Santa Fe landmarks, 100th post!

Posted byrkrontheroadPosted inart, blogging, ceramics, New Mexico, North America, Photography, pottery, Travel, United StatesTags:, , , , , , , ,

They say time flies while you’re having fun, and blogging has certainly been an enjoyable pastime. This post is my 100th entry. My warmest thanks to those of you who have liked, commented, and/or followed this blog, or even just stopped by briefly to check it out. I truly appreciate your visits and participation.

I started this mostly-weekly blog in March of 2020 to replace an older one, RRontheroad.com (which now tracks to this site). Back then, I lived abroad for eight years, from 2003 to 2011, and again in 2013, and shared photos and stories from those lands and other countries I’ve visited (now over fifty). I started the blog as a way to keep in touch with friends and family, and it grew and grew. It’s been a delight to recreate the site these days with more modern tech tools. Some of those stories and photos from the original site appear from time to time here, worth sharing with a new audience, as well as occasional essays on other topics and newer stories, like this October 2022 week-long road trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I stayed at a favorite little place in Antonito for the night, just north of the Colorado/New Mexico border. (More about Antonito on the return trip.) It was only a two-hour drive south to Santa Fe, and check-in for the inn I had booked started at 4:00pm, so I made some stops by car that day. The rest of the places I wanted to visit during my stay would be walkable, once I parked at the inn, centrally located.

I had been to Santa Fe briefly a few times before, but was always traveling with someone who had their own list of things to do, or was on my way to somewhere else. This time I had a few days and could make my own choices.

Along the road: Now you know you are in New Mexico

The Santa Fe Opera House, well past the show season, was not open to drop-in visits inside. The architecture of the building, constructed in the 1950s on a former ranch, is unique, with open air seating that preserves the view. And the view was worth it, overlooking the landscape north of town.

My route through Santa Fe followed the historic Old Santa Fe Trail through town, bordered by classic adobe buildings and residences, some new, some original. Museum Hill was a good first stop to spend the afternoon. And there was a café there. Unfortunately, the café was closed due to short staffing, so I opened the box of granola bars I kept in the car for times like this.

If you have stopped by my blog before, you may know that, as a potter earlier in my life, I have an interest in pottery. I came at just the right time! The Museum of Indigenous Arts and Culture had an extensive display of pottery through the ages called Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery, representing works by various peoples that lived in the southwest. Another current exhibit, Painted Reflections: Isomeric Design in Pueblo Pottery, interpreted the designs painted on ancestral and contemporary Pueblo pottery. The name for the museum is Indian Arts and Culture, but most newer tour publications use the term Indigenous. (I make it a respectful practice not to photograph inside museums.)

In videos, present day Native American potters described the deep connection to their ancestors these pieces evoke.

Each pot has its own journey,
its own memories.
Each pot has its own story,
made differently,
for its own purpose.
– video, Museum of Indigenous Arts and Culture

Coming out of the museum, the hues and textures of the adobe buildings on Museum Hill looked like constructions of clay, like the vessels I had just communed with for a few hours. There were many more museums on the hill, but exploring one well-chosen one in some depth was enough for me.

labyrinth, Museum Hill

More Santa Fe and New Mexico wanderings to come…
Santa Fe road trip: Leadville, Santa Fe landmarks, Walking Santa Fe, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico towns, Ghost Ranch, Antonito

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Published by rkrontheroad

Writer, photographer, traveler

54 thoughts on “Santa Fe landmarks, 100th post!”

  1. Pingback: Leadville – Ruth Rosenfeld

    1. Thanks so much! I so appreciate your following. After I left, I thought I should have spent more time seeing, at least, what all the museums were there, for perhaps a future visit, but I was ready to leave. Another time!

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  10. Congratulations on your 100th post! I hope there will be many more 🙂
    I loved Santa Fe so it’s great to revisit it with you. Your photos revive memories of the beautiful adobe architecture there. I’m curious though why you feel it’s respectful not to take photos in museums, assuming the museum permits it? I feel it’s a good way to bring interesting exhibits to people who may not otherwise see them.

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    1. Thank you, Sarah! I am hesitant to share something I paid to see. It seems to me it should be the museum’s choice to share what they will. Also I find all the people who seem to spend more time photographing than just looking at the works very distracting. Not being critical of others that photograph and share, it just doesn’t feel right to me to do. Thanks for asking.

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      1. I take your point about spending more time taking photos than really looking. I hope I don’t do that – instead I tend to mainly look but photograph the occasional item that either I want to remember, want to share or I think will make a particularly interesting image. I feel it’s up to the museum to set its policy and if they’re happy to have photos taken I will do so. I’ve been to quite a few where that’s actively encouraged recently – I assume because they think it will result in good publicity on social media.

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  12. Ruth, in answer to your preamble before New Mexico, can I just say, that yours is one of the (probably few) blog sites where I wish the host published more regularly. I really enjoy every single one of your eminently readable posts and really get a feel for the places you have visited. Carry on to your next 100! An open air opera house in New Mexico….I had no idea!!

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    1. My sincerest thanks for your kind comment! It’s about the writing for me as much as the photos, and I do take time to edit and select appropriate (and best) photos, then add and change a few times during the week. I enjoy the process and need the time for the right story to emerge. ☺

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  18. Happy 100th Ruth! Like you, I also started out with a different blog that now links back to my current site. It’s a lot of work keeping everything up and running, especially when one is obsessed with going back and improving old articles. Thanks for this lovely perspective of Santa Fe. I do like that the opera house roof contributes to the conservation of its surrounds. And that you have added another pottery sight to your collection. I hope all is well with you and that you are ready for the coming winter. Here in Georgia, we are topping up our suitcase wardrobes for what will undoubtedly be a chilly few months in Tbilisi.

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    1. Thanks so much, Leighton! I can tell that, like mine, your blog is a labor of love. Snow is in the air this morning in the Rockies and there’s a thin layer of white on everything, but the sun is pushing through. Temperatures are dropping and winter is on its way. Keep warm.

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