51.6/18 Alamogordo and the Unusual White Sands National Park

The impressive New Mexico Space Museum along with outdoor exhibits and an Imax theater stands alone high in the foothills above the city of Alamogordo, NM

The International Space Hall of Fame shows pictures and gives a bio of all the men and women from Greek times down through the ages to the present who have made important contributions to astronomy and space exploration.

Little Joe II,
a solid fueled rocket capable of launching men into orbit.

Standing on its pad at the New Mexico Museum of Space History, Little Joe II, powered by up to nine rocket motors with a combined thrust of 860,000 pounds, is, symbolically, ready to go. The solid-fueled Little Joe flew from White Sands Missile Range between August 1963 and January 1966 to develop and test launch escape systems. During an in-flight “emergency”, the Launch Escape System fired and pulled the Apollo Command Module containing the astronauts safely away from the booster. These rocket motors used in the Apollo and Saturn rockets were the kind of solid-fuel motors that United Technologies developed and tested in Sunnyvale and San Jose and which I photographed with extremely high speed cameras when I worked there in the early 1980s. Only, when we tested them, we always pointed the rocket down into the ground!

The F-1, a very complex liquid-fuel rocket engine to provide
the very large thrust needed to get a payload into orbit

The 18 feet tall F-1 rocket engine is the most powerful single chamber, liquid-fuel rocket engine ever flown. It had a thrust of over 1,500,000 pounds—compare that to the Little Joe engines. Five of these engines were clustered to power the first stage of the Saturn V rocket which carried men to the moon. (Remember 1969 and Neil Armstrong.) One of the big problems in the early days was the transition from the liquid-fueled first stage to the solid-fueled later stages.

Explorer 46, a Meteoroid Technology Satellite

Meteorites were once thought to pose a significant danger to spacecraft and their crews. To test their effects NASA launched the Meteoroid Technology Satellite (MTS) from Wallops Island in 1972. The satellite gathered information on meteoroid speeds, quantities, and penetration rates. Results indicated meteoroids are not a serious hazard to spacecraft.

The Space Museum is not very contemporary, but it does give a good perspective on the development of understanding and technology needed to land a man on the Moon. The staff is skilled at helping teachers shepherd their bus loads of school children down the ramps of the five story building.

WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT

The white sand in White Sands National Monument is not your ordinary garden-variety of silica from white granite. It is composed of white gypsum (a form of hydrous calcium sulfate (CaSO4•2H2O)—one of its main uses is to make plaster board to make walls in our homes.) It occurs in the form of sand only a few places in the World because it is soluble in water. The Monument is by far the largest such gypsum dune field.
In the early 1930s, the National Monument was carved out of the middle of the White Sands Missile Range which is involved in testing NASA rockets and space gear as described above. The Missile Range has the distinction of being the site of one of the most important scientific experiments ever conducted. It was here at the so-called Trinity Site that proof that mass could be converted into energy on a large scale (in this case in the form of an explosion) at the detonation of the first atomic bomb at 5:30 a.m. on July 16, 1945. And thus we entered into the Atomic Age—with its bombs, electrical power generation, and emphasis on atomic reactions. (And incidentally, a technology that saved millions of lives, both American and Japanese by terminating World War II.)

Jean on the Big Dune Nature Trail (a.k.a.Dune Life Nature Trail)
about ¾ mile long

The Dune Nature Trail is one of several trails through the dunes, although you can see a lot from the 16 mile (round trip) scenic auto drive through the dunes.

It’s kind of interesting how explosions have provided a leap of technology over the ages: black powder and guns, nitroglycerine (in the form of dynamite) and construction, gasoline or diesel and transportation, popcorn and the end of sticky sweets with movies, atom and hydrogen bombs and the release of the energy of the atom, kerosene and oxygen and space exploration, hydrogen and oxygen and the fuel cell…

I made one trip to White Sands Missile Range to photograph rocket motors in action while working for United Technologies.

Poliomintha incana

The dunes are eerie—so brilliant (I think brighter than snow) with ripples having blue shadows. There are white plants with hugh root systems like this Poliomintha incana, white lizards, and weird sunsets. I used the snow setting on my camera bracketing over a two stop range, but of course, the actual range of up to 10 stops can’t be totally recorded that way (if I were more adept at it, RAW would have been the way to go); but good old Photoshop and its Highlight and Shadow filter saved the day.

