Canyon Street artists and a nice hike

In our exploration of Santa Fe, we discovered Canyon Street, where over 100 artists and sculptors have their galleries. It is a beautiful, shaded open air museum/gallery with some of the most original pieces we have seen. Some are serious, many are whimsical, but all are fun. We were there after dinner, so we had it all to ourselves. Here are some of our favorites.

I wanted to try dancing with these guys, but a police car was driving by and I thought I might attract too much attention...

This shaman was amazing! Many of the galleries had courtyards where you can sit and admire the sculptures and just be...

                                                           
 This was one of Suzanne's favorites. I think it brings out the child in her. Maybe when the oak tree behind our house gets a little bigger I'll put in a swing for her...

There were also galleries featuring wall hangings, paintings and jewelry, but regrettably, they were closed while we were there. (Saving my wallet...).
There was also a neat restaurant down the street; I looked for an online review, and one critical diner had noted that "the elk was a bit too salty"... well, we certainly weren't going to dine where the elk was too salty!

Rudy and Gretchen found a playmate, but he was very subdued and not very playful. They did really enjoy the walk along Canyon Street; they found lots of other dog smells to investigate, but no rabbits or squirrels.

Having recovered from our mountain bike ride the day before, Suzanne thought a short hike in the mountains would be fun, so we drove up to Hyde Memorial State Park above Santa Fe, at 8,500 feet, for a pleasant two hour hike on the Borrego Trail and Bear Wallow Trail through pine forests and along a small creek. We didn't see any wallowing bears, but did see a mule deer buck whose antlers were still in velvet. I wasn't fast enough with the camera, but this hiker is much prettier anyway. Isn't that a snazzy hat?



Suzanne asked me to include this one showing your faithful correspondent using his old Boy Scout skills. Yes, guys, that is a real compass, not a GPS, iPhone or any other modern gadget. The ranger had warned us not to miss the trail intersection that would bring us back to our car. If we had missed it, we would still be on a 50 or 60 mile detour through the wilderness. Speaking of cool hats, that one has a logo that reads "Remember the Alamo".