Caffeinated Gonzo!

Sky Over the Monzono’s, originally uploaded by caffeinatedgonzo.

Hands down… what I love most about my native state of New Mexico is the wide open skies. I can sit for hours just watching the clouds and the light play over the plains and the mountains. Today I was rewarded with this picture of a developing early evening thunderstorm hovering over the Monzono Mountains near Albuquerque (looking east from Los Lunas).

The views from Sandia Peak are breathtaking, and for some … so is the elevation (2 miles above sea level). On a clear day, the view is more than worth the drive up from Albuquerque or the fare on the tramway.

The view on day of my family’s last visit (late August 2007) was a bit hazy due to the heat in Albuquerque, but the views were still impressive.

If you have the chance to go there on a really clear cool day… and especially if you are taking the tram I suggest going around sunset so that you really get the full effect of the views of the city at dusk and beyond.

See more progress on: Sandia Peak

If you are ever in New Mexico for a visit, or if you are lucky enough to live here, I highly recommend making a visit to the New Mexico Natural History Museum; located conveniently next to Albuquerque’s more famous tourist attraction; the Old Town district.

While visting my folkes here in New Mexico this week, my dad drove us into Albuquerque this afternoon to visit the Natural History Museum and the National Atomic Energy Museum. These museums, along with a children’s science museum, and my local favorite, the Albuquerque Museum, are located within easy walking distance of the historic Old Town Albuquerque district.  I highly recommend taking a day and visiting all four.

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science was the family favorite on this day.

The  New Mexico Natural History Museum has several large permanent exhibits that highlight not only the regions prehistoric natural history, but also the history of the universe and the Earth from it’s origins until present time.  There is also a nice exhibit that explorers volcanoes, how they are formed and their geology.

I have visited the Natural History many times since my youth, and return often when I visit.  I always find something new to discover, and this year was no different.  It was especially fun this trip to explore the exhibits with not only my Dad who I enjoy going there with often, but also my fifteen year old son, who went there for the first time with us today. Three generations… each of us learning something new and exciting!

This year the museum featured a new temporary exhibit designed to teach about the history of computers; from their humble origins and on into the age of the Internet. The exhibit takes great pride in highlighting the contributions that Albuquerque has made to the history of computers, and in particular the personal computer.  How many people know or remember that Bill Gates, Paul Allen and indeed, Microsoft began their quest to conquer the world in a humble office building in Albuquerque?  Aside from this little tidbit of  local history, the exhibit allows today’s children and indeed all of us to see how the computer evolved from simple adding machines to giant complicated mainframes with less computing power than a handheld video game, to micro computers and the now ever-present PC and Macintosh’s connecting us all together over the Internet. Exhibit attendees are even given a chance to see hands-on what it was  like to operate those lowly little Altair 8800’s that got Bill and Paul so excited about the future way back in 1975.  My son was fascinated by all he learned in his time exploring this exhibit and to my amusement wished he could have stayed longer. So did my wife.  And I thought I was the computer geek in the family!

If you get a chance to see the START-UP: Albuquerque and the Personal Computer Revolution, I highly recommend taking your time and your kids. If you miss it, I still recommend a visit to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science for anyone with an interest in how the natural world works.

Historic San Felipe de Neri church, originally uploaded by caffeinatedgonzo.

The historic San Felipe de Neri church is the standard by which I measure all historic churches that I visit. This 300 (plus) year old Catholic parish is located in the Old Town section of Albuquerque, my old home town.

Long before I became Catholic myself, San Felipe represented to me what a Catholic church was meant to be… old, yet dignified… somber, yet uplifting… close to God, yet the closeness and color of earth.

There are a lot of places I want to take my family to see here in Albuquerque while we visit, and some we just won’t have time to get to, but visiting the San Felipe was something I hoped to share ~ more importantly had to do for myself. I am glad that we made it here.

Downtown Chicago, originally uploaded by caffeinatedgonzo.

