NEW MEXICO, DAY 1: TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, BOSQUE DEL APACHE, AND ALBUQUERQUE

 June 25, 2021

As we continued on our slow trek north, we saw signs for the town Truth or Consequences and decided to take a look. T or C, as it is informally known, has a population of about 6,500. 

Originally named Hot Springs because of curative natural hot springs in the area, it changed its name in 1950 when Ralph Edwards, the host of the radio show Truth or Consequences, announced that he would air the 10th anniversary program from the first town that renamed itself after his show. For 50 years Mr. Edwards returned to T or C during the first weekend in May for a fiesta that included a parade, a stage show, and a beauty show. (Note: The radio show Truth or Consequences eventually became a syndicated television show.) That May Fiesta continues to this day.

Our next destination was a national wildlife refuge called Bosque del Apache, or Woods of the Apache. "Bosques" in the Southwest are the dense shrubbery and tree growth that occur alongside the Rio Grande River and in its floodplain.

We entered the reserve close to 5:30 PM, and it was still 99°, so we didn't have any desire to get out and go for a walk. We were happy to drive the 12-mile loop.

The refuge includes areas of floodplain, irrigated farms, wetlands, arid grasslands, and mountain foothills.

The dominant tree is definitely the cottonwood.

The trees were full of ping pong ball-sized clumps of "cotton."

There are cultivated fields in the reserve--a cooperative agreement between farmers and the government for the benefit of the birds and other wildlife. It was beautiful scenery, and SO GREEN for such a hot time of year.

We saw deer in at least three different places during our drive.

We also saw plenty of wild turkeys.

Turkeys are so ugly--much uglier than vultures, if you ask me. I'm so glad Ben Franklin didn't get his way. He wanted turkeys to be our national bird.

I thought the way the sun shone through the turkeys' wattles was interesting.

Bob has many more photos of birds than I do, but I did get this photo of what looks like a headless kingbird. My bird photography skills leave much to be desired.

Crossing the "Big River."

We finally made it to Albuquerque, our destination for the day.  We arrived in time for dinner at a place Bob had scouted out ahead of time: Church St. Café. 

I loved the mariachis on the roof. I could tell this was going to be a fun place.

In fact, it turned out to be one of my favorite eating experiences of the whole trip. First of all, I loved the décor--adobe walls, a large open room, New Mexico colors.

I have developed a fondness for the Virgin of Guadalupe and liked seeing her adorning this clay oven/fireplace. The grill beneath her feet has a silhouette of a church.

I have no idea who this is, but he looks very "New Mexico-ish."

Each table in the restaurant has a different hand-laid tile picture top.

Stars twinkle above.

The live entertainment was unlike any mariachi band I have ever heard. The harpist was fantastic, and so was the guitar player. Bob commented that these two  men might be his favorite musical entertainment ever in a restaurant and even tipped them twice.

The food was as good as the atmosphere. Bob had a vegetarian sandwich and his second batch of fries with chile cheese sauce of the day. It was good . . . 

. . . but not as good as my chile rellenos. Drool.

It was evening by the time we finished. The restaurant is located in Albuquerque's Old Town, so we decided to try to walk off some of what we had eaten.

In one direction, we found this statue of Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdes, who founded Albuquerque in 1706. He rides his proud steed at the entrance to Old Town, which appears to be a popular gathering place.  (We even saw one woman taking photos of her chihuahua carefully posed between the horse's legs.)

In the other direction lies the Old Town Square (or zocolo, as it is known in Spanish) and the church. This part of Albuquerque feels like old, traditional Mexico.

Every zocolo needs a bandstand in the center. This one is especially charming. It looks like a movie set.

Facing the zocolo is the San Felipe de Neri Church, which was built in 1793.  The oldest church in the city, San Felipe has been in continuous operation since the first church was built on this spot in 1706. The 1793 version was remodeled in the 1850s-1860s to give it a more European appearance, but it has retained a Colonial-era feel. 

Unfortunately, it was locked up for the night, and when when we returned the next day, they were preparing for some big event and we still couldn't go inside, but here are a few photos from our daylight visit:

There she is again, Our Lady of Guadalupe:

I saw her all over the gift shop as well, including this depiction of a tender embrace with Pope John Paul II and a representation of Juan Diego, the Mexican peasant who was visited by her.

I have to include two shots of "The Old Town Loo," which was next to where we parked our car. I was very impressed by how clean and efficient it is!

Anyway, by the time we finally got to our hotel at the end of the frist day, I could barely make it into my PJs. We had been going all day on just an hour or two of sleep, if that, and were grateful to finally climb into bed.

NEW MEXICO, DAY 1: AMERICAN AIRLINES FAILS US AGAIN, BUT HATCH, NEW MEXICO, IS A WINNER

Friday, June 25, 2021

I'll get a confession out of the way: When Bob suggested New Mexico for late June and early July, I thought he was crazy. Washington State or Oregon, maybe, but New Mexico? We'd be roasting along with the chiles.

