Santa Fe during daylight hours and afternoon adventures

Today we went to Santa Fe around 10AM, and visited a few things: Farmer's Market, an outdoor arts fair, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, and we ate lunch at a cute place called Cafe Paris. Above is a picture of the Santa Fe Plaza by day.

The Farmer's Market was full of great local foods including yak meat, buffalo meat, chili peppers, and corn; there were all kinds of interesting beauty products such as lotion bars (like soap only its lotion for your hands), creams and salves; and there was a great xylophone band performing nearby with a great beat. It was either Jamacian, Native American, or Mexican, but they jammed on the same 4 chords and everyone was rockin' out! Pretty fun. There's a short video of the group below. Dad bought some chili powder so he can put it in things when we get home.

The Arts fair was pretty cool too. Lots of different crafts such as knits, woodwork, and jewelry; but there were also lots of paintings and ceramics to look at as well. Mom and I bought two really pretty beaded necklaces that had squares of oyster shell on them. Mom commented that I was getting the longer necklace because it was more of a style with girls my age. The woman who made them said that her niece likes to wear necklaces to her waist, so she decided to see how it would go. Obviously I bought one, so it must have been a good idea!

After the fair, we went to the plaza, where the people living on the Indian Reservation were sitting on the sides of the Governor's Residence Building selling their crafts. There was the most beautiful turquoise jewelry I've ever seen, along with belts, beaded earrings, and pottery. I'm determined to get or make a black clay pot before I go home (picture of some in a store on the right). As long as I have room in my luggage...

At the end of the sellers, I started talking to one of the guys who looked like he wasn't selling much, but eager to talk to people. He asked where I was from and I said that I was from California and go to UC Berkeley. If you've never told anyone from another state that you go to Berkeley, do it. It's amusing to see how impressed some people get, and how some people automatically hate your guts. Anyway, the man said that he was a professor at UNM and that he taught Medical Terminology, which really impressed me in turn. We talked for a while about the Jemez mountains, and he told me he knew a professor working on obsidian from out there, and studying the effects that fire has on the resources. OBsidian absorbs water over time, and so there is theoretically a way to tell how old it is; but when a fire comes through, it dehydrates the obsidian so that you can't tell how old it is. It's frustrating, so this professor is trying to get as many hydration rates as possible before more fires sweep through the area.

Anyway, the guy was really interesting, his name was Chris, and I hope I see him around campus during my stay here. It would be nice to know a familiar face besides my classmates!

Next, we went to the The Georiga O'Keeffe Museum, and it was very interesting to say the least. It really gave me a sense of New Mexico, and although I had known her name for a while, I could never picture how her work looked. The exhibit we saw was all on her abstract work, which she did to kind of start over afresh and come up with new ideas about what to paint. There were quotes on some of the walls of the eshibit, and one of my favorites was about how she didn't want people to read about her work, she wanted them to look at it and do the work on their own. Another interesting thing about her work was that she was trying to just show the shapes of things she liked, picking out the qualities she wanted to portray instead of mimicking the object. If I ever take up painting again (I'm going to try and draw at some point this trip), I might try that approach and find that I have more to paint from that perspective.

All of this we did in the morning. I know, it was a lot.

For lunch, we went to this awesome place called the Cafe Paris, which was in a wide allyway between two buildings with outdoor/indoor seating. It was set up European style (relaxed), where you let them know you're there, sit somewhere, and just hang out. Very lax compared to the strict "wait to be seated" or simple "seat yourself". You kind of just have to know what to do. The walls were painted rustically, and the ceiling had a giant Eiffel Tower painted on it. Our waitress wasn't french, although she had a French accent. We figured that she was probably Hawaiian, but her husband was French. It was definitely a family-run place. There was an accordion player who played both "La Vie en Rose" and "Santa Lucia"--so he was obviously well-versed. But the place brought me back to Europe. I had Ratattouille for the first time, wrapped in a crepe--it was delicious!! I just regret not getting a French pastry... maybe one of these weekends I'll make it there again :)

After lunch, we walked around shops again (where I saw the awesome apron on the left, and black pottery above), and Mom bought some dried, hanging chili peppers to bring home. Then we walked aaaaaaall the way back to our car. We had parked by the farmer's market, but we definitely had more stamina walking to the downtown area than walking back. We went back to the hotel, rested, and then we began our afternoon drive. We had decided to visit a few things: the museum hill, the Opera House (which was in the middle of nowhere), and a place to eat dinner. I was asleep a lot of the time, I'll admit, or just checked out listening to music. It had already been a long day and it was barely 5.

