Arriving in Ranchos de Taos, we attempted to visit the San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church, but there was a funeral going on that we didn’t want to crash. So, we drove on to the Harwood Museum in Taos that was featuring a show about Mable Dodge Luhan, a patron of the arts predominately associated with Taos. 

Overall, we found her life and associations with artists to be more interesting than the art on display itself. Of course, neither Libby nor I are especially fond of the American modernist period. We did enjoy the Agnes Martin (one of our favorite artists and another painter based in Taos) works from their permanent collection on display:

I would have liked to explore Tao more, but we were afraid of getting rained out at Great Sand Dunes NP later in the day. So, we picked up lunch to eat on the road and headed north to Colorado with dark skies and rain in our rear view mirror. 

About two hours later, we arrived at GSDNP. From afar, I have to say that the dunes didn’t look that imposing:

But, as you get closer to them, you realize just how massive they are. Unlike other parks with designated trails, you can climb all over the sand dunes in whatever direction you wish. That said, they are quite the slog to climb given that you’re going uphill (a rise of nearly 700 ft), in sand (obviously) and at this altitude (from about 8,000 ft at the base of the dune). 

This photo gives a bit of perspective from one of the ridges. Note the people in the “valley” below us:

With the approaching rain and darking skies, we also cut our hike on the dunes short (a wise decision as the rain reached us just as we were driving a couple of miles south). 

Since it was only a little after 3pm, we would have ordinarily driven further in the day. However, I already had our hotel booked in nearby Alamosa and couldn’t cancel this late without a fee. So, we checked into the Fairfield Inn and opted to just relax this evening by catching an early movie (Finding Dory) at a tiny, old-school (for us) movie theater next to our hotel and then had dinner at the Chili’s nearby. I felt like an Almasoa local out for a big night on the town!

Like yesterday, we started the day with breakfast at one of the local eateries, The French Pastry Shop. After this, we returned to the hotel and took Emerson back to the pool, which she really enjoys. 

By late morning, we’d changed for the day and picked up the car from the valet to drive to Museum Hill, which houses (unsurprisingly) a number of museums. 

We started by visiting the Museum of International Folk Art. Wow! Talk about eclectic. Here’s a sample of what we saw on display…

An exquisitely detailed miniature circus:

A Spanish heritage exhibition dedicated to Flamenco:

An exploration of sacred blessings and good fortune across Asia:

And, Alexander Girard’s vast collection and purpose-built display of over 100,000 toys, dolls, icons, and other forms of ethnic expressions from around the world:

We then had lunch at the Museum Hill Cafe before heading the Santa Fe Botanical Gardens, which was enjoyable though still a bit of a work-in-progress:

We then returned to the historical downtown, dropped off our car, and explored more on foot. 

First, we visited the Cathedral Basilica of Santa Fe:

Here is its surprisingly light interior:

Then we visited the Loretto Chapel, which is most famous for its “miraculous” spiral staircase (that didn’t originally have the handrail you now see attached to it):

From there, we window shopped a bit and found a lovely independent bookshop with an attached coffee shop, where I tried a “Bullet Proof” coffee for first time. What’s that? Basically, it’s a regular cup of drip coffee blended with butter and (I think the barista said) “honey.” It was alright… though I didn’t completely love the texture. 

We continued strolling around downtown and popped into unusual, arty shops along the way. Eventually, we made our way to the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, which was also hosting an exhibition on the designer, artist, and educator Lloyd Kiva New in commemoration of his 100th birthday (he died in 2002). 

These are some of my favorite paintings of his:

For dinner, we ate at the very popular restaurant called The Shed. Once again, we enjoyed traditional New Mexican fare, which is certainty one of the joys of this city. Here’s Libby drinking a prickly pear margarita:

Santa Fe is an interesting town that I really like (and want to love). The weather, food, and culture here are all pretty much ideal from my perspective. Yet, I’m not completely enamored of it, and I’m not really sure why. I think we need to see more of it, especially away from the historical / tourist district new our hotel. That said, we like it well enough that I’m sure we’ll return and might opt to spend some extended time here in our retirement. 
 
 

For lunch we went to Tia Sophia’s and ate a scrumptious meal of Northern New Mexican specialities. I had a flavorful chicken stew with blue corn cheese enchiladas and pinto beans:

We’ve also noticed all of the New Mexican places around here tend to serve a basket of sopapillas with every meal. What are sopapillas? They’re a fried quick bread that are served warm that you eat with honey (and I happen to like sprinkled with cinnamon sugar too). Delicious! 

After lunch, we visited the Georgia O’Keefe Museum and the New Mexico Museum of Art. 

I’ve never been a huge fan of O’Keefe’s work. I realize its art historical importance, but it just doesn’t “speak to me” as they say. That said, I came away with a new appreciation for her as she was deeply thoughtful about her practice (including having custom frames made for her work) and seemed to be compelled (like Matisse) to go on making art despite physical limitations (in her case macular degeneration). I also learned that she was an extensive, worldwide traveler. All of this makes me relate to her more. 

Here’s a painting based on her view from above the clouds in an airplane:

The New Mexico Museum of Art was a bit more uneven and kind of a limited collection. It had one awesome Agnes Martin on display, some interesting contemporary works in alcoves (I especially liked Tom Joyce’s work), and a couple of interesting small exhibitions (one dedicated to the work of artists from the Institute of American Indian Arts and another based on lowrider cars). 

Here’s the Martin that I liked:

Here’s some work by Tom Joyce (note the rings burnt into the wood fiberboard):

Lowrider inspired art:

What was also nice about both of these museums is that they furnished Emerson with art supplies to engage more actively in her visit. This is a really good idea that other museums should adopt. 

Here she is drawing buffalo: 

For dinner, we went to Draft Station for pizza and craft beer — both were excellent.