Santa Fe, New Mexico – July 21, 2024

I combined a work trip to Denver, Colorado with a Santa Fe Workshop class — A Sense of Place. With a few days between the two, I had time to do some exploring. On the drive from Denver to Santa Fe, I stopped at Great Sand Dunes National Park, then took the back road through Taos rather than Interstate 25. It was a far more scenic route, and it wound through Chama, Colorado, where I came across the railroad depot.

A little research that evening revealed I could catch the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad out of Chama with an early morning start. I managed to snag one of the last tickets to the deluxe car, which offered decent views — though I quickly realized I was on the wrong side for the best scenery. Fortunately there was room to move around and I got some good shots anyway. What I'd really love to do next time is chase the train by road. For the first half of the route the train is visible from the highway at several points, so that's the plan.

The workshop theme was a sense of place — the history, art, and landscape of Santa Fe. We visited a number of spots I had never been to before, including Abiquiú, the White Place, Bandelier, Pecos National Historic Park, and El Rancho de las Golondrinas, a historic ranch and stop along the old Camino Real. On the drive home I made a few more detours. I had visited Acoma Pueblo years ago, and this time they were a bit more relaxed about cameras — though you still need to go with a tour group. They've since added a beautiful visitor center and museum that's well worth a stop. From there I looped over to El Malpais National Monument, a dramatic landscape of lava fields, cinder cones, and lava tubes. A fire in the area had closed the trails, but I could take in quite a bit from the road. My final stop was El Morro National Monument, where a freshwater spring made this rock a reliable waypoint for travelers throughout history. The sandstone here is soft, and generations of visitors have carved their names and messages into it — a remarkable open-air record of everyone who passed through.