First we took the drive to the museums, which were all closed for the day. However we had decided to makes plans to go the next day, more on that later. The drive was cool, and you could definitely see a lot from up there. There were many different institutions in that one place, all having to do with Anthropology! I need to go back someday (which is the feeling I'm getting from this entire area... I need to come back someday).

When we got to the Opera House, Mom said that my Nana (Mom's mom) had been there before, but it was open air. Now they had redone it so that there was a roof, but it was still open-air enough to let the wind blow through. Below is a picture I found on Google Images. It was closed, but still cool to know about. Next time I'm here I'll make sure to see a show there.

At the end of it all, we ate at a place called Gabriel's, which was right off the freeway. It'll be easy to find again, that way. It looked like a house with a parking lot in the back, but it was a really quality place with GREAT guacamole. They made a bowl of it right in front of us (only later did we find out it was $11.50), with garlic, cilantro, tomato, jalapeño, and a bunch of other fresh, delicious ingredients. It was awesome, and the atmosphere was great. There was a garden we checked out afterwards (once again, it was like a house), and we got back in the car and headed home. Long day, but I'd never remember everything without this blog to look at later!!

The Journey, UNM, and Santa Fe

Just as a warning, first impressions always make for the longest posts. And by "Journey" in the title, I don't mean this Journey.

With that, waking up at 6AM is never fun. Especially when you didn't fall asleep until 3:30AM. However, beyond the pain of being tired all day, the day went relatively smoothly, and there were so many new things to think about!

At the airport (picture on right is in a multi-day parking lot near Oakland airport), I checked 2 bags packed to the brim, and 'lo, one of them was 48 lbs.--2 pounds under the limit. It was the first victory of the day! Also, a couple days ago I bought an Indiana Jones hat at Raley's (which was a victory all in itself) and wearing it around the airport was really fun. The expressions it got from people were priceless. Our flight took off around 9:30AM, and after a pattern of sleeping, reading, and looking out the window, we landed in Albuquerque! There, a little boy, probably about 3 years old, could not stop staring at my hat. Dad says that there are a few things that impress boys that age, and a cool hat is one of them. :)

At Avis, we just hopped into the car that we rented, and at the gate we asked the attendant directions to the University of New Mexico (UNM). We noticed that he had a kind of southern accent (I thought it sounded more mid-western/Minnesotan), but there is definitely a different accent that people have out here. We headed off talking about this toward the university.

Let me take time to mention now that it was HOT. Walking around right off the plane made me immediately regret wearing the sweatshirt I brought. It wasn't unbearable, just somewhat of a shock after the moist, cool weather we were getting in Pittsburg before we left. Also, for those of you that didn't know, Albuquerque is at an elevation of about 5,000 ft., and I was definitely feeling the altitude after walking around. Here in Santa Fe, we're at 7,000 ft., so mom, dad, and I are all easily out of breath. After a couple days, though, I'm sure it'll get better.

Once at UNM, we went to the Visitor "Welcome" Center and got a campus map, newspaper, and catalogue, which were all very helpful. We found a 24-hour burger and Mexican food joint called The Frontier (conveniently a 5 minute walk from the dorms), and ate lunch there. The food was great! I'll definitely be going there a few more times before this trip is through. Afterwards we walked to where the dorms were. I'll be staying in the Coronado apartments (on right), where they not only have a ton of space, but I GET MY OWN ROOM. Berkeley dorms have got nothing on UNM dorms--and I haven't even stayed in them yet. Once seeing the dorm building, we walked a little around campus and checked out some of the area. There's a pool near the dorms I'm going to have to take advantage of, and the flatness of the campus will be beneficial for running. There's also a HUGE field (probably 4 or more acres) that's at our disposal, basically in our front yard. I feel like down time is going to be just as fun as the time in class!

