Autumn Daze: New Mexico

A brief escape to Santa Fe and Taos

Rio Chama (Chama River) near Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, one of two places in the state where artist Georgia O’Keeffe worked and lived.

Last year at this time we were on the East Coast drinking in the glorious red, crimson and gold of the changing leaves as we traveled through New England. This fall we returned to our favorite western leaf-peeping territory in northern New Mexico, mostly in and around Santa Fe and Taos where the colors are primarily a blaze of yellow from the cottonwoods and aspens. No matter how many times we’ve been here—I’m guessing at least seven or eight visits over four decades or so—it’s always a bit of a shock to return and fall in love with the landscape, people and food all over again.

A log cabin that was built at Ghost Ranch for the 1991 film City Slickers (with Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern and Jack Palance).

For today, I wanted to share some photographic highlights of this beautiful area of New Mexico. Perhaps it will inspire you to take a trip of your own sometime—maybe next fall, really our favorite time of year in this part of the world!

It seems every shop or home in New Mexico has a string or two of hanging chile peppers called ristras in the doorway or patio. They’re said to bring good luck and health, and dried ones—soaked and de-seeded—work nicely in a number of New Mexican dishes. We have a couple of ristras in our kitchen from our last visit three years ago (read about it here). They’ve held up pretty well, though I probably wouldn’t use the peppers in a dish (they’re a bit dusty!). We bought a couple more strings to hang on the porch—and I plucked a few of the chiles to add to a stew or soup. (Note: in New Mexico, the pepper is spelled with an “e” at the end (chile) and the dish, chili, with an “i.”)

At the Saturday Farmers’ Market in Santa Fe (not to be missed!), I bought a small wreath with chiles and dried flowers made by Pilar (above), who says she’s been making them for 40 years from what she grows in her garden. Using her hands helps combat the pain of arthritis, and selling her wreaths is a great way to connect with friends, she said.

Above, crisp New Mexican-grown apples. One of the oldest crops in the state, they were planted by the Spaniards more than 300 years ago. More peppers from the market, below.

If you’re looking for Native American jewelry, pottery and other handicrafts, you can’t do better than to buy from the artisans who display their wares in front of the New Mexico History Museum in the city’s main plaza. You’re purchasing directly from those who do the work—and the prices are usually better than you can find in the nearby stores.

San Miguel Mission, a historic adobe church in Santa Fe originally built around 1610 and said to be the oldest church building in the U.S.

New Mexico Museum of Art in the late October sunlight. Most buildings in Santa Fe are built in a range of adobe styles in some 21 shades of brown. None are supposed to be taller than three stories.

"The Voice of the Water," one of four frescos that artist Will Shuster painted in 1934 in the patio of the New Mexico Museum of Art, funded by the Public Works Art Project during the Depression. At right, a sculpture by Doug Hyde at the Hotel Santa Fe.

Even with the dominant adobe brown, color and art are everywhere in Santa Fe. This arcade of painted pillars brightens the exterior of the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, which unfortunately we didn’t manage to visit (there are SO many museums here!).

Blue corn enchiladas, rice and beans at Tomasita’s, steps from Hotel Santa Fe, where we spent a few very comfortable nights. The city’s only Native American-owned hotel, it’s filled with traditional paintings, sculpture and crafts and has an excellent restaurant, Amaya (see below).

If you partake of a Happy Hour feast at the hotel, you might just choose to skip dinner (though maybe you should force yourself because the food here is so good!) and order a fancy dessert, like the Colossal Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée.

Hotel Santa Fe at night.

Taos

Unfortunately we only had a day in Taos and were determined to see the famed Taos Pueblo, which was closed when we last visited during the pandemic. This time we were luckier and were able to take a tour and wander about.

Just outside of Taos, the Taos Pueblo is at least 1,000 years old, one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the U.S. Only about 150 people live in the pueblo. There’s no running water or electricity, but propane is allowed and is used for lighting and cooking fuel.

Earth mixed with straw and water is used to construct the adobe bricks that form the walls of the dwellings at the Taos Pueblo. They’re often several feet thick and owners are expected to keep up with repairs.

The river is the pueblo’s water source. Our young guide, Jordan, told us that it’s untreated and that Taos Pueblo residents are used to it.

Lottie of the Taos Pueblo, selling meticulously hand-painted Christmas ornaments made by her daughter Natalie, along with her own jewelry.

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Heading home to California, speeding along (I almost said “zooming along” but thought better of it) Route 40 at 80 mph and more (if you’re going the speed limit of 75, it feels like you’re standing still), the landscape and shape-shifting clouds continue to fascinate. They might be anything—dogs, birds or butterflies—but really they’re just pretty clouds. And that’s good enough for me!

Next time: ‘Miss O’Keeffe’!

Of course there’s more to tell, and I’ll be back soon with Part 2. I’ll talk about our visit to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, taking a tour of the painter’s home in Abiquiú, a quick trip to Ghost Ranch where she had her summer residence, and sampling some dishes taken from a book of her recipes written by her assistant Margaret Wood and prepared at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. Wood regaled us with tales of “Miss O’Keeffe,” for whom she began working at age 24 when the artist was 90 and still going strong, though suffering from macular degeneration. Of course there will be a recipe or two!,

Margaret Wood reading from her book, A Painter’s Kitchen: Recipes from the Kitchen of Georgia O’Keeffe at the Santa Fe School of Cooking.

Meanwhile, Election Day is Tuesday—can you believe it? I hope you’re all voting. I can’t imagine you’re not in an election as consequential as this one.

If you have a question about how to vote, where to vote, what’s on the ballot, registration, voting by mail or anything to do with the election, check out Vote.org. Other resources include iwillvote.com and the nonpartisan voter protection hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683). Find a link to the website here.

As for who to vote for, if you read my post of two weeks ago, you know I’m supporting Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz for President and Vice President, respectively.

Although the choice seems crystal clear to me, I’ve discovered that’s not the case for many others. The New York Times, unlike The Washington Post and my hometown paper, The Los Angeles Times, had the courage to endorse Kamala Harris and makes a persuasive case that she’s “the only patriotic choice for President.” Here’s a gift link. Hopefully it will work.

And if you need more persuasion—or maybe just a laugh—check out the Harris’s appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend (just click on the photo and then the video—or try this link):

And that’s it. I’m off to make phone calls.

I’m grateful for your likes, comments, shares and subscriptions. It’s a vote for what I do, which, while not as essential as running a country, does, I hope, contribute to the general well-being of my readers.

See you next time!

Ruth

We arrived just in time to catch the evening “Balloon Glow” event that’s part of the annual three-day Taos Mountain Balloon Rally.