August Misc 2!

Ok, I lied, one more quick post before the trip to Maine. I mostly want to show off the very cool lightning shot I got last night. But read on if you want to see photos of Indian Market in Santa Fe from Sunday...

You can see storms coming from miles away in Albuquerque, and when I saw the sunset developing so beautifully, I knew I had to get the camera ready....


On Sunday, Michael and I went up to Santa Fe for Indian Market, which is an annual gathering of hundreds of New Mexico's native artisans. Each pueblo has their own distinct style. It gave me a chance to see all the different styles of pottery from the different pueblos, and figure out which I like the best (Acoma). It was also fascinating to see the price range for a similar piece of pottery, just due to the artist ($120 to $2000!). I didn't take any photos of the actual pottery, out of respect for the artists, but below are a few shots of the crowds...

Hard to see in this shot, but the tents and crowds stretch wayyyyyyy into the distance.

The storm clouds were gathering, somehow we didn't get rained on though...

The mighty Santa Fe River (no seriously, that is the river!)

See you on the other side of Maine!

August Miscellaneous

I know, August isn't over yet, but after tomorrow we start the crazy preparation for the big Savage clan gathering in Maine! So I know these will be the last miscellaneous photos before then...

We went to the Biopark with Grandma to check out the butterfly house. On the way, there was a model train exhibit that Nathan loved. He figured out how to press the button to make Thomas the train go around his track. Then we watched the larger train go around a few times. He would get very excited as the train approached the bridge.

Nathan was a little less enthusiastic about the butterflies. He thought all the flowers were pretty, but was ready to move on to lunch already. I had to hold back for a few minutes to try and get a few good photos of all the pretty butterflies! I didn't have the right lens with me, but I did the best I could with my trusty new wide angle...
A few days later we went to the Cottonwood Mall with Grandma to check out the carousel. It was the first day of school, so we had the place to ourselves! Nathan wasn't so sure at first, and held of for dear life to the horse. But soon he gave me a little smile and "ba" (his word for almost anything).
I am starting training for a 10k in October, so "big blue" (our monster stroller) has been out to play a lot more often. One morning, something clicked, and up Nathan crawled into the stroller. Now he gets mad if the stroller is folded up, because he can't climb into it. And he is attempting to climb up on absolutely anything he can! Below is video....



Today we went to the zoo. It was a... well, zoo! Saturday craziness. But we had fun, Nathan couldn't get enough of the giraffes (so much so that he gave them his hat, ooops!), and we got to see the baby elephant's first birthday party.

Checking out the koalas and wallabies.

Picnic lunch at the zoo. Nathan loved watching the kids run around the park!

Saying "hi" to the baby elephant.

Next post will be the family vacation recap. We are so excited to head to Maine!!

Santa Fe and Videos

Just a quick blog post while I am waiting for some auctions to end for items I am selling on Ebay.

The weekend before last we went to Santa Fe for the day. It was a last minute trip, and we didn't plan ahead, so we ended up on a random route, and never even made it to tourist-central, the Plaza. We first went to the Children's Museum. Which, at $5 a pop, was a bit of a rip-off for a 13 month old. We made the best of it though... Below is Nathan out in the garden, crawling through some of the large concrete pipe and playing the pipes.

Nathan fell asleep as we left Santa Fe, and so we decided to take the long way home and swing by Chimayo. Chimayo is believed to be the site of miraculous healings, and therefore is the destination of pilgrims and travelers, who see it as a very holy site. Brief history of Chimayo:

http://chimayo.us/

Michael and I had gone there years ago, but on that trip, I filled up a memory card with photos and subsequently lost it. I was excited to take more photos, but the weather, and the mobs of people didn't make it easy. Ah well. So here is a shot of the church (taken with my trusty new wide-angle lens):
This past weekend we stayed local and went for a nice hike a mile up the road at the base of the Sandias. It was short because I was breaking in my new hiking boots. Oh yeah, and I forgot the backpack for Nathan. Oops! But he got lots of walking practice in:
Notice below there are cacti planted all along where a small trail used to be, a very effective way to discourage people from using it and let the vegetation grow back.
Nathan also learned an important new skill in the past week. Unrolling the toilet paper roll (I may or may not have encouraged him at this very moment to get the shot):

I finally got Nathan's walker to stay upright (it is a car when folded down), and he has been off and running ever since! {Please ignore the volume on this one, I sound like a big dork!}


Nathan also discovered a love of peaches today, turn on the volume for maximum effect!

July Miscellaneous

It was a hot July in Albuquerque, but we found lots of ways to stay cool, enjoy the outdoors and wait for the rain (and watch out when it comes!).

Through my Mom's group, I discovered a spray park about 20 minutes from our house. It was perfect for Nathan, he loved crawling around, getting wet, and trying to figure out the rhyme and reason to the ever changing fountains of water. I took him back a few days later with Grandma Malenfant, and can't wait to go with Michael one of these weekends.

Nathan and Grandma making friends.

Surprised by the water! (He is laughing, not crying!)

One Saturday, we went to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Every weekend, they have different groups that perform traditional dances/music. It was fascinating to watch, and Nathan loved the bright colors and music.

Watching the father/son team dancing in full costume under the hot New Mexico sun.

Watching with Grandma.

The theme of the next two photos is "lunch". By the middle of the day, it is time to mix up locations a little, and lunch is the perfect excuse.

Picnic lunch at the nearby park. Nathan works up quite an appetite on the swings!

One day we went downtown to meet Daddy for lunch. Nathan was very happy to see him :-)

And this is just a cute photo of Daddy showing Nathan how to use his guitar tuner.