On the way to Santa Fe, big surprise, I fell asleep. So no, I don't know the way to Santa Fe like in the Song from "RENT" However, I do know that it started raining as soon as we got into our hotel (which had some bomb cookies in the lobby). So the three of us just sat in our room for an hour to not only wait for the rain, but decompress from travelling. Then something happened that we don't get too much of out in The Bay: thunder and lightning!! It was pretty exciting, and once up from our naps, we headed toward the downtown. Evidently rain storms out here in May don't last very long, even though they're very dramatic.

Downtown Santa Fe was so quaint that I really just want to spend a few days looking at every shop. It's a really big place for art galleries and "New Mexican" cuisine, and it was hard to find any evidence of the rich history that the place houses. There were plaques on a couple buildings that I took pictures of, which I will be posting on Facebook at some point. However, the place was altogether boutique-y otherwise.

For dinner (after walking around almost every street), we went to the Blue Corn Cafe, which was really fun! Not too busy for a Friday night, but the service was excellent, and the food delicious. We had Flan for dessert, which was very sweet, and now we're all kind of dozing in a partially food-induced daze.

Tomorrow we will be visiting the Georgia O'Keefe Museum (Dad says "Don't you know how to pronounce 'th'? It's O'Keeth!"), and I'm sure that will be very interesting. Apparently you can get a tour of the artist's house led by her old assistant, but we won't be doing that. I'll have more fun tomorrow, but for now, Adios! (and go bears!)

Note: the time stamp on all posts are 1 hour behind the time here.

Flight in the morning!

Flight is at 9AM tomorrow morning. I'm stoked! The parentals and I will arrive at 11:50am CA time and 12:50pm NM (New Mexico) time. The plan is to get a rental car and drive straight to Santa Fe, and we'll be spending the weekend there. I'll be probably reading the thick stack of articles about Obsidian and the Caldera in NM, and looking at the book that Shackley wrote about Obsidian in the Southwest. Next time I write I'll be there, so adios!

Below is the class description as written on the syllabus.

"This summers field school is designed to familiarize students with an archaeological view of quarry (stone procurement) sites and stone tool technology in the North American Southwest, by a field examination of obsidian, chert, and other volcanic sources used for the last 13,000 years. Through in-the-field classroom and field sessions, students will learn field collection strategies, sampling, mapping the secondary distribution of sources, geological and topographical map reading, and an introduction to the identification of rocks in the field. The course will involve a week or more dry camping in the Jemez Mountains, northern New Mexico, and other trips from the base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A number of strenuous day-long hikes into stone sources will require good fitness and ability to cope with very warm weather and the potentially stormy Southwestern monsoon. Housing will be in the dormitories on the campus of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and part of the time we will be camping at Bandelier National Monument in northern New Mexico. Transportation in the field provided. Field visits to Paleoindian and Pueblo period sites, and lectures by earth scientists and archaeologists from UNM and Los Alamos National Lab included. Weekends free to explore the great American Southwest on your own."

Off to New Mexico!

It's finally here! I'm leaving with my parents Friday for New Mexico! I'm going for a 3 week class starting June 1st focusing on obsidian and chert deposits which resulted from volcanic activity in New Mexico. There are 13 of us including a GSI (Graduate Student Instructor) Celeste and our professor Steve Shackley. The blog will be a reflection of my class including pictures, lessons, and commentary on the surrounding area!

We had a meeting yesterday about the trip, and it seems like Albuquerque is going to be our base at Univ of New Mexico, and we'll be camping for the longest 3 days. Compared to what I was expecting, this seems like we're getting pretty pampered. In the dorms we each get our own rooms, for God's sake! Luckily it's in the middle of a city kind of like Berkeley--a college town--so there will be places to hang out; and there's a field near the dorms so we can play Frisbee or something of that nature on the weekends as well.

Read this article about Santa Fe if you ever think about going there: http://nyti.ms/a19q7u. Phil sent it to me, and I think we'll check out some of the places suggested in it this weekend.

I'll try to post every day, but when we're camping I'll just be jotting down notes in a notebook to type up later (there isn't internet in the wilderness, obviously). I'll probably update once with a summary of the class from my syllabus later in the week, and then Friday will begin the festivities with my parents in Santa Fe! Hope you all can enjoy what I've seen through this blog as much as I've enjoyed it out in the field!

Go bears!