My family enjoyed our recent, albeit brief visit to downtown Chicago Town. We had about six hours to spend in downtown Chicago on a stop over at Union Station. We road in early in the morning on Amtrak’s Lakeshore Limited passenger run. Having a few hours to kill before catching the Southwest Chief, heading west, we explored a bit, had l a great lunch on the 95 floor of the John Hancock Center with my cousin, and vowed to come back soon to explore some more.

[This photo was taken by my son in the resturant near the top of the tower.]

[Excess baggage, original photography created by Miss Aniela.]

The mysterious mood and lighting of this self-portrait by Miss Aniela evokes some interesting questions. Among them:

“Is she escaping or emerging?”

“If she is escaping, then from what?”

“Where is she going?

or better yet…

“Where did she come from?”

See this portrait entitled “Excess Baggage” and more by Miss Aniela on Flickr.

Or… “How Visiting Mesa Verde National Park Changed My Life…”

Visiting Mesa Verde National Park in my youth fueled my interest the history of the first people and of the southwest beyond the required subjects taught in New Mexico’s public schools. I had been to many ruins and museums in the southwest prior to my visit to Mesa Verde, yet somehow climbing the same cliffs as the ancients and viewing the land much as they may have seen it brought it all home and made the stories I had heard in school and artifacts I had seen in museums seem more real and tangible and at the same time; inspiring.

Mesa Verde, the park, was then, and I suspect is still now, a little known historical treasure that is well worth a visit of more than a day or two.

See more progress on: Mesa Verde National Park

Why I want to go to New Mexico? The simple answer: it’s in my blood. I was born in the Land of Enchantment; my mind, my personality, my temperament was formed in the state’s unique dry environment. Dry as it is, my idiosyncrasies, (well most of them) were formed out of the attitudes and altitudes of the people and environment of the place.

My pallet judges all foods on a scale in relation to the ecstasy experienced by my tongue when I find the perfect spoonful of green chili stew, the warmth felt eating a homemade tamale made by a neighbor, or the surprising taste and earthly texture of a blue corn tortilla. All of these experiences were first introduced to my soul in my native Estado de Nuevo México.

Visually, the color pallet of my art and imagigination was mixed out of the amazing blues, reds, oranges, yellows and deep purples found in skies and amazing sunsets of the southwest My ideal vision of what a green should be, my appreciation of the many hues and variations of brown come from the mountains and deserts of New Mexico.

The joy I find in listening to music; everything from the Grateful Dead and Neil Young to Spanish guitar, bluegrass and even classical and jazz (to name a few) has its roots in growing up in Albuquerque and visiting nearby Santa Fe. New Mexican’s have a broader appreciation for all forms of music than few other western states ever aspire to. Of course, like many, my musical tastes have grown and changed as I move around and experience new things, but I credit the development of my openness to and broad range of my musical tastes to my growing up such a unique and multi-cultural state.

Why else do I need to go to New Mexico? Well, there is my family of course, both my extended family, many of who still live in the old home town, and my own family, who have only a limited experience with the place of my birth. Also, high on the list of reasons for going back is to see members of our extended family, of course. Intermixed with all of this, of course real reason I am aching to go back, and that is to introduce to my son, and reinvigorate myself with the magic of the sunsets, the mountains, deserts, the air and the amazing food and people of the Land of Enchantment.

See more progress on: New Mexico

Stuck here at home this summer just a work’n and slave’n away, I find myself daydream’n about going on a road trip. 

When I was a mere child the ultimate road trip was to pile the entire nuclear family in the family Osmobile and head on (up or down) the old Route 66.  I lived in Albuquerque New Mexico back then.  Route 66 ran right through town down ol’ Central Avenue back then (1960’s / 70’s) and for years you could definitely feel the character of the mother road on the place. Although efforts have been made to revive some of that experience it is often hard to find traces of the old lady trail on much of the road’s route throughout our great land, squeezed between the signs for McDonald’s and Walmart ~ if you look - it’s still there.

Read more about efforts to preserve the old road’s legacy on the Route 66 News blog.

Because it’s the place I see in my dreams.

See more progress on: Ireland