Sage Visit's Old Town

I am enjoying handling Sage,

but I must admit that taking her out is still uncomfortable.

I am willing to take her to places I am more familiar with,

so this morning we went to Old Town.

I have taken my companion dolls out to pose in front

of the San Felipe de Neri church in Old Town for years.

I had thought about it all week, and today was her turn

to pose in front of the church that was founded in 1709

and was a part of the founding of Albuquerque.

Sometimes I see things that I know were built many

years ago, but I don't always think about how the

architecture, design, and land around it had changed.
The only thing I recognize to identify it as the

San Felipe de Neri church are the towers.

The church was built in a plaza square that

has become a shopping square.

After visiting the church, we went to the fountain

across the street.

One thing I am enjoying about taking Sage out

is that she is large and can stand on her own.

She is usually easy to photograph.

Our next stop was at shop called Covered Wagon.

The wagon wheels outside are also where

I frequently pose my companions.

We continued to walk down the sidewalk.

In another old photo from around the 1950's

there is a photo of the shops and a tree trunk

in the sidewalk.

The tree trunk is still there! I also enjoyed the photo

of the older station wagon near the tree trunk!
Although the trees are much larger the light on my camera

was different, the building at the end is still there.

In the middle of the plaza, there is a gazebo.

Today, there was a wedding and then photos of the wedding

inside of the gazebo. I did not photograph it out of respect.

These are some of my earlier photo of what the plaza

square looks like in the middle.

The gazebo was in a 1950's postcard!

I am interested in how it is the same and how it has changed.

One of the side plazas has a wishing well.

It is another area that had been developed by the 1950's.

I love how green it now is in a garden in front of the well.

I am not surprised that it was not once not filled

with plants.

It was time to leave after our quick visit.

Sage was certain that she wanted to pose with chile ristras!

Adios!!!

Weather or Not, Here I Come!

The temperature highs are now in the mid to high 90's.

It is hot! It is the time of year to go out earlier in the day!

Ella and I went to Boca Negra Canyon,

which is a part of the Petroglyph National Monument.

The rocks are volcanic basalt rocks from early volcanoes.

They were carved mostly by Pueblo people from the years
1300 to around 1680.

The Petroglyph National Monument is on the mesa

on the west side. It was dedicated as a national monument

in 1990. I believe that this was related to the expansion

of Albuquerque and houses being built on the west side.

Boca Negra  Canyon has a  hillside down a mesa top.

The hillside is covered with the dark, basalt rocks.

It has no trees for shade and dark colored rocks

creating a hot environment in the heat of summer.

Visiting early in the morning meant that the temperature

was in the mid 70's. It was not a long visit.

Boca Negra Canyon does have several tables with

covers over them for people to rest or picnic.

There is an area with bathrooms, trash and recycling disposal,

and a board with more information.

 The map below shows how large the Petroglyph National Monument

is in its preserved area, and the small park where we were at.

Ella and I looked for a few more petroglyphs.

A few petroglyphs were more bold or took up more space.

A few were not as dark.

The park states that the trails are paved. They do have asphalt,

but the paving is not flat and does not eliminate small or larger

rocks in the way. 

I was thankful for stairs and rails when we found them!

I don't see petroglyph carvings from every angle,

but am quite impressed by the slope of rocks.

The black rocks below are my impression

of what volcanic rocks look like.

Toy Sunday
Weather or Not, Here I Come!

There is an estimated 24,000 petroglyphs

within the National Monument, with 90% of them

being from the Pueblo people.

We enjoyed the ones that we were able to see!

It was a nice trip out:

despite the heat of July, here we came!