Hardwired

New Mexico

New Mexico Book Settings: Albuquerque

Jun 22, 2017 | , , , , ,

Gadgets was set primary in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. This blog post showcases Albuquerque Old Town. 

Spanish explorers first arrived in Albuquerque in 1540 under the leadership of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, but it wasn’t until 1706 that King Philip of Spain gave permission to establish a villa (city) on the banks of the Rio Grande. The colonists chose a spot near the great river, which provided irrigation for their crops and wood from the bosque. Then-governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés named the newly established villa in honor of the Duke of Alburquerque in Spain. Over the centuries, the first r was dropped from the city’s name.

Being religious people, the Spanish settlers immediately erected an adobe chapel, the anchor of the plaza in Albuquerque’s Old Town. Surrounding the chapel were adobe homes, clustered close together for protection. Due to unseasonably heavy rains, the chapel collapsed in 1792 and was rebuilt, enlarged, and remodeled several times over the years, and today, San Felipe de Neri Church stands in this location. This is the church Paco and Bullet visited in Gadgets.

In 1979, I attended my first Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Up at 3:00 a.m., I layered on clothes, packed my camera gear into a day pack, and got an early start on the traffic and crowds of fiesta-goers. Shivering in the predawn, I snuggled into my turtleneck and drew my hoodie tighter around my head before I scarfed down a breakfast burrito and polished it off with hot coffee. Minutes before Dawn Patrol, I slung my new Nikon over my shoulder, hoisted the day pack on my back, and roamed the launch field, snapping, rewinding, snapping, and rewinding, rapping off one frame after another. I made a note to equip my Nikon with an autowind motor drive. But at that time my attention was on the sky and mass ascension.

Flashback to 1972, when the fiesta started as a gathering of thirteen balloons and twenty thousand spectators in the parking lot of the Coronado Shopping Center. It has since mushroomed into the largest hot air balloon event in the world. At this year’s forty-fifth annual fiesta, six hundred balloons will paint the turquoise New Mexico sky a kaleidoscope of colors. To accommodate the tens of thousands of guests, balloonists, and balloons, the nine-day fiesta is now held at a permanent site called Balloon Fiesta Park.

Stuck in traffic as I left the fairgrounds, I knew it wouldn’t be my last fiesta, and who knows, maybe I would top the five hundred photos I had taken that day. In Gadgets the reader can see the event through Darcy’s eyes. To learn more about the fiesta–http://www.balloonfiesta.com.

And for the artist in all of us, I thought you might enjoy these photos taken during my jaunt through Old Town. Note the bright colors in the courtyard of the photo of the doorway.

An excerpt from Gadgets 

Darcy parked her 4Runner in a visitor’s spot and doublechecked the address Randolph had given her. The right address, so she climbed out, pleased by the modern design of the building, from the pink granite to the expanses of turquoise glass banded by chrome to the purple pipe railings on the wraparound balconies. A far cry from the original Colton Aerospace, once housed in an old warehouse in a rundown section of town near the airport.

The building and location for Colton Aerospace was inspired by Sun Healthcare Corporation Campus in Albuquerque’s Journal Center. These photos are from the architect’s website. The campus was designed by FBT Architects and has panoramic views of the Sandia Mountains. https://fbtarch.com/

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Hiking in Northern New Mexico

Jun 15, 2017 | , ,

This blog post is a segue from the flora, fauna, and miscellaneous glossary into the next series of posts which will be titled New Mexico Book Settings–locations used in Brainwash and Gadgets and two that will appear in CLON-X.

Taos Valley Overlook Trails

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the years, I’ve backpacked a lot of New Mexico, from Chama in the north to Las Cruces in the south. For me, the hardest hike was Wheeler Peak via Williams Lake Trail. David, my husband, Shotz, our first giant schnauzer, and I were in good shape and young, so age and physical condition had no bearing on how difficult we found the climb. It was the weather that was against us. It can be unpredictable at those altitudes. We made the 6.2-mile trip in August and had just reached the summit when a violent electrical storm erupted. The dangerous lightning, rain, and sleet drove us back down the mountain. Even veteran hikers tagged along. The trail, best used from June to October, is rated “difficult” and is heavily trafficked out and back, so go early, bring water, and be prepared for changes in the weather. You can pick up the trail near the Taos Ski Valley, and you can bring your dog or ride your horse. And remember, if you bring it in, please pack it out. Some visitors leave enough trash behind, and the wilderness doesn’t need any more.

