After a windy night near Albuquerque, we drove up the Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe. We then spent a very cold, blustery afternoon, visiting the Saturday Santa Fe Farmers Market and finding some galleries that Dave wanted to check out. We ate lunch at the O’Keeffe Café. What a pleasure! The restaurant is in a small house, with tables in several small rooms. The adobe walls were painted a soft tan; the tables were covered with snow white linen and the banquettes and chairs were bright red. Red roses on each table added to the splashes of color. It was warm and cozy and full of people in bright, Santa Fe-style clothing. Our hamburger and fish sandwiches were very good.
After lunch, we went to the Museum of Fine Art and saw a surprisingly small display of Georgia O’Keeffe paintings (about 8). Thanks to Mary P., who was entranced with Gustave Baumann on her recent Santa Fe visit, we wanted to see his woodblock prints. Amazing. In his spare time, Baumann carved detailed marionettes. There was also a steel wool piece of art that looked like a spider weaving a web up and down two floors of stairs. We then retreated to the Lazy Daze and turned on the heater.
Today, we woke up to snow and a frozen water hose. But it got warmer and the winds died down. We drove north to Abiquiu, the tiny village where Georgia O’Keeffe lived during her later years. Villagers request that photographs not be taken, so we sat in front of the lovely church and ate our lunch. A kind lady came over to us and told us which turn to take to take a peek at the O’Keeffe property. (Actually, it’s behind high walls and visitors can’t just go onto the grounds and look around.) Beyond the house is a Penitente morada, that O’Keeffe painted with a great view of the Sangre de Christo mountains behind it.
We continued north and a few miles off the highway, found Plaza Blanca, an area of strangely eroded white and gray sandstone cliffs. Georgia O’Keeffe painted this location, and titled her painting “The White Place”. We wandered around and followed one canyon until it narrowed down and required climbing. We dawdled so long there, it was 5 p.m. before we got to Ghost Ranch, a large beautiful property used for education and retreats by the Presbyterian Church. It was getting late, so we didn’t have time to take any hikes there. Maybe next time.
I’m packing up the van. The environs – if weather challenging are so lovely! Thanks for the armchair journeys. Take care.