A single-topic post today … with all the photos I want to share, I am having trouble with the weekly summary style posts I intended to do on this trip ;-)
Besides, we were off exploring in another state. I know, I know … a bald-faced excuse to write about what we did today in a standalone post.
We would have gone out yesterday to continue our sightseeing with a purpose — the purpose being to continue to test the FujiFilm X-T10 I am considering as a replacement for my DSLR kit. But there was a more important matter that Mui wanted to resolve — resetting the TireTraker system … safety comes before fun. Since replacing the sensor batteries, the monitor was refusing to clear alerts. Determining that the monitor was faulty, TireTraker replaced it … to no avail. So 
troubleshooting the problem with the help of a tech support agent was scheduled for yesterday.
I am happy to report the system is functional again. While we don’t rely entirely on TireTraker for monitoring the tires, it does give us a little more peace of mind and we’re happy that it is working once again.
So we drove to the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino (Inn) today instead. We had more blue skies today than yesterday, so the delay worked out to my advantage ;-)
As most of you know, I am a mixed-subject photographer … landscape, cityscape, art, museum exhibits, wildlife, and more. I’ve petty much decided I like the results the Fuji X-T10 gave me for museum photos, so I have moved on to more testing in other fields.
Wildlife photography usually requires a long lens. Equally important — or perhaps even more so — is the speed of the camera/lens combo. A DSLR is perfect for wildlife photography — especially when animals are in motion. How will the X-T10 perform was the question on my mind?
Today I attached the 55-200mm lens and went out to find out … my models were the black-chinned hummingbirds that visit our neighbors’ site and some horses on the other side of the fence at Deer Crossing. The sky clouded over with storm clouds by the time I got around to the horses, but I wasn’t testing color, so it didn’t matter that the light wasn’t great for today’s testing purposes.
Photobombed!
Overall, I am pleased with the results — especially considering this was a first-effort to photograph animals. The hummers were buzzing about, and the horses were a-twitching, trying to get some relief from the swarming black flies. I have a sense now of what kind of results I can get with the X-T10 when I’m around wildlife … and even improve upon them as I become more familiar with this new camera system.
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We’ve been planning to visit the Hubbard Museum of the American West since arriving here. But we were waiting to do it on a really hot or rainy day. We had such days in recent weeks, however, we decided to delay our visit until after my new camera arrived. That happened on Monday; the museum is closed Tuesday and Wednesday … bringing us to today!
Anne Stradling — a lifelong collector
Blaze — Trail … Alfred G Haigh (1920)
OK — so let’s move on to our morning at the museum and the pictures I took.
After stumbling across and stopping to visit the Merchant Marines and Military Cemetery — popularly referred to as Fort Stanton Cemetery — Mui noted that we were just a few miles from Fort Stanton Historic Site.
We decided that since we were so close, we’d jiggle our plans even though we had left home unprepared for a lengthy outing. For that you can read that I only had my small camera with me ;-)
But there was a surprise in store for us when we arrived at the fort!
While chatting with Denise, she mentioned two roads that we could drive where after a short distance the views open up and become quite scenic. “They’re gravel roads; not bad, but if you’d like to borrow our truck, you’re welcome to do so,” she told Mui. We took her up on the suggestion to check out one — Devil’s Canyon Road — but did so in our own car.
Our plan was to do some hiking while we were on our outing, but that part didn’t work out as the trail was a muddy mess after the recent rains.
If there is one thing we can count on here, it’s afternoon rain … sometimes falling gently; more often as downpours accompanied by boomers and lightning. Either way, combine the wet stuff with quickly rising temps that feel hotter than what the thermometer is showing and you have conditions that don’t invite me to be out and about!
I can deal with rain, but I’m a wimp when it comes to hot temps. With that in mind, we decided to do just a ½-day outing today and check out some of the places our Google search uncovered in the immediate area. Oddly, none of these sites were mentioned by the Visitor Center. But that’s a good thing as it means fewer people exploring those places. I like having such sites to myself ;-)
After taking care of a few things at home, we set off this morning to pick the brains of the people who man the visitor center Mui spotted when he drove into Ruidoso a few days ago.
