We woke up to overcast and rain. In fact it rained all morning in Santa Fe. Its no longer a surprise anymore. Now we just expect it to happen and laugh it off. We were out of the motel by about 730am and headed into the center of town. Our first stop was the historic Cathedral downtown. The Church had been there since 1610 but the actual building was built in 1887 I think. It was a beautiful building -the only Romanesque design around towering over the pueblo style buildings found in the historic district known as 'The Plaza" The church from the outside had many statues and a beautiful assortment of flowers everywhere. When I stepped inside the structure I was very impressed with its majesty. It truly felt like the house of God. Everything from the architecture, artwork, layout, and a recording of beautiful chanting being played throughout lifted my spirit to the point where I experienced goosebumps as I tip-toed around this holy place.
Leaving the Cathedral, we crossed onto a street lined with pueblos on either side. In one of these buildings we found a french bakery that was recommended to me by my friend Mary. It was a great little place with tasty food. Dad had and strawberry crepe and I had a quiche. We liked the place to much we bought some french bread for the car ride out.
After breakfast we went around the corner to Loretto Chapel which is famous for its miraculous staircase. The story goes that a mysterious carpenter arrived to the chapel after the nuns there prayed a novena to St. Joseph that they could find someone to build them a staircase to the loft of the chapel. This mysterious man worked on it for months and when he was done he disappeared without seeking out his payment or for the cost of supplies. The staircase he left is very peculiar. It has no supports yet twists up 360 degrees twice up to the loft. The wood used is of an unknown origin and no nails were used, only wooden pegs. Experts today don't understand how it doesn't collapse. It was a very cool thing to look at and ponder. The rest of the chapel was beautifully adorned too by the way.
Next up was just walking around the plaza and exploring it. It was mainly restaurants and shops selling southwestern jewelry or other handcrafted things. Outside a building called Palace of the Governors, Native Americans sat lined next to each other the distance of the building selling their jewelry and other crafts. It was really an awesome city but the rain was coming down harder and we needed to head for Texas.
The rain finally ended and the sun came out about an hour before entering Roswell. The town is famous for an alleged flying saucer that crashed back in 1947. Ever since then, people from around the world have been flocking to this once small desert outpost. We visited the International UFO Museum in the heart of town. It turns out it was in an old converted movie theater and must admit I would have made it way cooler than what they had in there. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading the large quantities of affidavits, old top secret documents, and newspaper clippings set in a timeline that provides what I believe gives a strong indication that the government tried to cover up what happened back in July 8th, 1947. The museum also included a lot of information on types of encounters, UFO pictures (actual and hoaxes), crop circles, and of course Area 51. It was one of the strangest yet coolest museums I have ever visited.
Back on the road south, the sun stayed with us for the rest of the day. Temperatures were getting hotter and the fauna began to change. The desert looked to be drier as we drove through southern New Mexico. The color yellow from the dry grasses dominated the landscape with hearty-looking green shrubs spread generously over it. This area was also geologically "boring" It was completely flat in all directions to the horizon. Only hints of distant hills and mountains could be made out from time to time. When we arrived at the Texas border the hills and mesas returned and we started noticing a new plant. It was a palm tree. It was taller than the other plants in the desert reaching perhaps a trunk 4 feet high with palms protruding on top much like the leaves on top of a pineapple. Curiously, I didn't see many cactus in this area. In fact I only saw a species of small cactus along the desert but never the tall cactus that so many people attribute to their idea of what the Southwest looks like.
Western Texas is a desolate place. Just like New Mexico, one must travel for many many miles with no cell phone service before reaching any settlements. The one difference from New Mexico so far is that the area is peppered with Oil wells. My favorite part of the drive here though was when we drove past an area of a couple hundred wind turbines on top of mesas while oil wells bobbed up and down in the valleys below. I'm a fan of diversity in energy sources :)
Tomorrow: San Antonio!
No comments:
Post a Comment