It's Rodeo Time!

La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo - this was the main reason for our visit to Tucson this year. The first La Fiesta - a celebration of the cowboys – took place on three days in 1925. Today it has grown to a nine-day celebration centered on the Tucson Rodeo, one of the top 25 professional rodeos in North America. This year the parade and rodeo was celebrating its 90th birthday and we were fortunate to be part of the big party!

The original idea for this event came from a "snow-bird" from the East Coast by name Leighton Kramer: he wanted to draw visitors to Tucson during the slow mid-winter season. In 1925 Tucson was still a frontier town and not much was going on. Since then, each February local groups, organizations and businesses saddle their horses and hitch up their buggies and carriages for the "Celebration of the Cowboys.” The day of the parade is even a school holiday, universities are closed and many businesses as well. The Tucson Rodeo Parade is considered the world’s longest non-motorized parade. This two-hour spectacle around the rodeo grounds features western-themed floats and buggies, historic horse-drawn coaches, Mexican folk dancers, highschool marching bands and outfitted riders on beautiful horses. An estimated 200,000 spectators view the parade each year.

To watch this colorful parade from the grandstands, we had to get up early (left the hotel at 7 am already!) to avoid street blocks and to still get parking on the rodeo grounds. It's been cold in the morning (only about 40 deg F), we needed our warm jackets for a change, but sun was out and it became a beautiful day. We had popcorn for breakfast and watched the pre-parade entertainment (a great high school mariachi band - see pic - , an old gent's cowboy choir and some western show) before the parade started at 9 am and took for about two hours.

On the rodeo grounds there were boothes of all kind being set up: food vendors - good mexican food! -, hats, boots, souvenirs etc. Before the "real" rodeo started, kids - more girls than boys! – were preforming in the arena. At the Mutton Bustin’ contest, 4-to 6-year-olds tested their riding skills on sheep, followed by kids ages 7-12 performing in barrel race and calf roping.




Nowadays the entry list for Tucson shows the most renowned "stars" of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) from all over the U.S. and Canada, competing for more than $460,000 in prize money, while about 11,000 fans are cheering for them. Rodeo events include bull riding, bareback and saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, team roping and women’s barrel racing. At 2 pm the competition started with the bareback riding and as media members we were fortunate to be able to watch either directly at the chutes or on a viewpoint above the chutes. So, we've been able to watch the cowboys getting ready for their 8-second-ride. We also noticed how well-kept and healthy the bucking horses appeared and how the whole procedure went. It was fascinating and eye-opening and it changed our perception about rodeo completely (more about that later!).

Back to Tucson - love it!

On tuesday morning we left Las Cruces, and in the course of the almost 300 mi. we drove westward, weather got unexpectedly horrible: pouring rain and temps down to about 40 deg. F - in Arizona! Nevertheless, we stopped by at Willcox/AZ - a western town with the Rex Allen Museum (a country singer and movie star) - and at the Amerind Museum, one of the largest private collections of native american art in the former ranch house of William S. Fulton, an archeologist and ethnologist.

Arrived to Tucson in the afternoon - in the meantime sun was out a little - and checked into our hotel, the "Lodge on the Desert" in midtown Tucson. This historic hotel complex from the 1930ies was transformed into a 100-room-boutique hotel with hacienda-style bungalows on nicely manicured grounds, with pool, restaurant (with a great Happy Hour!), cactus garden and nice, large rooms with a fireplace. We were so glad, that we were able to stay here for a full three nights! Main reason for our visit this time (the forth visitin total) was La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, more on that later.

Still explored downtown Tucson's downtown in the evening, also, the "fancy" 4th Street area (see pic), with lots of bars, vintage stores – a little "weird" – and the Mission District (an up & coming neighborhood) with the new Mercado San Agustin, before we retired for work in the hotel room.

We started wednesday morning – still cool, but blue skies – with a walk in the Main Gate Square area (the neighborhood around the University of Arizona) and visited the AZ State Museum then. They have the world largest pottery and basketery collection of Southwestern Indians - a fantastic place for archeologists to study – wished, we would have had the chance to do so! In the afternoon we explored Tucson's neighborhoods with a friend of us and looked at some real estate as well. Tucson would be the place, we would love to live during our horrible german winter months (despite of the low temps and the rain here yesterday!).