Beetles create a floral pattern overnight with their wandering ways

At the Golden Hour the photographers all come out and stay through the main attraction of the day: sunset. In this case, they are perched on top of all the large dunes with their tripoded cameras at ready. At 7 p.m., even though sunset is almost an hour and a half away, the family groups are gathered around their picnic basket for a cold dinner, each king on his own mountain; the young adults shouting across the valleys to each other.

But as the light exhibits more than a tinge of red, you feel the otherworldliness of these strange glowing, rosy dunes…

White-on-white with red highlights—
Jean waits in the white Dream Machine in a field of white with sunset color creeping up the near-by dune.

The classic, and yet still enticing, warm, soft, sensuous curves of live dunes at sunset

And now for the bizarre phenomenon of the blazing sunset. The sun seems to develop concentric rings and the sky turns shades of green to orange, while the back side of the mountains becomes vermillion. Only the dunes take on a color you would expect, though the blue in the shadows seems exaggerated.

A Weird, Mysterious Sunset

An Ordinary(?) Sunset

[with way too much green]

Allow me to close the story of White Sands with a quotation from Laurent Martrès, “White Sands National Monument is a place of exceptional beauty. The fantastic white gypsum, exotic-looking yuccas, and beautiful ripple patterns in the sand all contribute to a truly unique experience, unlike any other dune system.”

Anatomy of a Blog (or How I give birth to a blog.)

Because of my interest and orientation, my order is: pick the picture, then compose the prose (often from signs on the spot, brochures or guides, or books such as our favorite, so far this trip, Photographing the Southwest by Laurent Martrès—the notable omission is the use of the internet, since we have access to it only a sporadically.).

Since, between us, Jean and I produce two or three hundred shots a day, there usually no problem about finding a few good photos. I work on the seven to ten mega-pixel image to make it more than just a record shot or a postcard view. Finally, after one to three hours work on a picture, I select its size (what you get when you click on the picture in the blog), usually 10 or 12 inches (I found looking at other people’s computer monitors with other internet connections that they weren’t able to see all the picture at once if I made the dimension larger than 12”.).

And then comes the very painful part: I have to reduce the pixels (there goes the quality!) by a factor of somewhere up to 25 so it will fit into the size specified by the company managing the blog (Google, in this case) and will load quickly for those who don’t have super-computers. But if you take a 10 million pixel image and reduce it to less than a half million pixels, you have only a representation of the original!

Then I put together the blog in Apple’s new word processor, called Pages, putting in the pictures and determining their arrangement and size, write the text, and send it to my proofreader and assistant editor, Jean. After she approves or makes some of my exotic or tortuous logic more straightforward and understandable, we go looking for an internet connection.

Next (after finding an internet connection one way or another), I start with Apple’s Safari and transfer the pictures, then text to the new blog. Safari is easier to put stuff into the blog (and I know most of my friends have Macintosh computers). Next I close Safari and open the blog in Firefox (which sort of represents all other browsers) and add font styles and position the pictures more accurately, which Safari doesn’t support. The proofreader checks and makes final suggestions; I go back to Safari to check that nothing is too much out of place, and then — publish!. From the Pages setup to the published blog averages about three hours, although frustrating blogs have taken eight hours when the blog just won’t f0rmat the way I want it.

The blog was the brilliant idea of Jean’s sister and brother-in-law, Marian & Dave Cortesi, who set it up for us, for which we are very grateful (It’s lots more fun than writing postcards.). I am relatively new at this, but I do do enjoy spending my evenings working with images in the computer. I don’t play cards, do jigsaw puzzles, nor read novels, although occasionally I do listen to music and and watch DVDs such as Star Trek or my favorite TV programs which our friend Diane sends me en route.

Jean has a hard time keeping up when we happen upon a massive floral event such as the wild flowers in Big Bend National Park (I’m giving away our next location.). She ends up photographing and identifying day and night ‘til she catches up. That is one reason why her blogs are relatively few and far between.

48.6/15 The Valley of Fires

View over badlands, Opuntia imbricata in foreground

We headed south on the I-25 (speed limit 80 m.p.h.) from Santa Fe then turned almost due east on a lesser highway, the SR 380, to get over to the US 54 which would take us to Alamogordo and White Sands the following day.