The theme of the last few photos are "monsoon season". We can see the storms coming all afternoon, but somehow are still surprised when the rain starts falling and the flashes of lightning streak across the sky.

I took this video, trying to capture the torrential downpour that is typical.

Nathan is ready for the rain!

Daddy and Nathan venture out to see if they can spot a rainbow.

My first attempt at lightning photography. I got a bolt, but I also got rain all over my lens. Oh well, that is why it is called learning!

Chaco Canyon

Up next on our roadtrip adventures was Chaco Canyon, about 3 hours from Albuquerque. Wanting to get an early start, we packed up the car before the sun rose and transferred Nathan from his crib to his carseat, where he fell back to sleep. Somehow this pre-dawn start to our trip made me feel like a parent more than anything. Maybe it was all the trips with my family that started in the dark, loading coolers and sleepy kids into the car...

Below is a map of our route. Notice that once we left Route 550, there is no marked road. That is because the road to Chaco Canyon ends in 20 miles of dirt road across a barren expanse of tribal land. How New Mexican.


The how and the why of Chaco Canyon is very much a mystery. All that can be said for sure is 1) People lived here and 2) They left at some point. Construction of the buildings started around 800 and lasted more than 300 years. It is an area with little water, frigid winters, short growing seasons and desert landscape, so it is amazing that this was a highly complex center of civilization with buildings of monumental scale.

Two different shots of Fajada Butte as you enter the park. We mostly drove around the loop road with side excursions to look at the ruins.

Waiting for the Ranger led tour, Nathan spent some time standing (FINALLY! got it on camera :-)

Shot of some of the ruins from up the hill.

One of the remaining walls. Many of the buildings were as high as 5 stories.

Photo down one of the walls, Nathan and Michael way in the distance.

Very cool rock, the soft sandstone weathered away.

Nathan getting a little sleepy...

Checking out the big rocks with Daddy.

Nathan got antsy as the ranger told us all about the ruins, so we put him down and he climbed the stairs, over, and over, and over....

Cacti and ruins...

Another shot down at the ruins, you can see liiiiittle tiny people down there.

At the last set of ruins, checking out the kiva. Well, Michael and I were checking it out, Nathan was fast asleep in the backpack!

We really wore him out!

I wish my photos could do Chaco Canyon justice, we are talking about going camping up there, and then I can get the coveted dawn and dusk "magic light" photos. And maybe even some photos of the stars out there. I hear they are amazing. I also finally dove in and bought a wide angle lens after this trip, because there are SO many times I would have loved to have one to try and capture the expanse of this land.

Videos!

Grandma and Grandpa Savage asked for some videos of Nathan, and I am happy to oblige. Nathan's crawl has recently begin to evolve, again. His first version of crawling looked like the butterfly stroke on the ground.
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Then he moved on to a more standard crawl. Lately, he has decided crawling on his knees is overrated, and has moved on to his feet and hands.



Apparently my warnings that something was hot and then blowing on it stuck in Nathan's head:



That is all I have for now. Nathan has started standing lately, but as per Baby Code, he will not do it for the camera. I will keep trying!

El Malpais Road Trip

While we are spending lots of time getting to know Albuquerque, there is a whole world of amazing destinations within a relatively short drive, and we decided to test out a road trip with Nathan. 340 miles later, we had an amazing day! Our route is below, click on the image for a link to Google Maps if you want the interactive version. We went to El Malpais first (point B), then passed through Pie Town (point C), on through Magdalena and to Socorro (point D). Then we jumped on 25 north and went home (point E).

El Malpais National Monument is a 114,000 acre monument, featuring the remnants of 3,000 year old lava flows through 200 million year old sand stone. The lava is textbook examples of pahoehoe and aa, which most people associate with Hawaii (and much of the land reminded us of our honeymoon on the Big Island!).

At the ranger station, checking in before venturing into the park.

Hiking around in the sandstone at the overlook.

Nathan taking a break in the shade, you can see the amazing views in the background.

Family photo, the sandstone glowing against the blue, blue New Mexicain sky (aided a bit by a polarzing lens on my camera :-)

Small photo here of the amazing panorama, but click on the photo for the full size. The silence was deafening. The black smudges amongst the green in the valley are the 3,000 year old lava flows.

We loaded back into the car and drove to the next vista, La Ventana, a sandstone arch. It was a short hike in, and we saw some pretty flora along the way.

Flower on a cactus...

Indian Paintbrush along the trail...

Finally made it! The light wasn't great, so it was hard to capture the depth of the arch, but hopefully this gives an idea... Practice for when we roadtrip to Arches National Monument in Utah!

After that we made a pitstop for lunch. Nathan enjoyed his yogurt and PB&J as we watched a thunderstorm slowly roll in...

Nathan was exhausted at this point, so we hit the road while he napped, headed for Pie Town (because Michael had heard about Pie Town on Ripley's Believe it or Not as a child, and always wanted to go!)

On our way, we crossed the continental divide...

Dramatic vistas of mountains, grass, clouds and sky...

Pie Town! Sadly, we did not stop for pie, since Nathan was napping and so we ventured on...

Nathan finally woke up (3 hours later!) just shy of Socorro. So we stopped for a snack, and ate it on the campus of New Mexico Tech, where Michael once spent a week in high school. Gorgeous campus...

And then we zipped home! Successful roadtrip, and we are already planning our next. Arches, Mesa Verde, Petrified Forrest, Monument Valley, what will come next? Stay tuned to find out!