"The City of the Crosses"

Departed Albuqerque late sunday morning on I-25 South, following the historic Camino Real through the valley of the Rio Grande. It’s been a beautiful drive of almost 300 mi. to Las Cruces, with two stops en route: At the El Camino Real Historic Trail Site, south of Socorro, a modern museum (see pic) in a gorgeous location, offering great views of the Jornada del Muerte, the former land of the Apache Indians, in the Chihuahuan Desert, surrounded by mountains. The famous Camino Real cut through after 1598, when the Spanish began to colonize the NM area coming up from Mexico City.

Fort Selden Historic Site (see pics below), our next stop, was a military fort founded 1865 and in operation until 1891. What’s left today is only ruins. (and a museum). It was established to protect settlers and the railroad from indian raids. The unit being in charge was the 125th Infantry - so-called "Buffalo Soldiers" (an afro-american unit).


Las Cruces – with a little more than 100,000 inhabitants is the economic and geographic center of the fertile Mesilla Valley, where we were surprised to see pecans and cotton (known to us only from the U.S. South) being grown. Also, pistachios, chilis and onions are locally produced. The city also is home of New Mexico State University (NMSU), which occupies a large campus south of town.

We arrived to Las Cruces in the late afternoon, and after we had checked into our Ramada Hotel, we left again to explore old town, called „Mesilla“, founded in 1848 after the Mexican-American War. Today it’s a suburb of Las Cruces and still has its pitoresque historic downtown plaza, dominated by the Basilica of San Albino (see pic). There are some historic buidings around the plaza, occupied by some shops and restaurants, none of them really „touristy“. In general, tourism doesn’t seem to be a big deal in town, same for the rest of New Mexico, with the exception of Santa Fe. Because we are always interested in breweries and good brews, we had a beer at Spotted Brewing – great beers, but, unfortunately, no food besides buckets of peanuts on each table – before we drove back to the hotel.

This morning we started with a visit to the world-renowned Chile Pepper Institute at NM State University, which was somewhat disappointing, at least in winter, when no tours are being offered; just a store, hard to find in one of the university buildings. At least we got seeds for the garden! On to the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, the largest and probably most interesting museum in town. This interactive museum brings to life the 3,000-year history of farming and ranching in NM. It’s also fun to watch the different animals on the property, like different breeds of cattle, horses or sheep. Lots of demonstrations and events take place here as well, e.g. the Cowboy Days in March.

Organ Mountains, 10 mi (16 km) to the east, dominate the town’s landscape, along with the Doña Ana and the Robledo Mountains, and Picacho Peak. Only in 2014 President Obama established the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, which shows the rich diversity of the Chihuahuan Desert and unique Pre-American, New Mexican, and American history including training sites for the Apollo Space Mission, the Butterfield Stagecoach Trail, Billy the Kid’s Outlaw Rock and Geronimo’s Cave.

Passing White Sands Missile Range, east of Las Cruces on Hwy. 70, crossing the Sant Andres Mountains, we drove straight through flat land for many miles before we reached White Sands National Monument. The federal government is a big employer for the region, operating White Sands Test Facility , Spaceport America and White Sands Missile Range; Alamogordo, where the first nuclear bomb tests took place, is close as well.

White Sands consists of massive sand dunes, which were formed by minerals from the mountains and wind and consist of gypsum - different from the Great Sand Dunes NM, which we visited before (see former blog). These dunes are not very high, but spread out and are much firmer to walk on. It felt like a snow landscape, especially since temperature had dropped to about 35 deg, F. and skies were clouded.

Back in downtown Las Cruces - now the sun was out - we (almost by chance) found the COAS bookstore on Main Street, allegedly the largest used bookstore in the U.S., and then checked out St. Clair Winery, one of a growing number of wineries in the region. Many fruit wines and sweet wines were available, but also good Cabernet Sauvignon. In the High Desert Brewing Co. we felt like at home: there was a coaster of our local Augsburg brewery Riegele hanging from the restaurant’s ceiling! Beers, Tortilla and Chili Burger were not only excellent, but cheap as well, and atmosphere was laid-back and „local“, same as in the brewery yesterday.

