PETRIFIED FOREST AND PAINTED DESERT

We stopped here between Las Vegas and Albuquerque. But I'm not 65 anymore and I'm blogging after the fact and I was excited about seeing John and we had such a great time with him in Albuquerque

SOOOOO  -  here is a post that should have been before Albuquerque.

These two National Parks, even combined, are quite small by NP standards. One day would be plenty of time to see it all IF we didn't go wilderness backpacking. So, we did it in one day.

Our first planned stop was the Painted Desert Inn, but there were a couple of overlooks and short trails first.

The original building on this site was the "Stone Tree House" which was built in 1927 by Herbert Lore. It was made of petrified wood. Very remote, it was a long ride from town but guests came for the spectacular views. No electricity, no water on site. A generator provided electric but fuel and water had to brought in by horse and wagon from the railroad.

Here is a picture of the original building from a NPS website.

When the Park Service took over in 1936 plans to renovate the building were found to be impractical. It was built on clay which was constantly shifting and destroying the mud that was used for mortar.  To quote one of the NPS Rangers, Mr. Lore's concept was exceptional. Not so much his execution.

The old adobe walls were reinforced on a new foundation and the building was made to look like a pueblo adobe building.

It is a museum now, furnished a little like the Stone Tree House and a lot more like Grand Canyon's buildings because Mary Colter designed the interior along with Hopi artist Fred Kabotie.

Wall Mural.

Basement Tavern.

Dining Room.

Lower entrance showing some of the original petrified wood walls.

Ceiling in main room.

Navajo loom.

All of that was interesting but we came to see the landscape.

And it didn't disappoint us.

Historic Route 66 goes through the middle of the park.

This area is an important archeological site. The park's earliest resident arrived at least 8000 and more probably 10,000 years ago. By 150 BC they were living in villages and growing crops. Probably for climatic reasons, the area was abandoned around 1400AD. There are villages that are thought to have been inhabited by about 200 people. This excavation centers on an open courtyard that was surrounded by 100 one story houses. There were also several large granaries capable of storing enough grain for a year's consumption.

More petroglyphs.

There are many solar markers in the Southwest dating from 2000 - 5000 years ago.

Sunlight shines through the crack in this boulder so that at 9AM on June 22nd, the sliver of sunlight hits the exact center of this bulls-eye petroglyph.

We were not there at the right time but here is a picture and a diagram from an NPS website.

Entering the Petrified Forest NP we still see beautiful "painted desert."

There is petrified wood on every continent including Antarctica but the Petrified Forest is the largest collection by far.

Formed around 225 million years ago, the logs are all along the walkways and easy to see, photograph and even touch. The colors are magnificent and the details remaining from the wood are amazing.

From here we went to Albuquerque but you already know that. So our next blogged stop will be Lubbock, TX. We are headed toward home.

And life is good.

OLD TOWN ALBUQUERQUE AND SANTA FE

We attended Mass at San Felipe de Neri Church which was built in 1793. The Church and the service were beautiful.

That was Saturday evening. Sunday we drove to Santa Fe. The main reason for the trip was to visit the Loretto Chapel. It was built in 1872 as a convent chapel for the Sisters of Loretto. The common practice at that time was to have a ladder as access to the Choir loft because choirs were made up of men. By the time the Sisters realized that there was no stairway much of the construction had been completed and there was no room for a staircase. The Sisters did not want to climb a ladder in their long habits. They prayed a Novena to St. Joseph. On the day after their Novena ended a shabby-looking stranger appeared at their door. He told the nuns he would build them a staircase but that he needed total privacy and locked himself in the chapel for three months. He used a small number of primitive tools including a square, a saw and some warm water and constructed a spiral staircase entirely of non-native wood. The identity of the carpenter is not known for as soon as the staircase was finally finished he was gone. Many witnesses, upon seeing the staircase, feel it was constructed by St. Joseph himself, as a miraculous occurrence.

 From Wikipedia, 

"The resulting staircase is an impressive work of carpentry. It ascends twenty feet, making two complete revolutions up to the choir loft without the use of nails or apparent center support. It has been surmised that the central spiral of the staircase is narrow enough to serve as a central beam. Nonetheless there was no attachment unto any wall or pole in the original stairway, although in 1887—10 years after it was built—a railing was added and the outer spiral was fastened to an adjacent pillar. Instead of metal nails, the staircase was constructed using dowels or wooden pegs."

Miracle or not, it is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. And the building and stained glass are beautiful too.

This is what it looked like before the railing. Carol took a picture of a poster in the chapel.

PLEASE "click" on it to see the incredible workmanship and design.

We found much more to see in Santa Fe. And all within easy walking distance. And it was a sunny comfortable day.

The first building we saw was "the oldest house" which is said to  have been built in 1646 on a Pueblo foundation at least 800 years old.

NOT from the 1600's but I thought it was worth sharing.

When I grew up in NY state, we were taught that Massachusetts was the first European settlement in the US.

My kids, in VA were taught, "No it wasn't. It was right here in VA at Jamestown."

We visited St. Augustine this past spring and THEY said they were the oldest. Now we are in NM and guess what, they say that THEY are the oldest.


San Miguel Mission, built 1610 is the oldest church in the United States and it is still in use. St Augustine claims the first Mass in 1565 and a mission was built soon after. But the FL missions were constructed of wood and all the early ones were destroyed.

San Miguel is built of adobe so although its roof burned during an Indian uprising, the building has stood the test of time. Probably because the walls are over 5' thick.

The Altar Screen is from 1798.

The 780 pound bell was cast in Spain in 1356 during the battles with the Moors. It was brought to San Miguel in 1692. The bell tower in which it was later installed collapsed in a storm in 1872. Now the bell is located at the front of the sanctuary. Legend says that in praise of God, and with pleas to Him to end the 600 year occupation, the wealthy contributed their gold and silver jewelry to be cast in the bell. It is said to have "had the sweetest peal in all Christendom."

Latin Mass is still held there so Carol and I attended. I had not been to one in decades and Carol had never been. It was interesting.

One more church. The Cathedral  Basilica of St Francis of Assisi was dedicated in 1886 but the main structure of adobe was built in 1714.

There was a Mass when we were there so we did not get inside to take pictures. The courtyards were beautiful with very interesting statues and historical information.

The oldest house and all three of the churches we pictured are on the city square. There are also lots of shops and dozens of vendors on the sidewalks.

 Along with a really good Jazz band. They had two guitars, a banjo, a trombone, a sax and a trumpet. All they needed was a Bass.

They were LOUD. But I guess their dog is used to it because he slept through it all.

I had intended to sample some of the famous Santa Fe Mexican cuisine. But the Upper Crust was next door to the Mission chapel where we went to Mass. The windows of the restaurant and the church were open. By the time Mass was over we were pretty well committed to Pizza.

 

Incredible Pizza AND they had Shiner's. What more could we ask?