June 1, 2019: Under the New Mexico Sky: Georgia O'Keefe Museum and Hiking Bayo Benches Loop in Los Alamos

Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous. (Georgia O'Keeffe)

What a great day we have had waking up to the blue skies and amazing whiteness of the clouds in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Paul and I have been to Mexico numerous times and we tend to stay in Taos for the beauty of the mountains and the low key atmosphere. But just to mix it up a bit, we decided that on this trip for Paul's work, we would go to Santa Fe and see a bit of a different perspective and enjoy some art as well.

We embarrassingly had breakfast at Starbucks. Even more embarrassingly, I found a breakfast item that I loved--- egg white bites with red pepper. 150 calories of pure deliciousness. Who knew? But I recommend them to you!

Then we were off to the Georgia O'Keefe museum. It was very cool  and displayed mostly her works with flowers and New Mexico with a smattering of work from her husband's family farm in upstate New York , some wonderful vertical works from New York City and a few early paintings and sketches. I really enjoyed a short film made by the museum which depicts her mostly in older age at Ghost Ranch, one of her New Mexico homes, pontificating about life and about how she abandoned what she was formally taught in art schools to create her own abstract form of art. She says much of it had to do with her love for color. When responding to critique that her art was "sexualized," she said, "That's what's in their minds. Not what's in mine."

The painting on the left shows her idea of Manhattan at night, where she lived with her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, the first to recognize her talent. She lived in Manhattan for about 30 years before moving to New Mexico.

Every time you go outside in New Mexico, you see something a bit like this!

This one she painted in Lake George, New York in 1926 at the Stieglitz family farm where she spent the summers.

It was interesting to learn a bit more about her and her life, as well as her boldness, especially as a very recognizable female abstractionist in the 1920s. 

After our excursion to the museum, we decided to go out and explore some of the New Mexico landscape. We did not encounter those blue skies. In fact, we were in  hailstorm (in the car) briefly. But we found a narrow slab of meat sandwiched betweenthe bread of  storms North and South of Los Alamos that wasn't experiencing thunderstorms and took our feet there. 

Los Alamos is the "other" Atomic City in the USA. We are more used to Oak Ridge, TN. We drove through town and out past the golf course to find our trailhead. This hike starts on the rim of Bayo Canyon and has great views out to the Jemez Mountain Range.

The viewpoint looking down Bayo Canyon and out to the Jemez mountains. Note storm clouds above the peaks. We heard distant thunder most of the hike.

Paul on the rim. You can tell we weren't in a terribly remote location by the houses on the upper rim on the opposite side. 

From the rim, this trail drops down an old rutty wagon road and into the canyon floor where we hiked amongst ponderosa pines.

Looking back up at the canyon rim from the floor

The sun came out and we were happy to have the shade of the pines

Many of the cliffs here have caves and cavettes which attracted the ancestral pueblo people who used them for shelters and storage of grain.

From this point, we headed back up the other side of the canyon for a much gentler ascent. Great views in both directions.

Looking back from the South Wall of Bayo Benches Loop Hike

We saw many beautiful wildflowers including Indian paintbrush.

This was a really nice hike which only gained about 600 feet in elevation, had canyon rims, forest floor, and great bird watching, wildflowers and two lovely does. We would highly recommend it. 

Agave flowers.

We saw two lovely deer right off the bat.

Spotted towhee were frequent companions.

After the hike, we were peckish. So off we went into Los Alamos for Mexican food at Rigoberto's Taco Shop. 

This place was NOT pretty, but I had a quesadilla and Paul had a burrito and it was scrumptious and plenty!

We wound our way from Los Alamos back through Indian reservations, casinos galore and finally to Santa Fe where we had a nap and lovely dinner. 

We have frequently during trips to New Mexico passed Camel Rock geological formation on Hwy 84

We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant called Geronimo where cocktails were beautiful and the elk tenderloin was "like butter."

The interior of Geronimo. 

Lovely chamomile cocktail at Geronimo. 

A toast to a lovely day in and out in New Mexico!

Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.  Georgia O'Keefe

Paul's Ponderings:  I've had the pleasure of traveling to New Mexico for 20 years for work on a regular basis and always try to spend extra time here when the opportunity presents itself.   It's a stunning part of the US.....in terms of light, terrain, scenery, hiking, you name it.     While I like the American West and have had a lot of chances to spend time there, New Mexico is really unique and in a class by itself in my view.    As you can see from the lovely photos here, we had some spectacular hiking and the photos just don't do it justice!     We were favored with pretty good weather as well.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our dinner the first night we were in Santa Fe, at the Coyote Cafe, which has been here for decades.   We were treated above and beyond service-wise in many ways and the food was outstanding as well.   It used to be a sister restaurant to Geronimo and still has some menu likenesses, but unique it its own way as well.   Geronimo was wonderful as well with some Asian influence in among the southwest flavors -- very nice!

We had a great hike near Los Alamos today -- the "other" Atomic City besides Oak Ridge....we got a bit off the path in a dry wash that looked like a path, but to no harm.   The hike had beautiful highs and a descent into a canyon via an old wagon road that made it all really varied and enjoyable.  Nothing like cheap good Mexican food to wrap it up after you are done!

We hope to get back to more regular blogging here.   It's been a while and we've done a LOT of traveling that has NOT been documented.....namely a long trip to Panama in particular.    We find it helps us remember things as time passes and hopefully the reader gets some benefit as well.