Indian Pueblos and Basketball: Albuquerque

After a short 50 mi-drive from Santa Fe, we stopped at Old Kuaua Pueblo at Coronado State Monument, north of Albuquerque. This good example of old adobe construction was built around 1300 and Coronado encountered this pueblo when he entered the SW in 1540 on his search for gold. When archaeologists from the Museum of New Mexico excavated the ruins during the 1930s, they discovered a square kiva (see pic) with many layers of mural paintings. A unique feature is that the murals could be preserved and are now to be seen in the museum.

Directly adjacent is the Santa Ana Pueblo – one of 19 Pueblos of NM –, its traditional name is "Tamaya" - same as the name of the resort we were staying at: Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort on the tribe's property, same as the Santa Ana Star Casino.

The Tamaya Resort (see pics) is "in the middle of nowhere", close to the Rio Grande (a trail from the resort goes there), with a view to the Sandia Mountains, which we enjoyed from our room's balcony. Beautiful location, beautiful artwork all over the hotel, impeccable service and all luxury imaginable, from pools, spa, workshops and other events to several restaurants, horse stables, golf courses and much more.

Saturday morning we drove into Albuquerque, the first larger city we've been to since our arrival to Denver. With about 555,000 people it's the most populous city in New Mexico. Albuquerque also is the hot air ballooning capital of the world: 1972 the Balloon Fiesta was founded with 13 ballons on a parking lot, today the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta hosts a couple of hundred balloons each October. The city is a famous filming location as well, with the Albuquerque Studios, the largest production facility in the country, and, it is famous for Route 66 and old neon signs.

We explored Old Town (see pic) first, with shops and small museums like the Rattlesnake or the Turquoise Museum, and then walked over to the the larger, attractive Albuquerque Museum (see pic), where, unfortunately, the historic exhibition was not open yet. The heart and soul of the main plaza is the San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church, built in 1793.

The very first Spanish explorers arrived in Albuquerque in approximately 1540 under General Francisco de Coronado. Old Town's official "birth" was in 1706, when a group of colonists were granted permission by King Philip of Spain to establish a new city on the banks of the Rio Grande. "Villa de Alburquerque" was born.

After a brief visit at the ABC BioPark's Aquarium and Botanic Garden – a unique environmental museum comprising four facilities – we drove to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center to see the exhibition and to watch Native Dancers perform - an event taking place every saturday. Learned a lot about specific dances, like the buffalo or butterfly dance. The youngest dancer was Gerome (see pic), a very serious 7-year-old boy, who performed with his father. He started dancing by watching the elders at age 2! We had lunch in the Pueblo Harvest Café after the presentation, which is not just another museum's restaurant, but has an excellent reputation for local produce. Our Indian Taco (see pic) and Blue Corn Burritos were just delicious!



Downtown Albuquerque: since Downtown Revitalization began in 2000 it's improved and pretty attractive. Especially the KiMo Theatre, built in 1927, is an architecture worth being seen. The National Hispanic Cultural Center, on Rte. 66 – our next stop – is a huge complex with an arts museum and several cultural institutions. Especially worth being seen is the tower with a huge fresco called "Mundos de mestizaje," which depicts more than 3,000 years of Hispanic heritage.

At 4 pm we had to be on the campus of the University of New Mexico, the state’s largest university, founded in 1889 to watch a college basketball game of the local Lobos versus the Las Vegas Rebels in "The Pit", that's how the stadium is called. Great atmosphere, sold-out with about 15.000 fans, good (defensive) game, and though the Lobos lost, we had a great time.

On sunday morning we had planned a trip with the Sandia Peak Tramway, which climbs up Sandia Crest, a mountain of almost 11,000 ft (3,250 m), in the center of a ski area. Would have loved to enjoy the view from high up, but instead had to content ourselves with the view from the basis station. Since it was clouded with high winds the tram was "on hold" this morning because of inclement weather. Instead, we drove to the Balloon Museum, which proved to be a good choice. Very informative and unique! Also, Petroglyphs National Monument's Visitors Center, our next stop, was well worth the visit though we didn't hike the trails to the petroglyphs. Wished we would have had enough time! That was our last stop in Albuquerque before we headed out to Las Cruces.

