museum, and the Manhattan Project National Historical Park were all closed.

The Ashley Pond Park was the only happening place with families enjoying a picnic. We had to settle on the local Subway for a bite to eat—the only restaurant we found open.

I guess Monday, July 5, wasn’t the best time to visit Los Alamos. It seemed like most everyone had gone out of town for vacation. We’ll try to get one of the RV sites next to the visitor center when we’re in the area again. Then we can spend a few days exploring rather than a few hours, assuming we are no longer dealing with restrictions.

Another Memorial Conflict

The Santa Fe Plaza is a popular place with so many people around it’s difficult to get a photo. It was clear enough for us to walk through one day without bumping into ten people every few feet. For some reason, it didn’t look like what I remembered from years past. In the middle of the Plaza stood a stone plinth, missing whatever once sat on top and I couldn’t remember what it was.

A few days later, while taking photos of the Scottish Rites building, we found the missing piece from the Plaza. The entire structure was erected around 1866 as a memorial commemorating soldiers who served during the Civil War and battled with Native Americans. Does anyone see where this story is headed?

Obelisk from the Plaza outside United States Court House

For more than a hundred years, people and groups begged the city to replace the obelisk with something else or amend words inscribed on the base panels. While the words were commonplace in the 1800s, over time, the words became hurtful and offensive. Outright removal was rejected, while efforts to chisel off offensive wording were more successful. Unauthorized alterations were also made.

About 40 primarily white protesters toppled the top three sections of the obelisk on October 12, 2020. So now the stone and marble monument is separated. The Plaza remains the home for the plinth, while the obelisk stands in front of the Federal Court House encased in a crate, at least when we saw it on July 8, 2021.

On June 16, 2021, the Union Protectiva de Santa Fe sued the city’s mayor over the destruction and plans to move the memorial permanently. The Hispanic group claims the monument honors the Hispanic soldiers who fought and died for the Union in battles with Confederate soldiers and indigenous tribes, and its destruction and removal dishonors the Hispanic soldiers.

A temporary fix is in the works through the city’s Arts and Culture Department. Is it possible to arrive at a solution that makes everyone happy? While discussing how every story has more than one side, our friend Jim Koch came up with a great idea. “Why not design a multi-sided monument that tells the story from the different perspectives?”

Why not, indeed? I hope Jim submits his idea to the Santa Fe Arts and Culture Department for consideration. With all the diverse artists living in or near Santa Fe, I trust the community to come up with something that pays tribute to and honors the interests of all groups.

Next up: We move on to Taos, The Soul of the Southwest, for another week of adventure in New Mexico.

Safe Travels

Summer 2021 Tour Santa Fe, New Mexico Episode 5: Day Trips

On October 7, 2021October 15, 2021 By LToddIn New Mexico, Photography, RV Travel, Travel4 Comments

Pecos National Historical Park

A 30-mile drive southeast of Santa Fe to Pecos National Historical Park (PNHP) made the park an easy drive for a day trip. PNHP’s mission is to preserve “the natural and cultural resources” by stabilizing and repairing existing buildings.

We started our tour by watching the introductory film in the kiva-style theater and exploring the displays in the visitor center. Then we picked up the Ancestral Sites Trail Guide and ventured outside.

Signs along the trail matched the guide, which allowed us to learn more about the people who called this place home for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Four churches, or conventos, were built outside of the pueblo, with the first built in 1617-18. A second larger church built in 1625 was destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. A third one-room church replaced the one destroyed. What we see today are ruins of the fourth church, completed around 1717, that sits upon land where the second church stood.

Archaeologists believe the village once supported up to 2,000 people. The first encounter with the Spanish occurred in 1540, when a scouting party from Francisco Vazquez de Coronado’s expedition came on the scene. Fifty-eight years later, the Spanish returned with settlers and Franciscan priests.

Shelter and trail rest stop overlooking the river valley

The technique currently used to preserve the church is encapsulation, whereby park staff make bricks on site—using original methods—then encase the original adobe bricks. Another technique is to apply a coat of mud plaster to prevent further weathering of the original bricks.