We didn’t make much headway before we made our first stop.
Spotting a cute little church right after we passed the sign for Glencoe, another small community along Hwy 70, we flipped a u-ey so I could take a quick shot of St Anne’s Chapel. Dating back to the 1930’s, it is the founding Episcopal church in Lincoln County.
Services were just ending, and one of the congregants said I was welcome to enter the church and take photographs. There were still too many people inside, so I thanked him and said I’d stop by another time. As the only church in the area open 24 hours a day, I should be able to find a more suitable time to take pictures of the interior sometime before we leave.
Considering we haven’t done much, hard to believe the time has flown by so quickly and we’re already down to about three weeks left in our stay here. After finally catching up on my Santa Fe posts, I thought I’d do a post to introduce you to our home through the first part of August. Glad we came this year as the property is for sale and might not be around next season.
A day of rest did wonders to rejuvenate my batteries. Too many people; too much heat … draining for an introvert like me who prefers cool temps to summer heat. Staying home yesterday also allowed me to process photos … always a good thing in my book.
Mui wandered off for a while to visit the Saturday farmer’s market — he needs people to recharge his extrovert batteries don’t you know :-). He came back with a few goodies that I am sure he will make good use of over the next few days.
With a travel day ahead of us, we decided to stay local today. We did a few chores, and then set off to enjoy a few more sites in Santa Fe and give Mui a break from the kitchen by having lunch at one of the many restaurants and cafés in town.
Our short stay in Santa Fe has somehow turned into a visit with a focus on churches. You’d think we are especially religious people — we aren’t. That said, we enjoy visiting ecclesiastical sites — be they churches, mosques, or synagogues — and appreciate the sense of quiet peace they afford. Add to that the history that many of the churches in Santa Fe come with … well, let’s just continue the theme.
When the Curtin/Paloheimo families came up with the idea to convert the original ranch into an open air museum, they began by restoring or reconstructing whatever buildings were already on the property. If the state of disrepair was too far gone, they rebuilt on the original foundations. Some old structures — mostly log buildings — were grouped in the hills as a mountain village; a Peninte meeting house in Abiquiu was used as an inspiration to build a similar one; and rural buildings from elsewhere were carefully de-constructed, moved here, and put back together to represent buildings that had disappeared long ago.
Those were the first words in the brochure we picked up for $1 when we went into the gift shop to pay the $6pp admission fee for the open air museum that is located 20 minutes south of Santa Fe … and maybe about 10 minutes from the RV park where we are staying. We went thinking we’d just spend half a day there. As it turns out, we arrived just as the museum was opening at 10:00a and left just before they locked the doors at 4:00p ;-) Luckily, the sun did not become unbearable until late in the day as much of our time was spent outdoors ... except when we were inside the buildings that dot the grounds.
In the previous post we had lunch in Historic Santa Fe and toured the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi (post here). Let’s continue our a-wanderin’ of the landmarks near the city’s famed Santa Fe Plaza.
 | Scanned copy of the map we picked up from the Visitor Center (marked with an “I”).Marked up to show where we had lunch at Café Pasqual’s (across the Water Street parking lot), and the landmarks we visited (green stars).Starting to the right of the Plaza: St Francis Cathedral and City Park; Loretto Chapel; and the Oldest Church and House. |
Our next stop was not far. But before we leave the cathedral gardens…
The recorded high for the day might have been 72F (22C) … but it sure felt a lot hotter in the sun! No matter; we found plenty of places in Historic Santa Fe where we could seek shade.
Santa Fe — meaning “holy faith” in Spanish — was established in 1610, making it the oldest capital in the US; and the oldest city in New Mexico … the Land of Enchantment as the state is nicknamed. As such, there is a lot of history to enjoy … much of it preserved in landmarks in and around the city.
After a long travel day, we took it easy this morning, heading into downtown Santa Fe close to 11:00a. Our first stop was the Visitor Center, across the street from the State Capitol. Our goal was to get an idea of a few things to do in the immediate vicinity — both on good-weather days as well as rainy ones. Turns out we didn’t have to worry about the 40% chance of rain forecasted … all the wet stuff we got today fell overnight and into the wee hours of this morning.