We had decided a convenient lay over would be Valley of Fires Recreation Area, 4 mi. west of Carrizozo. The BLM campground is on a bluff overlooking the lava flow to the west, where 1500 to 2000 years ago magma flowed from Little Black Peak, traveled some 44 miles and covered 127 square miles. When we arrived toward mid afternoon, we were greeted by the shrill trill of cicadas.

The cicadas hummed everywhere in what seemed a bleak, rocky terrain. A myriad of no-see-ems and sweat flies swarmed about me, getting into my eyes and buzzing in my ears. Insect repellant was removed with the sweat flowing off of me. How glad we were that BLM provided electricity which ran our root-top air conditioner and kept us comfortable in-doors.

Cicada on Yucca leaves

Bugs or not, there were new and interesting plants for me here.

Talinum aurantiacum

Its roots may be eaten cooked; it is in the same family as the common weed Portulaca oleracea.

Kallstroemia parviflora

I believe this is the correct name. My only technical reference is Kearney & Peebles, “Arizona Flora.” and already it’s getting out of range.

Hoffmanseggia densiflora, hog potato

It is considered a troublesome weed by farmers, but isn’t it gorgeous. It’s tuberous roots are used for hog feed and were roasted and eaten by Indians. I knew this member of the Mimosa section of the Legume family already from our Carlsbad NM visit in May 1998.

Evening sky

No, it didn’t rain, but a terrific wind came up during the night. Was I grateful that Bill had chosen a sheltered site; we rattled and shook, but didn’t have to fear being blown off the cliff. (None of the other RVs had disappeared from their high perches when we looked out in the morning.)

A light breeze kept the bugs at bay, so I went out again to see if I had missed any plants. I found half a dozen more species, including this dainty blue gilia, Ipompsis longiflora. Without a digital camera with image stabilization it would never have been caught standing still.

Ipomopsis longiflora, blue gilia

Although the park had a wide boardwalk nature trail, with guard railings, zigzaging down the bluff into the lava beds below, it was just too hot and buggy to contemplate the walk.

After Bill accomplished the necessary weekly duty of “dumping” and replenishing our water supply, we retraced our route a mile to see the lava bed from below, and then continued our journey to Alamogordo.

Lava bed from highway 380, Valley of Fires, NM

47.6/14 La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís

Located 7,000 feet above sea level against the slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Santa Fe is the highest state capital in America. It is also the oldest, named The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi, in 1610 as the capital of New Mexico. Charles L. Cadieux (The New Mexico Guide) writes, “[Santa Fe] has been called one of the most interesting cities in America, along with Charleston, South Carolina, and New Orleans, Louisiana. I’m not sure Charleston and New Orleans really measure up.”

MAGNET

The picture on the magnet gives an amazingly complete picture of Santa Fe. It symbolizes the Ancient people with the petroglyph and the present Native Americans with feathers. Important animals are shown. Typical foods and pots and indirectly the artists that create them. And finally the strong influence of the Catholic Church.

In 1540, Francisco Vásques de Coronado following the forays of Cabeza de Vaca [what a name!], 1536, and Fray Marcos de Niza, 1539, took a large group—285 Spaniards, 800 Mexican Natives, and livestock—on a 2 year 3,500 mile expedition that explored and surveyed from central Kansas to the Colorado river and from the Grand Canyon to Oklahoma and Texas.

THE OLDEST HOUSE ON THE OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY OCCUPIED STREET, East De Vargas (formerly, Barrio de Analca) 1646 & 1607, respectively

Next to the oldest church, San Miguel, is the street where Mexican and local Indians lived “across the river” from the Plaza and Governor’s Palace where their employer’s lived. (“Analca” means across the river.)

SAN MIGUEL MISSION CHAPEL 1607

This chapel was built for the people living in Barrio de Analca. The San Jose Bell on display is thought to have been cast in Spain in 1356 and brought to Santa Fe through Mexico City. The Chapel has been partially destroyed over time and the present walls surround some of the original walls. The altar screen was created in Mexico in the 1700s.

SAN MIGUEL MISSION REREDO

NATIVE AMERICAN VENDORS AT THE PALACE OF THE GOVERNORS

PEPPERS TO GO

POTS APLENTY

LA FONDA HOTEL

The La Fonda Hotel (La Fonda means the inn.) is built on the place where early records indicate there was a fonda to accommodate travelers early in the 1600s. As you can see old Santa Fe is a city where you are going to walk. Parking places are nearly non-existent, and the streets were laid out in the 17th century.

ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI CATHEDRAL

The non-hispanic look to the Cathedral can be attributed to the fact it was built by French bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy. He was sent to build it in 1851, when Santa Fe was one of the wildest outposts of the Wild West—Billy the Kid (he once worked as a bus boy at the La Fonda Hotel) was one of the chief outlaws of the time. The cornerstone was laid in 1869 and stained glass windows imported from France were installed in 1884.

The Cathedral incorporated the old Spanish-style parish church in the north wing where it remains as a chapel dedicated the the oldest wooden Madonna known to exist in North America.

OLDEST WOODEN STATUE OF MADONNA IN NORTH AMERICA

The statue was carved in Mexico and brought to Santa Fe around 1625. The man could be St. Francis. Looking closely at the Madonna's face, she seems to made to appear regal and stern—not the way I imagine the St. Mary.

THE INN & SPA AT LORETTO

One of Santa Fe’s most picturesque architectural additions in recent years is the Inn & Spa at Loretto. It is modeled after the Taos Pueblo and presents all those interesting angles and curves that photographers love so much. The Great Western inn has 139 rooms and suites, swimming pool, and restaurant in five stories. For two people during season, the rates are $365–499. (La Fonda Hotel is a bargain at only $219–319.)

NATIVE AMERICAN WOMAN ON GROUNDS OF THE INN

THE INN AT LORETTO—AN ARCHITECTURAL MARVEL

46.6/13 The High Road from Taos to Santa Fe

SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS

We begin our journey on the “High Road” as opposed to the main Interstate highway, the “River Road”. At the edge of Taos is one of the most painted and/or photographed buildings in New Mexico, San Francisco de Assisi Church built in 1816 by the Rancho de Taos colony; it was made famous by Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings and Ansel Adam’s photographs.


THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE OF A CLEAN-UP

Here is a puzzle. Which is the real San Francisco Church? We happened to come when the parishioners were replastering and repainting the Church. Fortunately the workers took a lunch break while we were there so we were able to get some shots. like the second picture.

THE REAL SAN FRANCISCO DE ASSISI CHURCH

Photoshop to the rescue! With a couple of hours of adjustments to the pixels of the original image we have the third picture.


THE REAR OF THE CHURCH

As you can see from the pictures, the Church has massive walls and buttresses which make for photographic fun, showing the hugh butt (tresses)…

LOOKING UP

and odd angles of the walls.

SAN JOSE DE GRACIA

The village of Las Trampas contains one of the finest surviving 18th century churches in New Mexico. Laurent Martrès says, "a masterpiece of adobe architecture built in 1776—a must for photographers."

SAN JOSE CHURCH IN LAS TRAMPAS

THE VILLAGE OF TRUCHAS AT 8,600 FEET

The High Road winds its way along and through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at elevations up to 8,600 feet.

CHAMAYO VILLAGE WITH SNOWY SANGRE DE CRISTO MOUNTAINS

THE SANTUARIO DE CHAMAYO

After a search through the alleys and byways of the spead out village of Chamayó, we found the Santuario de Chamayó.

THE SANTUARIO ATTRACTS PILGRIMS FROM AFAR

On certain feast days such as Good Friday, as many as 30,000 pilgrims gather in the tiny plaza in front of the Chapel. A room has the walls lined with castoff crutches and braces.

We spent the night at a BLM campground on Santa Cruz Lake near Chimayó and proceeded on to Santa Fe.

When we arrived in Santa Fe, we found another St. Francis of Assisi…(to be continued.)

44.6/11 Looking for the Internet Part II

Mom & Pop’s RV Park, Farmington, with model train layout

Leaving the southwest corner of Colorado, we headed south into New Mexico, planning to photograph Shiprock. As Bill drove through the 50 m.p.h. dry gale near Four Corners, there was so much dust in the air that Shiprock had disappeared from view. Instead, we turned east on Highway 64, to our reservation at Mom & Pop’s RV Park in Farmington, advertised as having full hooks and WiFi at only $17.00 a night

Model trains, Farmington NM

‘Pop’, Dennis Ryan offered friendly advice about nearby eating places and enjoyed showing us his model railroad with the lead, hand-painted figures which he designs and manufactures.