This kiva, built before the 1680 Revolt, is one of only three found near a mission or convento

Original flagstone patio with a drain that emptied into a cistern at the other end of convento

Bandelier National Monument

A fifty-mile drive took us to Bandelier National Monument, another site populated by ancestral pueblo people. Except at this site, it appears the people abandoned the village during the mid-1500s. Thus Bandelier avoided Spanish influence and populated settlements that could have destroyed the ruins.

We picked up the Main Loop Trail Guide and followed the numbered spots through Frijoles Canyon on the 1 ¼ mile trail.

The trail guide described the kiva as having a roof supported by six wooden pillars with ladder through the roof used as the entrance. The guide continued, “Imagine climbing down the ladder into a darkened room, flickering torches offering the only light, people sitting on the floor and along the walls.”

Edgar Lee Hewett, an educator and archeologist is responsible for the designation of Frijoles Canyon as national monument. His efforts began in 1899 and continued for 17 years until President Woodrow Wilson designated 22,400-acres for the monument on February 11, 1916.

From above, the scale of the community is brought to life with each square of brick walls representing a home or storage area that may have risen two or three stories in places.

The cliffs are made of volcanic tuff. The inside walls of the dwellings would have been plastered, and the ceilings smoke-blackened to make the tuff less crumbly.

A 1920s reconstruction of what the dwellings might have looked like

The smaller holes in the wall are where poles were inserted to create a roof

Pictograph found hidden behind a layer of plaster

The people who lived here had a life expectancy of 35 years. The average women stood five feet tall and men averaged five feet six.

Cochiti Lake

Within the boundaries of the Pueblo de Cochiti Nation on the Rio Grande, sits Cochiti Lake and Dam.

Inside the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) visitor center, we found displays detailing the dam and lake’s history along with their role in controlling flood and sediment along the Rio Grande System.

The earthen fill dam is 50 miles north of Albuquerque, the 23rd largest dam in the world, one of ten largest dams in the US and one of four United States Army Corp of Engineers projects for flood and sediment control on the Rio Grande System.

Map depicts the system of flood and debris control along the Rio Grande

Outside is a loop trail with views of the lake and dam.

The control tower is about the height of a 20-story building

Controversy seems to pop up in places we visit, especially in locations involving tribal groups. Without going into too much detail, agreements were required between the government and the Cochiti Keres Pueblo, promises were made, promises were broken, and a sacred place was destroyed. Who’s heard this theme before?

Besides the destruction of a sacred place, the Cochiti Keres Pueblo lost significant tracts of agricultural land and had to fend off encroachment by a developer in order to protect their land and way of life. ACOE made a public apology to Cochiti Keres nearly twenty years later in 1994 for destroying a plot of land ACOE promised to protect, and the federal government paid to restore the agricultural land.

Four loops of campsites range from no hookups and community spigots to electric and water hookups

Overall management of the Cochiti Lake area now rests with both the Cochiti Keres Pueblo and ACOE under a 2008 agreement. I wonder how the situation would have turned out had the federal government invited the Nation to join them back in 1950. Sadly, we’ll never know.

Besides the colorful rocks, shrubs and cactus, along the trail, hikers may even find a snake hanging out in a bush.

Next up: We wrap up our time in Santa Fe before packing up and heading north to Taos.

Safe Travels

Summer 2021 Tour Santa Fe, New Mexico Episode 4: Santa Fe Railyard Arts District and Guadalupe Historic Area

On September 30, 2021September 29, 2021 By LToddIn New Mexico, Photography, RV Travel, Travel2 Comments

Santa Fe Railyard Arts District and Guadalupe Historic Area

We set out to replenish our fresh fruits and vegetables on Saturday, June 26, 2021, and found a thriving Farmer’s Market in the Santa Fe Railyard Arts District. Still feeling jittery around crowds without masks, we grabbed what we needed and left. The market runs year round on Saturdays and on Tuesdays from May through November.

The main objective for our visit to the Railyard the following Wednesday was to see the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. On our walk toward the sanctuary, we strolled along the nearby streets, admiring the adobe houses and other buildings unencumbered by herds of people.

