Chaco Canyon

home of the ancients

Chaco Canyon is about 150 miles due east of us

an easy scenic drive

except for the last 25 miles which was one of the worst 

dirt roads I have ever seen

10 miles an hour lets you really see the scenery going by though

over a thousand years ago this high desert valley

was the home to the ancestors of the pueblo people

the canyon in itself was striking

it is hard to show the scale of these giant rock walls that 

line the canyon

 the canyon is huge

with lots of ruins

 we got a new tent for the occasion

I call it the old people tent

'cause you can stand up in it and it has a hinged door

it was so comfortable!!

never going back to the crawl in and unzip kind!!

this is one of the darkest places in the US

the first night was clear

and I forgot there were so many stars......

sunrise over the campground first morning

 we had this ruin all to ourselves

 hanging out with the ancient energy

their stone work was amazing and impeccable

they had at least 5 different styles

over the 300 years of construction

 they used 250,000 trees for roof supports

brought from almost 60 miles away

no one is sure how they did it....

no roofs still exists

 the ruins consist of small rooms and kivas -

round deep holes in the round

this is an aerial of Pueblo Bonito 

the photo I took above is of the large kiva to the middle and front

of this aerial photo

the rocks from the canyon have fallen in on some of the ruins

this is the back of Pueblo Bonito

inside

I especially like this 

it was a hallway on a floor that is gone now

and it is on an angle and serves what would have been

several rooms above

a major feature in the landscape was Fajada Butte

on the cliff face these 3 slabs stand in front of 

2 carved spiral petroglyphs

as the sun passes through these on the equinoxes and solstices

beams of light show up on the spiral

this was their calendar

 of course human impact has caused the slabs to shift

and now access is restricted....

we left the day before the equinox

as people from all over the world were convening

at Chaco to see this celestial event

PBS had a film crew there

(we are not big on crowds)

 also the weather had changed and was cold and rainy

so no stars and no sunrise

so no dagger of light......bummer

on the way home

 we stopped to take in

the idea of the continental divide

our '94 Ford Ranger made the trip without a hiccup

 and of course - cows in the road on the way home

hey it's the west!

xxoo

 Harwood Museum, Taos

Mabel Dodge Luhan and Company

American Moderns and the West

Mabel has long been a heroine of mine

she came to Taos in 1918

1918!!!  It is remote now....

she put the Taos Pueblo on the map

(it is still today the most successful pueblo in those string

of ancient pueblos that still line the Rio Grande)

this is a photo by Ansel Adams in 1941

(he was just one of the artists Mabel brought to Taos)

 my photo of the pueblo on my first visit to Taos in May

she meets Tony Lujan, a member of the Taos pueblo

(another photo by Adams)

 buys 12 acres of land with a small house adjoining the pueblo lands

 and eventually turns it into this

(not my photo)

but it shows the patio 

and this is the room I stayed in on the right....

the most amazing thing about her house

is that you can just wander around and hang out 

 read her books

 sit on her chairs

and gather up the ambience that is left

this is the stairway to her bedroom

off the kitchen 
(where they make you a full breakfast - it is a great place to stay)

one can stay in her room too, but that seemed a little much

She also built several other houses on the property

and invited writers and artists to come to Taos and stay

this is the house that Frieda and DH Lawrence lived in 1922

on her property

this is a photo I took in May

the new owner totally remodeled the inside

and left the outside just like it was when the Lawrences lived there.....

many, now famous, artists and writers

came through Mabel's

Georgia O'Keefee, Ansel Adams, Carl Jung, Willa Cather, Mary Austin, the Lawrences and Dorthy Brett, Rebecca and Paul Strand, Jon Marin, Una Jeffers, Carlos Chavez, Maynard Dixon, Dorothea Lange, Martha Graham and others

the story that most fascinates me is about the Lawrences

they came to Taos in 1922, then returned in 1924

to the ranch north of Taos that Mabel gave them in exchange

for the original manuscript of "Sons and Lovers"

Lawrence invited all his friends in England to come to New Mexico

and start a community dedicated to an alternative more real way of living...

only Dorothy Brett came

that's Mabel on the left, Frida in the middle and the Brett

(as they called her) on the right

Dorothy and Mabel were both in love with Lawrence,

which Frieda was none too happy with

and they each wrote a book about him and his time in Taos

Frieda also wrote a book about her life with Lawrence and he wrote

about their time in New Mexico too...

it's a real study in human character to read all their versions...

after D H died in 1930

Frida moved back to their ranch and spent the rest of her life there....

she died in 1956 in Taos
she is another of my heroines......

Mabel wrote many memoirs about her life

which I thought were fascinating and you can find them all on Amazon

******

BACK to the exhibit
one of the best parts was seeing 2 original O'Keeffes

another highlight was to see a few of the paintings of Dorothy Brett

(she tells the story of going out and painting in the desert with Lawrence 

and he came over and painted on her painting

adding things.......really?)

I find this one especially interesting
it is a really bad painting up close
but it shows her and the other two women who loved him
and Lawrence himself - her "three fates"

I really liked this one...
she also lived near the Lawrence ranch until her death in 1977

******

in 1948 Mabel and Tony build a smaller house down the road.....

she died in August of 1962 and he died in January of 1963

in 1970 Dennis Hopper buys Mabel's house and has it for 7 years

lots of famous people visited then too

story has it that Bob Dylan wrote a song on this very bench

that my sweet friend Carol and I are sitting on!!

in 1996 the house was purchased by a non-profit

and it's run as a bed and breakfast and conference center

Mabel I wish I had known you.....

xxoo