So, it’s been a while. How’ve you been? I’ve missed you, the people of blog land, and Mom, (hi Mom!). Things have been a hoppin’ around these parts, but I don’t feel like talking about it. Nothing bad, all good stuff has been going on, I just need to organize my thoughts and photos. Instead, I’ll just show you some pretty pictures from my birthday weekend trip. Yeah, I know it’s the beginning of June and my birthday was way back in April, but darn it, I took photos and edited them for you so I’m gonna share. Sit tight, relax, and enjoy this virtual sight seeing tour of Nowhere New Mexico.
Actually it wasn’t Nowhere NM, it’s the Abo Ruins just outside of Mountain Air. This was one of the most pleasant stops we hit up on our way down to Las Cruces. The weather was perfect, there weren’t any crowds, and it was free. Now, that’s something I can do an awkward happy dance for!
The ruins consisted of one large building with a few out buildings that were later built by ranchers in the late 1800’s.
I’ll give those little rattlers all the privacy they need, thankyouverymuch.
The main mission consisted of several large rooms, the main structure itself served as the center of the community.
Look at those stones that the structures are made of, can you believe they did all of this by hand? There were no crews of brawny Canadians that came out and made this right (enter Holmes on Homes joke here.)
Although this was a Catholic mission there are still remnants of the Native American culture and religion. Here’s a kiva as evidence.
I had to include this one, see that bottom sign with Caution man walking his dog? His posture reminds of my posture when going on an evening pull walk with Goldie dog.
I hope you enjoyed this little visit to Nowhere NM with me. I don’t know about you, but I needed a little virtual vacation since there won’t be road trips this weekend. Bubba and I have made plans to start a little remodeling project on the ol’ casa de yellow. We will be ripping out the old carpet in the living room and putting down vinyl plank flooring. Pray for us, hopefully there will be no gnashing of teeth.
Semi-Seasonal 
So ominous, yet absolutely stunning — if those walls could talk, huh?
😉
Happy (late) birthday!
Thanks for the birthday wishes!! And yes, it’s very stunning, both the architecture and the history.
Thank you for sharing the photos!
It looks pretty hot, just looking at the photos 😀
Actually, since I visited Abo at the beginning of April it wasn’t hot yet. New Mexico stays pretty mild until mid-summer, then the dry heat begins. Thanks for commenting!
Reblogged this on 8BIT.
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!
A few weeks ago, I took a field trip class to the Santa Fe region. We visited ruins at Chaco, Pecos and Bandelier. This is a great post and made me realize that we should expand our excursions next year.
Thank you! There are so many cool sites in the southwest! You guys should definitely see more of it if you get the chance!
Wow, beautiful!
This reminds me of my trip to Peru where I visited the ruins Macchu Picchu. It’s truly astonishing and gets your mind thinking that, a long time ago people used to live here. Too bad most of the structures didn’t survive. We only get to witness the foundation, lol. Still a beautiful memory you have here.
Peru must have been awesome! It’s pretty amazing that even the foundations are still standing after centuries. I don’t know if anything of my house will still be in existence a couple of centuries from now! Thank you, it really is a nice memory.
Ahh that’s home. I write about New Mexico in my blog too. Thanks so much for sharing! Time to start planning a trip!! 🙂
It’s nice to meet a fellow New Mexican! I’m on my way to your blog now!
Your photos have made me realise something very important: I need a holiday! Great blog.
Thanks, hopefully you’ll get to visit someplace very exciting and new soon!
I love this blog.
Wow, cool trip! Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Courtney Hosny
http://www.oneweektocrazy.com
Interesting place.
Steven Wade, Edinburgh and Dundee
Thanks for the tour and sharing your photos 😀
I’m in the process of putting the ruins in a map–any chance you would share one of your pics? I’ll gladly give photo credit! I’m also a fellow New Mexican. Congrats on getting Freshly Pressed. It’s nice to see something worthwhile on there for a change.
Wow, you want one of MY photos? Of course, I’ll shoot you an email.
Reblogged this on wincharles.
Thanks!
I always love to see posts about New Mexico… I work at the State Archives… Nice post.
Very cool post.
Reblogged this on Gabriel Roybal and commented:
lovely!
Reblogged this on Musings from the Manhut and commented:
We’ve been here. I have a tone of pics from this place too. Maybe I will post them sometime too
The stonework is interesting. How old is the monument area? I’ve never been to NM but do hope to be able to do so soon. Thanks for sharing.
You Matter! Smiles, Nancy
The ruins date back to the 1300’s, according to wikipedia and the national parks site. Hopefully you’ll get to visit the Land of Enchantment soon!
Wow! Thanks for the update. Look forward to the potential future visit.
You Matter! Smiles, Nancy
Wow, great photos. I like old places in ruins; like some sort of ancient civilizations. Well, good luck on your virtual vacation and congrats on making this post to freshly pressed. 🙂
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They did all of this by hand really cool! Love your photos!
