Do You Know The Way To Santa Fe?

 Santa Fe, NM

We know the way!  It's on the Rail Runner.

Taking the Rail Runner to Santa Fe

This morning we got up and headed to the park and ride at the Rail Runner station.  Our train leaves for Santa Fe at 9:45.  We got there with about 20 minutes to spare so I explored the station.  Online ticketing was down so we would have to buy tickets on the train.

As we stood waiting for the train, we noticed that all of the riders waiting were older than us which is unusual.  Once we boarded I looked to see what the deal was.  Do Seniors ride for free?  Sure nuff!  Wednesday is Senior day.  Everyone 60 and up gets to ride for free.

We arrived in Santa Fe at 11:15, right on time, and headed right to lunch with about half of the train.  There is a great restaurant steps away from the downtown Santa Fe station.

 After a delicious brunch we walked across the parking lot to the Vladem Contemporary Museum.  This museum opened about a month ago.  We used our NARM membership and got right in.

Elias Jade Not Afraid -  Virgil Ortiz
For over two decades, Virgil Ortiz has been developing an elaborate narrative, Revolt 1680/2180, to globally educate people about Po'pay, the Tewa leader who led the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 against Spanish occupation and the subsequent survival of Pueblo culture. Historical fact blends with science fiction to present a time-bending tale of resilience and ancestral memory. 

Pantaloncini: Work No. (Indeterminate Stillness) (Emma) - Angela Ellsworth
We also saw Angela Ellsworth's work in Denver.

I didn't catch the name of this or the artist but it was cool.

Cloud Drawing -  Leo Villareal
Leo Villareal works with lights.  The installation we are most familiar with is The Bay Lights installed on The Bay Bridge while we were living in San Francisco.

The Archetype -  Emil Bisttram

Pumpkin - Yayoi Kusama

Untitled - Helen Pashgian

Cu: C - Susan York
This piece was commissioned just for this corner in the museum

The Santa Fe Rail Runner Station from the museum balcony

Capitol Building Tour

After a short walk we arrived at the New Mexico capitol building.  The building itself is just okay but it is stuffed with art.

Ullassa - Helen K. Tindel

There is a dome that is VERY New Mexico looking.

"Please no more questions!"

Slide 2008 - Laura Rosenfeld

The Senate and House floors are very utilitarian.  The capitol building was built in the 60s and it shows.

Ristras II 1994  - Marnie Johnson

Zozobra  - Will Shuster

Hoshonzeh  - Douglas Johnson

Buffalo  - Holly Hughes

Donna thought this looked like the plans to the Deathstar.  She isn't wrong.

New Mexico Museum of Art

After our capital time at the capitol we walked to the heart of Santa Fe and visited the New Mexico Museum of Art.  It was a short visit because we wanted to catch the earlier train.  We were getting tired and missing Francis.

Our walk took us along Historic Route 66.

The New Mexico Museum of Art building is really cool.

So is the courtyard within

Turquoise Persian Set  - Dale Chihuly
Everyone has got a Chihuly!  

Wasco  - Preston Singletary
We have seen a lot of his work in the Seattle area.

Stuben Glass Bowl with Jimson Weed image  - Georgia O'Keeffe with Stuben Glass

Chama River, Ghost Ranch, New Mexico  - Georgia O'Keeffe

Awakening, (Memory of Father)  - Agnes Pelton

The train ride home went smoothly.  We got to see some Sandhill Cranes eating seeds in a harvested field.  

Francis was happy to see us when we got home.

That's it for today.  If you missed Going Atomic!, you can check it out via the link.

Cheyenne WY

 Cheyenne, WY

Road Trip to Wyoming

This morning we packed a few road trip essentials and did the 1.5-2hr drive to Cheyenne, WY for a day trip.  I have certain goals for each state and one of them is to visit the capitol building.  

The drive is straight up I-25.  Once we passed the Fort Collins area we were in new territory.  As we crossed into Wyoming we noticed there was a visitor's center and rest stop.  I hadn't planned on stopping because our first real stop was only about 10 minutes away, but when we saw the rest area we had to pull off for a visit.

It was the coolest looking rest stop we have been to except for maybe this one in Oklahoma.

The rest stop featured some nice public art and a dog park (not pictured).

While there I grabbed the official WY state highway map and a state parks guide.

There was also a museum that included a wooly Mammoth

Donna and I were taking turns in the rest stop so I didn't get to see everything.  If things hold true we will be by here another 4 or 5 times so we can stop again.

Our first and kind of last stop was Accomplice Beer Company for brunch. There is a nice patio in the back where dogs are allowed and the brunch menu looked good to us.  We ordered food and a flight of beer and enjoyed the sun and train yard views from the patio.

Francis really enjoyed the sun.

and begging for some of my breakfast (see him under the table?)  Luckily for Francis, a wasp made me drop some of my egg and he helped clean up the spill.

During breakfast one of my traveling friends Alan, let me know about public art scattered around Cheyenne.  They are painted boots much like the painted Badgers seen in this post. We decided to keep our eyes open for the Cheyenne Big Boots on our walk to the capitol building.

Well that didn't take long.  There were 2 right outside the brewery!  In fact Cheyenne really had its public art going on.  There was art everywhere.

Cowboy art

More boot art

Old neon sign art

Even more more boot art

Mini statues celebrating locals,  This one celebrated the first female governor of WY and the US.  Nellie Ross did it in 1925.  WY is known as The Equality State because they were the first state to give women the right to vote.

After a nice 15 minute walk we were in front of the capitol building.  We both took turns watching Francis while the other speed ran the building.

The building was basically redone about 10 years ago.  It still feels set it the correct time, but everything is perfect.  It's a very good capitol building.

We each took about 15 minutes to see the building.  It was the first capitol building we have been in without a security check.  A docent mentioned that it was because this is The People's Building. That's a very different philosophy than the Winnipeg, MB tour where you had to be on a guided tour and then you were asked to leave after the tour.

After we were done with seeing the capitol, we walked back to the car and saw some more boots along the way.  We had 1 more stop in Cheyenne to check off another checklist item.

Pinball in Wyoming!

I had done some research on Flippers Family Arcade.  I had read that you have to use a reloadable players card to play and you had to buy one for $10 but that didn't support my goal of running in, playing one game, and running out.  I just wanted to check off the state. As I read further there was mention of older EM (Electro Mechanical) Machines that took quarters so that was what I would do.  I would play one of them.

I entered right at opening and searched for the EM Machines but there were none.  I walked the entire arcade searching and couldn't find them.  I wasn't going to buy a $10 card and make Donna wait so I was ready to give up but then I saw the Godzilla State Button Blinking.  A FREE game!  My problem was solved!

I had one of the worst Godzilla games of my life but the goal wasn't a high score, it was just to play pinball in Wyoming.  As I finished up I noticed Scooby-Doo had a free game too so I had to play that one too.  Great success!

The drive home took us a different route due to construction so we ended up getting new highways.  It was a fun day of exploring and I got to check off three things for my states list, Wyoming State Capitol, A Brewery in Wyoming, and Pinball in Wyoming. 

One more county down in Wyoming.  We still have a lot to do there.

That's it for today.  If you missed The Denver Gardens and Mint check it out.  We got paid a penny to visit The Denver Mint.