As it turned out, we had only one or two hot days at the beginning and end with a spate of unseasonably cool weather for most of the trip. Meanwhile, Portland hit a historic high of 117° F. Who would have guessed?

Second confession: When Bob told me he booked a 12:45 AM flight on American Airlines leaving out of Ontario, connecting in Dallas, and arriving in El Paso at 8:11 AM, I was sure he was crazy. Turns out, we stayed up late and got no sleep for nothing because when we arrived in Dallas, we learned that our American Airlines connecting flight to El Paso had been cancelled. 

In its place we were offered a substitute flight that would be leaving at 1:15 PM, EIGHT HOURS LATER.  For that we stayed up all night? Almost all of of first-day-plans were now impossible. We pushed a little harder and learned that we could choose to get on a list for a stand-by flight at 9:00 AM, and then another at 11:00 AM if the first one didn't work. If neither worked, we still had the 1:15 PM option.

Bob got in a line to talk to AA Customer Service at 5:45 AM to discuss other possible options. No employee showed up until after 6:30, and by that time about 20 people were in line. Bob, about 4th or 5th in line, made it to the front at 7:10. There was still only one agent and a long line. No worries. Bob's turn was quick because there were no other options.

Meanwhile, I drowned my sorrows in a Pinkberry smoothie. Such a nice thing to find in the airport!

I walked by this shop several times, and I am proud to say that I did not give in to temptation.

CALIFORNIA: PALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM

 June 12, 2021

Last weekend Bob was away from home so I decided to take a little trip out to Palm Springs to visit the art museum. I hadn't been there in years and thought it would make a good day trip.  Unfortunately, it topped out at about 110° F that day, but fortunately there is covered parking and I spent most of my time inside.

If you think of Palm Springs as a lush oasis, you are misguided. It is definitely the desert.

The museum evolved out of a regional museum into an art museum in the 1950s and moved into its current Modernist building at the base of Mt. San Jacinto in 1976.

Today the museum has a collection of about 24,000 objects, which is not bad for a regional museum.

I started with a temporary exhibit across the street from the museum. History of Suspended Time (A monument for the impossible) is artist Gonzalo Lebrija's recreation of a piece of performance art when he used a crane to drop a car into a lake while filming it with a high-speed camera. This is the moment just before the car hits the water.

Although this car is a 1968 Chevy Malibu, the exhibit reminded me a lot of Cadillac Ranch, which we had just seen a few months prior in Texas.

TEXAS, AUSTIN: BLANTON MUSEUM OF ART, UT AUSTIN, AND TORCHY'S TACOS

March 25, 2021

On our last afternoon of the trip, we spent a few hours in the Blanton Museum of Art of the University of Texas. Founded in 1963, it is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. The current building, erected in 2003, was funded in part by a $5 million donation from the wife of James Michener, but then the Houston Endowment made a $12 million donation in honor of its then-chariman, Jack Blanton, and the museum got its new name (although there is a Mari and James A. Michener Gallery Building).

The entry way is designed like an atrium, and hanging from the ceiling is Thomas Glassford's work Siphonophora (2016), which looks like a giant sea creature.

When we were there the Blanton had a special exhibit of artworks collected by Leo Steinberg (1920-2011), a part-time art history professor turned print collector. Over about 50 years he amassed a collection of about 3,500 prints covering 500 years of art history. It is an incredibly diverse collection. Here are a few of my favorites. 

(L) The Holy Face (1649) by Claude Mellan and (R) Haitian Woman (1945) by Henri Matisse:

TEXAS, AUSTIN: A HAILSTORM AND McKINNEY STATE PARK

 March 25, 2021

On Thursday morning at about 4:15 AM I awoke to some loud banging that I thought was Bob trying to open the window.  When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was watching an incredible hailstorm. He had woken up thinking I was trying to get something out of my suitcase. It sounded like rocks were hitting the hotel. Bob said that when he first looked out the window, the ground was covered with white balls of ice. By the time I pulled myself out of bed to look, it had already melted and a good-sized river was rushing down the road. I checked out the weather app on my phone and saw the following:

Later, we saw photos of the quarter-sized hail:

TEXAS, AUSTIN: CONGRESS AVENUE, THE BULLOCK TEXAS STATE HISTORY MUSEUM, THE MAGNOLIA CAFE, AND A BAT TOUR

 March 24, 2021

I mentioned that Austin is a walkable city, which we know firsthand because we did a LOT of walking. 

One of the main thoroughfares of the city is Congress Avenue, which runs from the state capitol building to the Congress Ave. Bridge, passing by lots of interesting architecture.

The Colorado River bisects Congress Ave. No, not that Colorado River, but another river by the same name that has both its source and mouth in Texas. Turns out it is 862 miles long--the 18th longest river in the United States--and I had never even heard of it.