The Guadalupe District is listed as one of the oldest neighborhoods in Santa Fe. It became a farming market place in 1880 when trains arrived. The prevalence of the automobile and decline in rail travel led to the community’s decline.

In the 1960s, vitality emerged, and the district continued to thrive. In response to the return of train service when the Railrunner Express came to town in 2008, the city kicked off the transportation district revitalization project. Preservation of a public space, local history, and culture were among the project’s priorities.

1941 Dodge 1/2-ton Pickup Truck similar to those used to deliver materials from the train to Los Alamos during WWII

I recently read John Grisham’s Camino Island and Camino Winds that featured a book seller who traded in collectible books as the protagonist. So when I saw the Beastly Books sign advertising collectibles and autographed books, I had to duck in and take a look.

Fans of A Game of Thrones and George R.R. Martin’s other titles would love this bookstore. Martin’s books and books by other authors who write in science fiction, fantasy and horror genres fill the shelves in Beastly Books.

From the coffee bar in the corner came the aroma of fresh brewed coffee that followed us throughout the store as we admired the collection of memorabilia.

Coffee bar to the left, costume to the right

Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the oldest church dedicated to the Virgin Mary that is still standing. The shrine commemorates Mary’s four apparitions in 1531 to Juan Diego, an Aztec Indian from Tepeyac, Mexico. The twelve foot statue, Dona Georgina Farias’s Nuestra Señora (Our Lady) de Guadalupe, was installed in 2008.

Our Lady of Guadalupe statue and sanctuary

The sanctuary, originally built by Franciscan missionaries between 1776-95, was constructed on a Latin cross floor plan like other churches and cathedrals. The adobe building had a flat roof, walls three feet thick, and a dirt floor. At some point, a pitched roof covered the flat one, and a spire replaced the original adobe bell tower.

Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

A fire in June 1922 destroyed the church’s roof, collapsed the spire, and damaged painted frescoes inside. The walls and altar survived. Saved from the fire is one of the most valuable treasures in the church, the altar screen. The painting, signed by Jose de Alzibar, a renowned painter from Mexico, depicts Our Lady of Guadalupe in the center. The images in the four corners represent the 1531 encounters with Juan Diego.

Painting behind the altar survived a fire in 1922

The church was rebuilt and used continually until 1961, when the new church opened next door. A restoration project in 1976-78 added a bell tower and a new wooden floor.

The chapel is now used as an art history museum that contains Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s collection of New Mexican Santos (carved images of the saints) Italian Renaissance paintings, and Mexican baroque paintings. The chapel celebrates mass daily and is a place of prayer.

On our way back to the truck, we stopped in at Iconick Coffee Roasters to see if they had decaf coffee beans. Music played in the background, and most of the headphone-wearing patrons sat in front of laptops. When a few of the coffee drinkers looked up, their faces seemed to say, “What are you doing in here?” which gave me an eerie feeling.

A similar vibe came from the three baristas who stood behind the counter. None of the young men looked busy, nor did they smile or acknowledge our presence until Jon asked if they sold decaf beans. We made our purchase and left out the back door as soon as we could.

We used the beans a few days later and were sorry we hadn’t sampled the coffee before buying. It was a light roast, and we prefer darker varieties. A lesson learned.

A few blocks down the street from Iconik we found Boxcar Bar and Grill where we ate lunch. This was a great people-watching place with soccer fans cheering and groaning as the action played out on the big screens and busy servers dodging patrons who got in their way as they ran from table to table taking orders, delivering drinks and food, and checking to see if all was well. I suspect they kicked off their shoes and passed out on the couch when they got home after their shift.

What we didn’t have time to explore at the Railyard were the seven contemporary art galleries, nor did we join the historic walk which is offered during the summer months on Tuesdays. These are activities we have added to our list if we ever make it back to Santa Fe.

Next up: We take a few day trips to see more historical sites.

Safe Travels

Angel Fire Resort

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

State Veteran Cemetery Angel Fire, New Mexico

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An Apology

What We Missed

Another Memorial Conflict

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Pecos National Historical Park

Bandelier National Monument

Cochiti Lake

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Santa Fe Railyard Arts District and Guadalupe Historic Area

Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

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