The Santuario de Guadalupe in Santa Fe, NM is the oldest shrine to our Lady of Guadalupe in the United States. I wrote a little about the history of this place in a Black and White Tuesday post about the Church here and today, as part of Alisa’s Weekly Travel Theme: Statues I have a view of the beautiful statue at the entrance.
Bandelier National Monument is a 33,677-acre National Monument in New Mexico preserving remains of homes of the Ancestral Pueblo People. Human presence in this area can be traced back 10,000 years but permanent settlements in Bandelier date from two time periods – 1150 to 1600 CE (common era). By 1550 the Ancestral Pueblo people had moved from their homes here to pueblos along the Rio Grande (Cochiti, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo).
Bandelier was established as a National Monument by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and now receives close to 200,000 visitors each year. The Rustic Style visitor services buildings at the monument were built during the 1920’s and 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps and are the largest group of CCC-built structures in a National Park area. Los Alamos, New Mexico is the closest town and the monument was closed to the public for several years during WWII so it could serve as private housing for Manhattan Project Scientists and military personnel developing the atom bomb.
My last visit to this canyon was 8 years ago and I wish I had a few photos of the CCC buildings to share but looking through my files today reminds me I was more interested in capturing the cliff dwellings and remains of Kivas on the ground. If I have the opportunity to return I’ll be sure to expand my range and explore the more recent structures too.
Posted as part of the Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned
What is family? For some, family is defined by genetics. For others, it is simply those with whom you share a bond of love. Or maybe it is nothing less than an expression of the universality of human experience…
Josh R. – The Daily Post
I don’t know about you but my family generates an amazing amount of laundry every week. Aren’t you a little curious about the family that inspired this piece of outdoor sculpture at the Shidoni Gallery in Tesuque, NM?
Posted as part of the Weekly Photo Challenge: Family
I had to stop and look twice at this shadow pattern on the side of the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, NM.
Posted as part of Sue’s A Word A Week Challenge: Shadow
El Santuario de Chimayo
Chimayo, NM
We spent a beautiful June afternoon here walking through the grounds, viewing the art work and lighting candles for family members.
…a photo doesn’t have to be blatantly macabre to be eerie. But it can have a mysterious, otherworldly vibe — the viewer wonders what lurks in the shadows. Something eerie has a story to tell — one you aren’t quite sure you want to know.
Cheri – The Daily Post
The night before the 2013 Summer Solstice and Super Moon my husband and I spent hours walking around Santa Fe, NM experiencing the old town through the soft filter of moonlight instead of stark, mid-day sun. John took a lot of photos around The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and he was especially intrigued by the shadows cast by a large crucifix. At this time of night we thought we were the only people along the side of the building so you can imagine our surprise when we returned to our hotel room and saw the hand in this photo…
Posted as part of the Weekly Photo Challenge: Eerie
The Santuario de Guadalupe was originally built as a church in Santa Fe, NM in 1777 and currently houses the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s collection of New Mexican santos (carved images of the saints), Italian Renaissance paintings, and Mexican baroque paintings. Though it has been renovated several times The Santuario is the oldest, still-standing church that is dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the United States and Canada. It stands at the end of the famous Camino Real, the main route from Mexico City via Chihuahua to the Southwest.
Unfortunately the interior was closed the day of our visit but we were able to walk around the outside, rest on the stone benches and appreciate the architecture of this beautiful building.
In a June post I wrote one of the things I love about travel is the chance to experience a brand new view in very normal moments. Walking down the street and people watching in cafe’s are two of my favorite “normal” locations and as a result I spend a lot of time pointing my camera up to the sky capturing roof lines and clouds that are so different from what I see here at home.
These roof top views are from the area around Santa Fe New Mexico and posted as part of Sue’s A Word A Week Challenge: Roof.
Sometimes revenge is a little sweet…
Halfway through our first hike in New Mexico Ryan stepped off the main trail and landed right on a low growing Prickly Pear Cactus. It’s needle sharp spines buried so deeply into his shoes, socks and skin that it took a pair of pliers to clear the last ones out of the rubber soles.
At lunch the first thing he ordered was a prickly pear frozen lemonade. It was delicious.
Posted as part of Alisa’s weekly travel theme: Sweet
A Cactus flower next to our hiking trail north of Santa Fe, NM.
iPhone 5 native camera and edited in Snapseed
The view from the courtyard at La Casa Sena in Santa Fe, NM.
Posted as part of Lens and Pen by Sally’s weekly Phoneography challenge: Black and White
Northwest Frame of Mind 