Sleepless in Santa Fe

I don’t know if I mentioned that what Jene thought were bug bites, he determined was most likely poison oak or ivy that he brushed up against last Saturday when we were breaking camp.  His arm seems to be effected the most and nearly 5 days of spraying Ivy Dry on it hasn’t quelled the itch nor the blistering.  I hope that he will heed my advice and find a dermatologist today to look at it and maybe prescribe something that is stronger than OTC spray.

When we were tucking ourselves into bed, he said that he is tired of traveling already.  Oh no…..  it’s not even two weeks on the road.  Grant it,- long stretches of highway, some a tad more interesting than others but pretty much boring.   We are clocking a lot of milage during the day and finding places to rest @ dinner time, but we don’t get started until noon.  I’m up early, make entries in my blog while Jene is still asleep,  get coffee when he wakes and then we start the day.   Me, I would be on the road by 8 but we are traveling  on “Jene time”.

Last Thursday on our way out of Amarillo, TX we stopped at the famed Cadillac Ranch to take some pictures.  Over the years, it was moved to it’s present location.  Visitors have ripped bumpers, the fins, etc off the original installations leaving what I consider a mere shell of it’s existance, writing graffiti on or otherwise spray-painting the vehicles is also encouraged.  I thought it ironic that one of the “artists” was complaining that because of all the layers of paint that has bubbled it was difficult for her to add her art with her brushes.  Perhaps she should have gotten there in 1974.  I met a woman who has been traveling with 2 female companions, one a friend and the other a stuffed life-size doll named Nancy.  She has been traveling – photographing Nancy in sights all over and is working on a photo  journal book.

We traveled a little bit on Route 66 which runs along side Route 40, stopped for gas and to buy souvenirs before  heading north to Santa Fe.

 

Visitor center was not easy to find and we walked around the plaza before scouting out another Motel 6 about 20 mintues from everything.  We had local fare at Balconies Restaurant in the square – spicy hot but tasty.

Friday – Our second day in Santa Fe and it was a hard start.  We woke earlier and was out to breakfast by 10am, looked at the possibility of another motel decided to stay at the motel 6 and then headed to an urgent care center to have Jene’s swollen poison ivy arm looked at.  A steroid shot in the butt and presceiptions for 3 meds and we were on our way to filling the scripts.  Walgreens had just 2 of the meds and the 3rd would be in on Tuesday.  That would not do.  So Brittany called other stores and found one in the direction of the Georgia O’Keeffe that had the lotion.  We made a stop shopping for beads, and I got a few unusal strands.  We finally made it to the 2nd Walgreens and we still had to wait 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, there’s a message form Sean and a message from Jene.  I phoned Sean back and Brittany who had the phone Jene left at that store.  UGH….  Will I ever get to Georgia O;K?

It is first Friday and not only was admission into the museum free, after 5pm,  there was also gallery open tour. We stopped at a gallery and had a glass of sherry on the balcony and I photographed the El Mariachi Porvenir Band that was entertaining the art lovers.

I was disappointed in the small number of O’Ks work at her own museum.  The exhibit was about how photography has helped painters and how painters have helped some photographers.

We had dinner at Rooftop Pizza, then picked up the cell phone and thanked Brittany again.

Saturday-  Labor Day Weekend with several events going on all over the place.  We went to Santa Fe’s famous farmers market at the RailYard.  Organic fruits, veggies, flowers, breads, cheeses and jams, The place was mobbed and is a weekly draw for locals as well as tourists.   On the other side are some local artisans and I couldn’t resist buying something for myself.  At SITE Sante-Fe were a few interesting art installations.  A massive hanging installation by Suzanne Bocanegra.  “I write the songs” a deconstructed 17th painteg, reproduced and torn to pieces and hung in such manner giving it fluidity of motion that was also realized in the music that filled the huge room.

“Little dots” was a  performance that visually depicted the series of color dots that George Seurat’s painting Young Woman Powdering Hersel. 14 pairs of colored ballet shoes hung on poles reperesented the colors used by the painter. The dancer would go each pair of shoes, Very hard to explain but interesting to watch as the ballerina donned the shoes toe/tapping to the number of dots that representated that particular color..  Then it was off to the Kewa Indian Pow-wow at the Santa Domingo Reservation.

I’ll add photos when I can… we are in Taos now and although we have free wifi, I am getting only 1 bar and slow is not the word.

Next we are heading to Colorado and will be camping.

mary