Capital of Arts & Galleries: Santa Fe

On thursday morning we started after breakfast in our hotel to explore Santa Fe by foot. Being considered one of the most interesting art centers in the world we were first sceptical what to expect: kitsch? tourists' sounvenirs 'made in China'? Real artwork? We were completely surprised about what the city had to offer!

First, architecture is great. As the city grew throughout the 19th century and NM became a U.S. State in 1912, it imposed building regulations – pueblo style or adobe homes in eath-tone colors became the standard, no highrises, no ugly concrete, at least not in Old Town. Second, Santa Fe has about 325 days of sunshine, but nevertheless there are real seasons. Despite of its 7000 ft (2350 m) above sea level, right now we had temps close to frost at night and about 55-60 deg. F. during the day.

Being early-birds and considering the blue sky and sun, we went for a walk too early, since most shops (and, of course, museums) only open from 10 to 5. Most tourist activity takes place in the historic downtown, especially around the Plaza, adjacent to the Palace of the Governors, the original seat of New Mexico's territorial government since the time of Spanish colonization. Under the arcades of the Governors Palace indian artists were just setting up their blankets on the floor where they sell their artwork, mainly silver bracelets, earrings, rings etc. - nice pieces, authentic and affordable (see pic).

Santa Fe - the oldest capital city in the U.S. – was founded by Don Pedro de Peralta in 1610 and in the same year the Plaza and the Palace of the Governors were built. Nowadays about 82.000 people live in Santa Fe (with only about a total o 2,1 Mio. in New Mexico). Santa Fe is well known as a center for arts and there is a high concentration of artists and galleries. One of the most well-known New Mexico–based artists was Georgia O'Keeffe, who lived for a time in Santa Fe. The New Mexico Museum of Art and Georgia O'Keeffe Museum own several of her works. We visited this wonderful museum first thing in the morning and got a tour in the museum and the research center. Wished, we would have planned in advance to see the Ghost Ranch and O'Keeffe's house in Abiquiu as well on our way to Santa Fe!

On to the Shiprock Santa Fe Gallery, a high-class gallery focused on native american rugs, pottery, jewelery and other items, high quality, great pieces, but - unfortunately - not our price range. Our lunch at Santacafe with John from Santa Fe Tourism was delicious, highly creative southwest-inspired food. The owner is Judith F. Ebbinghaus, of German descendance, and the restaurant has an excellent reputation and is a "tradition" since 1983 in Santa Fe.

After lunch back to work: All in walking distance from the downtown Plaza, we visited a couple of museums: The New Mexico History Museum and the Palace of the Governors (good to get background on the history of the State), The New Mexico Museum of Art – a collection of Southwestern Arts with a beautifull courtyard (see pic) – and the Contemporary Native Arts Museum (highly creative! see pic).

Admired the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi before we strolled up Canyon Road - a street packed with galleries and therefore a major attraction for locals and visitors alike. Picked up our car and drove to Joe's Dining for dinner, a little apart from the city center, but sort of a hidden gem, which offers much more than just regular fries and burgers. Dishes feature mostly local and organic ingredients and the owner and chef, Roland (from Germany), joined us at the table and we talked about German food, TTIP and had a good time and an delicious meal.

This morning we packed first (wished we could have stayed longer!) and started the day with another walk through old town (including some shopping at O'Farrell's hat store...) before we drove up to Museum Hill, passing by the bronze monument "Journeys End", referring to the historic Santa Fe Trail. We spent quite a bit of time in the Indian Arts Museum (our absolute favorite - spectacular sculpture outside, superb location and excellent presentation inside), the Museum of Folk Arts (interesting as well) and the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art.

On to the Railyard District, one of the up&coming neighborhoods, where we checked out a couple of galleries and the railroad station (which offers frequent and cheap connection to Albuquerque by train!) and the Farmers Market Area. A pretty unique store we found, was "Kowboyz", a second-hand western wear and boots store. Later in the afternoon we departed for Albuquerque - and had fallen in love with Santa Fe!