Love the photos! Looks like quite an intriguing place. I was laughing out loud reading about the rattlesnake privacy thing. Hahahaha! And the dog and its owner is also hilarious.
Congratulations for being on Freshly Pressed!
Unas imagenes muy descriptivas del lugar…gracias por compartir.
cool trip! Thanks for sharing!
Great photography! Another virtual vacation for you in Patagonia… 🙂
http://damantigui.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/patagonia-photos-enes
Hope you like it 🙂
Excellent post. This is really a good work. I appreciate your efforts behind that.
Thanks for sharing!
That’s a very nice post. Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed. Your post was a nice distraction for me while I’m at work.
Please feel free to visit http://germch55.wordpress.com for virtual tours of New York.
Beautiful! Did you go over to the other Salinas Missions, too? Gran Quivira, while a little out of the way, is TOTALLY worth the time it takes to get there!
Thanks! And no, we only had enough time to see the Abo site, I would love to see the others at some point. But maybe after it cools down a bit.
Bah, cool down. You’re in New Mexico 😉 Make sure you stop by Mountainaire’s Hotel for a sarsparilla and something to eat! It’s a legendary location!
nice! check angkor wat ruins too. http://bestintoronto.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/angkor-wat/
What is a kiva used for?
I am by no means an expert on this, so if anyone out there has a better answer feel free to speak up! But from what I’ve gathered a kiva is a room used by Native Americans for religious rituals. You’ll have to ask someone else about what type of rituals, because again, I’m not an expert, just a silly girl with an itchy shutter finger.
From a sign posted at the site: “In Pueblo tradition, kivas are underground meeting chambers for conducting religious ceremonies, teaching children, telling stories, and weaving.” No one outside the pueblo is ever allowed inside, and there is great secrecy about rituals, so the types of rituals are not known. Missionaries forbade practice of most traditions and ritual, so such things had to be done in secret. One pueblo man told me that they are often used as giant sweat lodges for communal purification. Since there is total darkness inside, he claims that one yearly ritual at his pueblo involves anonymous sexual coupling, which may be why the pueblos have a tradition of treating all pueblo children as their own, and raise them communally. (but still retaining a nuclear family structure) I have no idea if this is true, but you’ll never find proof one way or the other.
Reblogged this on The Realm of Wonder and commented:
;R
Now when someone asks how they created the Pyramids, I shall respond with “Brawny Canadians”.
You betcha eh? Glad I was able to solve the mystery of the Pyramids for ya 😉
Super Like this blog……
Looks like an interesting place!
I chuckled when I read your caption of the rattlesnake sign–about giving the snakes all the privacy they need. When my parents took a roadtrip across the Southwest, they ended up at a rest area where the parks dept put up signs warning people about snakes in the restrooms. My mom joked that she had to go to the bathroom pretty bad so she wasn’t going to worry about snakes, even though she freaks out around snakes. Fortunately, there were no snakes hanging out in the restroom that day.
Love your photos.
I am sure if your mom saw a snake she would have waited for another chance to visit the ladies room! I know I would have!
You’re right about that. She could not even handle gardener snakes. A rattlesnake would freak her out.
Neat pics. Im impressed by their resolve, to find, cut and organize that many bricks. Awesome sights
have fun with the remodel and happy next birthday also loved your pictures
I have to admit, I was intrigued by the title (Abo is a perjorative slur for the natives of Australia so I was wondering how a racist rant about aborigines got Freshly Pressed; needless to say I was surprised [though I shouldn’t have been] that this was nothing of the sort). Lovely pictures and from an area I haven’t spent too much time in; which makes it a definite treat. And thanks for expanding my horizons on the word Abo.
And thanks for expanding my horizons on the word Abo! I’ll be very careful about using it from now on!
Probably won’t matter too much, provided you don’t get too many hits from Australia! I only picked up on it because I am very interested in racism (though, hopefully not a racist. Hard to tell, racists never think that they are racists). Wikipedia has a very fine list and you would be hard pressed not to find words that are similar to commonly used words in one’s everyday lexicon.
Very interesting place. Here are my photos of all three of the of the pueblo ruins in the Salinas Valley: (Abó, Gran Quivira, and Quarai). I should have posted them on WordPress.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150441283346015.439460.636421014&type=3&l=1ba114777a
BTW, the nearby town is usually spelled Mountainair, although I see that the Chamber of Commerce there heads up their page as Mountain Air Chamber of Commerce.
Have you been to the Mesa Verde ruins in Colorado…..A must trip. We visited a couple of years ago and the ruins are beautifully intact and require hiking down cliff sides. I labeled that post Location, Location, Location as a joke…but definitely worthy a trip if you like ruins. We spent an entire day there and still could of spent more time
I visited the park and the museum, but being as we were just passing through I couldn’t hike down to the actual ruins. I’d like to go back someday. Chaco Canyon is very cool too if you ever get a chance to visit. I love that post title! I guess it really was the best location at the time of construction.