One nice thing about having a blog is that I can relive vacation memories for quite a while after we've returned home. Denis and I enjoyed our week in Santa Fe with its mountains, clear thin air, and temperatures a good thirty degrees cooler than Phoenix.
We spent most of one day at the Randall Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary. Located up a canyon where the dirt road ends in its parking lot, the property was purchased by Randall Davey in 1920, and his children gifted it to the National Audubon Society in 1983. At least 190 different species of birds have visited this premier New Mexican educational facility, and those of you who have followed my blog for very long at all know automatically why I wanted to spend some time there.
I'm not going into a long-winded spiel about the day. The trails leading up the mountainside were too steep and uneven for my knees, so while Denis tackled a trail, I found the perfect spot to sit in the shade and let the critters come to me-- and they did!
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| The road to the sanctuary followed the Santa Fe River for a spell. |
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| The opposite side of the canyon. Some big houses over there! |
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| The spot I chose in which to relax and critter watch. |
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| My view up the mountain. |
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| The lavender in particular was covered with butterflies. |
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| And there were goldfinches to watch. |
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| I loved these delicate little flowers. |
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| Hummingbirds were so thick they had to look both ways before taking to the air. |
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| And there's always one who doesn't want his picture taken.... |
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| This lizard scuttled past my toes. |
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| Look closely enough and you can see the blue cast to its scales. |
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| On the trip back to the hotel, some typical Santa Fe architecture. |
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| Residents prefer native plants. Three cheers for them! |
If there were any of the photos you wanted to see in more detail, just click on any one of them and a new window will automatically open so you can see them all full-size.
Hope you enjoyed our outing. Next up is the jewel in the crown of our week in Santa Fe: the Museum of International Folk Art. Let me tell you, I'm going to have a very difficult time narrowing down which photos to share with you all!