Bill settled down happily to catching up on blogs. The next day, Jean got the laundry done at a commercial site, next to a 7-11 a block away. It was heavily patronaged by drive-in customers, mostly women with a young children, talking all the while on cell-phones. An elderly, wizened Navajo woman in traditional dress who was helping her adult daughter sort out 3 loads of laundry, plopped down next to me and said, “Oh, but my knees hurt today!”

Prairie dog by highway

Winds having died down, we planned to go back to “do” Shiprock the next afternoon and stay for sunset shots. Jean decided to walk toward town, over the river bridge and to a book store—all well marked on the little xeroxed map given to us. She got to the river which turned out to be about a mile away, sauntered a bit along the landscaped boardwalk and turned back, it was already much too hot.

Prairie dog

A small colony of prairie dogs took fright and scampered back to their burrows, the leader uttering a bird-like squeaking sound of warning.

Bill now had Shiprock photos to sort and process. With Wi-Fi going well, and comfortable with the roof-top air-conditioner running, we extended our stay another day. Around one o’clock, both of our laptops gave us the nasty message “You are not connected to the Internet.” But the Airport program said we were on the Mom-Pop site and the signal was strong. We each tried again a few times, no luck. Bill went over to the office to have Pop tell him “I don’t use a computer myself, just hired a man to install the system, I can't do anything about it.”

We were annoyed and frustrated, trying every few hours to “get on”. A whole afternoon and evening wasted!

We drove off in a disappointed huff early the next morning and headed for Taos.

Chama Visitor Information—

free — free — free Internet

The sky began to look stormy as we arrived at Chama ready for a late lunch.

It worked; we could access the net from our RV. Bill had several blogs nearly ready to publish and got right to work. Jean photographed the quilts clothes-pinned to the Visitor Information, flapping in the wind. Learning there was a display of award winning quilts across the highway, she took that in, too.





Chama, quilt on display

It kept getting darker, a few splatters of rain— Taos was still 93 miles away. We learned the Center closed at 6 p.m., but they turned off the Internet at 5:45. Bill almost finished the last blog when they shut down.

It was not quite dark when we reached a rest-stop 10 miles from Taos, the Rio Grande Gorge State Park. Signs proclaimed “Staying more than 24 hours not allowed.” We were home for the night.

Rio Grande Bridge, Highway 64, 650 feet above the river

Rio Grande Gorge State Park

Taos Visitor Information Center

after heavy rain

The next morning, we entered Taos and located the library. It did not open until 10 a.m., so we went down the highway a couple of miles to the Visitor’s Center where we got a better town map on which the clerk showed Bill, and marked, internet sites. They did offer free 20 minutes on their own computer, no printing, no Wi-Fi.


Taos library,
hours 10 - 6, Monday. through Saturday

Back up to the library, now open, to learn they had internet on their computers, but no Wi-Fi, but they gave us a list of "hot spots" in the town.

The next preferred site was Coronado Hall on Civic Plaza Drive. We were early enough to get a parking spot right in front, metered at 25¢ for 30 min. We fed the meter 4 quarters and got to work. After 1-1/2 hours the site shut us out and wouldn’t let us on again.

Sustaining Cultures (wireless cafe)
on Guadalupe Plaza

A couple of blocks away was the main Taos Plaza which advertised free wireless provide by the local merchants. Bill tried the adjacent Guadalupe plaza, next to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and found a strong signal. More quarters into the meter. But after 5 minutes, the town cut you off. Re-register and get the ads every 5 minutes. That quickly got tiresome.

We planned to stay at the Wal*Mart down the highway, and decided to try the “Wireless Café on the way. Eureka! They do have Wi-Fi free. And if you park close-up, you should get a signal. The Café had a wonderful coffee aroma, a garden area front and rear, and the waitresses were friendly. Finding out they were open until 7, Bill bought their biggest cup of coffee and got to work. Jean photographed a bit of their garden, then browsed the shopping center: Ralph’s, Burger King, Penny’s catalog shop, Sears small appliances, and looked for any new weeds.


Wired Café, Taos

On site at Wired Café

Leaving at 7 p.m., Bill was euphoric about all the blogs he had manage to publish. After we settled in at Wal*Mart, Bill tried the Internet, only to discover that he had a stronger and faster free signal than he had found all day!

C‘est la vie!