Dandyfunk

Last Gasp from New Mexico

Got back from a cold and snowy New Mexico to a . . . cold and snowy New Jersey.

Some other places I visited:

This is on the way to Three Rivers Petroglyph Park. At this site,  hundred of years ago, people chipped away at the rocks to leave petroglyphs of animals, religious symbols, and geometric forms. See the photos here.

I also went to Valley of Fires State park. A volcanic vent spewed out a miles long magma flow. The lava hardened on the outside, but the lava continued to flow beneath. See the photos here.

The Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is a group of three pueblo communities that were abandoned in the 1600's. Before they collapsed due to drought and aggression from Apache raiders, Franciscan brothers build churches in the communities, trying to establish the Catholic church in the frontier of Spanish America. Photos here.

Long Weekend / Short Vacation

We went up to Cape Cod for a long weekend.
It is the off season, so lots of stuff is closed, and the weather is cool, but there are no crowds, and it's easy to find a hotel room. We did some hiking and some biking (both on saturday) and when it rained we went to the art museum and the natural history museum.

Craftsman Farms

Friday we dug out from the snowstorm.
On Saturday we went to The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms. For the holidays the house was decorated in the style of the 1920's, when Gustav Stickley lived there with his family. The style back then was white tissue paper and red ribbons for gifts, and artificial Christmas trees (or live trees that could be re-planted) decorated with stings of popcorn and cranberries. The ornaments were glass, made in America, since the original German styles were no longer popular after WWI. Also with either candles or early electric bulbs. And in either case a bucket of water nearby in case of fire!
We had the honor of meeting Mrs. Claus and a reporter from The Neighbor News while we were there. I may be in the background of one of the pictures.