One of our most recent hikes was the Rift Valley Loop Trail, which is part of the Taos Valley Overlook Trails. The trails are located six miles south of Ranchos de Taos on NM 68. The other two trails in the area are West Rim Trail and Petaca Point Trail. The Rift Valley Loop Trail is 10.5 miles long, and as the name states, it loops back to the trailhead. The level of difficulty is intermediate. Most visitors use the trail for mountain biking, but it is also used for hiking and horseback riding, and is dog friendly. Great views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the Rio Grande River, and the Rio Grande Gorge. In wet weather, it can be muddy, and nothing sticks like New Mexico mud, and nothing dries as hard—great for making adobe bricks. Although the trails are moderately trafficked, the best time to hike is early morning: fewer cars parked at the trailhead, fewer people and mountain bikes on the trails, and in the summer months, cooler, not to mention quieter. Savor the peace and solitude, and snap lots of photos.

Rio Grande del Norte National Monument

The Rio Grande del Norte National Monument spans approximately 240,000 acres of public lands in Taos County, New Mexico. It was declared a national monument in 2013, primarily to protect the Rio Grande River. The area is a critical habitat for elk, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and great horned owls. Towering over the region is Ute Mountain at 10,093 feet. Fun activities in the area are: rafting (only for those with excellent white-water skills, due to the intense rapids), mountain biking, fishing, hiking (note, some trails are steep and treacherous), camping, scenic driving, and wildlife viewing. We were here to hike and take pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are ten trails totaling twenty-two miles along the rim and river of the Rio Grande, and they vary from easy to moderate to difficult. On this visit we chose the challenging La Junta Overlook, a steep descent with loose rock, a ladder, and metal stairs to reach the confluence of the Rio Grande River and the Red River, but well worth the effort—although we wondered if it really was when we had to make the hike back up to the rim eight hundred feet above. We did not bring our giant schnauzer Kai, as there was no way he could negotiate the rigors of this trail, and we definitely did not want him to encounter any slithery wildlife. Do heed the signs to watch for rattlesnakes. They too call this stunning terrain home.

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A Southwest Glossary: Flora, Fauna, and Miscellaneous

Jun 8, 2017 | , ,

Sangre de Cristo Mountains looking north toward Colorado

 

Cholla
The cholla is a tree-like cactus with a woody short trunk and upright candelabra-like branches. The plant grows to a height of seven feet and is as wide as it is tall. The cholla is widespread throughout the Southwest and prefers gravelly, sandy soil in elevations of 2000 to 7000 feet. In summer, the tree sets forth showy magenta blooms. In its native habitat the cholla is considered a weedy pest, infesting rangelands and forming dense thickets on overgrazed lands.

 

Big Sagebrush/Big Sage/Sage
Big Sagebrush, also called big sage, or simply sage,is a silvery-grey evergreen shrub with strongly aromatic foliage. The pungent odor is especially fragrant when brushed against or after a good rain. The rugged, perennial shrub grows to a height of seven feet and bears inconspicuous flowers in late summer. One mature plant may produce as many as a million seeds.

Chamisa/Rabbitbrush/Rabbitbush
Chamisa is a silver-blue deciduous shrub about three to five feet tall and wide, and is in the sunflower family. It has pungent yellow flowers in late summer and early fall.

 

 

Blue Grama
Blue grama, a warm-season grass, is native to the High Plains and a good alternative to water-thirsty lawns. It is easy to establish, cold hardy, pest- and disease-free, and tolerant of poor soils. The grass is low growing, although most of us would not consider one to one and a half feet tall as low growing, at least not for a lawn. The blades are thin and the texture of the grass fine, but the look can be a bit wild if left unmowed. I started our small blue grama lawn with plugs, and within two seasons we had a nice, tight stand of turf. Ironically, we had some good rains during the monsoons of 2015 and 2016 and had to install a gutter to divert the excess water from drenching our lawn. Too much water and you can rot your blue grama. Photo: High Country Gardens, Santa Fe, New Mexico. We purchased our blue grama plugs from them. It will be another season before we have a full lawn.

Jackrabbits vs Jackalopes
Jackrabbits are not rabbits but hares. They have taller hind legs and longer ears than a rabbit, while a jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns. I’ve seen plenty of jackrabbits, some the size of small dogs, scampering across the desert Southwest, but have yet to see a jackalope. Of course, I say this in jest, as there is no such thing as a jackalope . . . or is there? I can attest to the fact that the only jackalopes I have ever seen were in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Check them out here: http://jackalope.com.

The Taos Hum: All this talk about fictitious jackalopes is a good segue into another phenomenon, the Taos Hum, an elusive, low-frequency humming noise first reported around 1990. Only about 2 percent of the general population are “hearers,” those who claim to detect the hum. Theories as to the cause/source abound. Read more: http://www.livescience.com/43519-taos-hum.html and http://strangesounds.org/2014/09/taos-hum-elusive-hum-taos-new-mexico.html.

 

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