LABOR DAY WEEK-END WITH JIMMY IN SANTA FE

Lucky me--I got to spend 3 days with Jimmy (and others) in beautiful Santa Fe, my first trip there. Not only did I get to see Jimmy's haunts first-hand, I also got together (after 40 years!) with my old college roommate, Jerry RIghtman, and his wife, Roberta. So without too much more blather, here are the views, in chronological order:

Saturday we went to Bandelier National Monument, about an hour northwest of town. We met Jerry in town and headed on out. Here are the 2 old Aggies above the canyon at Bandelier.

The monument is famous for the (don't say Anisazi, say) ancient Pueblo ruins. Here's a more modern New Mexican gaining some elevation:


And one of the more ancient ones...


After touring the ruins, Jerry headed home and Jimmy and I spent the afternoon on an 8 mile hike upstream, going down into the canyon, then back out again.


On Sunday we let Jerry and Roberta be our tour guides, wandering around downtown, checking out Santa Fe's 400 year anniversary party--that's where we got Jimmy in the pick-up truck. Then out to Chimayo, a village with an old church and lots of worshipers and pilgrims. That evening we went out to J&R's house, 12 miles from town. They are both retired veterinarians, and they have an unbelievable collection of Mexican folk art, all displayed on every available surface throughout their house. Here are 2 examples, just the tip of the folk-art iceberg.

In his retirement Jerry is an expert on art history and a local tour guide, so we joined his group for a walking historical and architectural tour of downtown Santa Fe. Then I got to see more of Jimmy's domain. Here he is in front of his house.


Then on to his lab.

Here he is with 4 of the 8 DNA sequencers, some of the extremely fun toys he gets to work with.


After lunch we headed off for another hike, this time to Tent Rocks Nat'l Monument, about an hour west of town. As you can see, the formations are quite dramatic!

And that was it--a lot of interest, amazement and excitement packed into 3 days. I look forward to getting back there and seeing still more.