Truly Lovely Taos

September 9, 2017

Even as we have worried about our friends and property down in FL due to Hurricane Irma, we have been blessed with lovely weather for traveling and sight seeing. Once again, traveling from Santa Fe to Taos is a gorgeous road trip; as long as, you don't mind your ears popping often. 

The tops of the mountains keep changing in topography as we travel

If you look closely, you can see parts of the Rio Grande River

Another section of the Rio Grande Gorge area

It didn't show up here but you can see Taos, way off in the distance

We couldn't check into Sadie's Casita, our AirBnB until 3, but we arrived early to sightsee. Our first stop was the church that Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams made famous or which made them famous...whichever??? 

St Francis de Asis Mission Church, an excellent example of Spanish Colonial New Mexico style. She was built from 1772-1816.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_de_Asis_Mission_Church

Her lines are so clean and powerful, she almost looks contemporary

Mike shot this inside view before he knew you weren't suppose to...OOPS!

From the side view, she reminded me of the Sphinx guarding the Egyptian tomb

The churches name sake, St. Francis, even though I'm not Catholic since he guards animals and children, I've always been drawn to him.

The church garden leading to the front entrance was really serene

Mike took advantage of this visit to light a 6 day candle to pray for the safety of all in Hurricane Irma's way and for minimal property damage across it's path... 

Loved the simplicity of the back view

Across the street, we saw this old Belair convertible...beautiful!

Our next stop was Hacienda Martinez, a history museum and a National Register site about 2 miles outside of Taos. This hacienda was built again in the Spanish colonial style in 1804. The hacienda was built around a central courtyard; essentially creating a mini fort. It had 18 rooms, that was home to the Martinez family: Maria, Severino and their 7 children and numerous servants or slaves.

Severino originally purchased 5 acres for his new home

The side view gives you more a sense how far this hacienda extended back

Love a sense of humor

 Most of their building were inside the walls except for a few of the livestock ones

There was a nice stream coming through here

The well within the inner courtyard

The labor intensive way these adobe structures were built

The dried chiles are extensively used for decorations

The far left corner was the pass through to the back courtyard

Their salon or main living area

Furniture was scarce since tools were basic and primitive

Having a chapel within the hacienda was a must for these deeply religious Catholics

 These chapels were very simple

 

Colcha yarn embroidery information was interesting and this vestment was a beautiful example

 Ironically, we are listening to "A Marriage of Opposites" which talks about the persecution of the Jews in Spain. Only these Jews escaped into the Dutch controlled Caribbean islands looking for safety.




The Martinez family were very involved in the trade along the Santa Fe and Camino Real trails

Loved the cradle for the baby in the midst of all the activity that would take place in this room




They used that whole bottom shelf for cooking and heating

 I never really appreciated how valuable woven products were...they were listed within wills as part of their collateral

They had a really talented weaver that demonstrated here, but we missed her.

 From the Hacienda we went to another area outside of town to see the Millicent Rogers Museum. This museum contains over 2000 years of Southwestern Art. In 1956 this beautiful hacienda was given by the Anderson family for her and her son's 7,000 piece permanent collection. Fashionista Millicent Rogers came to Taos after her painful break up from Clark Gable. Having been born into a fairly well to do NYC family, she was exposed to art and fashion at an early age. 

She started collecting early Native American sculpture, paintings, jewelry, pottery, baskets, religious articles and weavings before it became popular. One of her favorite Pueblo artists were potters Maria & Julian Martinez and eventually their talented family members. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Martinez

From 1945 in the De Young Gallery

Other Native American artists inspired and taught her silversmithing and jewelry making, so she could create her own artwork. https://www.millicentrogers.org/

 One of Millicent's designs outside the museum

 Another sculpture in the collection framed by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains behind it

 Another hacienda that is the museum's neighbors




Mike and I in the courtyard with a Sheepherder

 Not such a Big Sagebrush yet

 The courtyard with it's the sculptures and landscaping was sublime. I especially loved the sound of the wind out there...very musical!

 We visited Acoma, the last time another incredible site to visit!
http://www.acomaskycity.org/home.html

 This beautiful pot is made by the coil method, not a potter's wheel and the symmetry appears perfect...Amazing!

  This explanation of jewelry is so well said




Again from the museum's site, examples of her jewelry and a portrait of her. I couldn't get over for such a tall yet delicate woman she liked really large, bold jewelry which is common among the Natives and in the West.

I borrowed this image from the museum's website

 Once upon a time, I did some silversmithing, so I was really blown away by this collection

 This fireplace was in one of the religious galleries

 The changing exhibit dedicated to corn in the original living room

We dropped off our things at Casita Sadie's which turned out to be so darling we wished we were staying longer...It even had a private porch area that we didn't get to enjoy.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/11552998?checkin=&checkout=&guests=2&adults=2&children=0&infants=0&location=Taos%2C%20NM%2C%20United%20States&s=ZSLC5Mb7

This shows only a small portion of our suite and it was pet friendly

We rested there for a bit before taking off to see the historic plaza that we missed the last time we were here.

 We had to laugh we saw our last name everywhere out here

 Thought this was an unusual sculpture and I loved the message

 Not as spacious as Santa Fe but Taos is not as big as town either. The stores around the square were more affordable than Santa Fe's too. 

 The central garden square is traditional for the Spanish Colonial time period. If you visit any Mexican towns of this period, you will rarely find the square empty. It's the happening place to be. San Miguel de Allende has a wonderful one!

We had been told to go to Bella's Mexican Cafe for dinner by our OH friends, Jo and Don. It also got great reviews on Yelp and Trip Advisor including mine afterwards!!! Oh My Gosh! They had one of my favorite Mexican entrees. It is considered the meal you serve for their Independence Day since it has all the colors of their flag. I haven't had it since a Badin HS art student Paolo Miller's mom, made it for me years ago... http://bellasmexicangrill.com/menu.shtml


We set in this darling courtyard and the place was packed!

Nirvana!!! A bit spicier than what I've had before but still scrumptious!  

Mike kept referring to it as a "Seabag," the Navy term for stuffed peppers. Smart A@$

As in Mexico, the black beans and Spanish rice were delicately flavored and the side salad was fresh and minimally tossed with a fresh vinaigrette dressing...It makes my mouth water thinking about this meal!

Mike had their marinated beef tamale special with the same sides...He loved his meal as well!
Probably our best restaurant meal on this entire trip!!!

We only split a dessert occasionally, but we were so thrilled we split their flan,(think it had a mango/coconut puree) not only was it the best one I have ever tasted; but it cooled our mouths down from the heat of the spices...

We went back to our little Casita to check out what Hurricane Irma's current path was...The waiting was horrible and we drove Don and Lori, our FL neighbors/friends crazy checking in with them...