Travels on the Mother Road, Route 66: Part 11, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Dear Readers, let us return to the Mother Road, the famous Route 66. When it was originally mapped out in the mid-1920s, Route 66 entered Santa Fe from the south after leaving Albuquerque. It then headed east and southeast through the mountains. But in 1937, Route 66 was rerouted to bypass Santa Fe (political posturing - who would have guessed?). Today, a traveler today can choose to travel on the older original 1920s routing or just drive east-west through Albuquerque. Regardless, Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, is one of the oldest cities in the Unites States and is ripe with interesting architecture, the arts, a famous opera, and cultural activities. The Georgia O'keefe Museum is amazing. My pictures below are a semi-random view of town. The standard tourist sites have been photographed millions (billions?) of times; I don't need to repeat them.

New Mexico Museum of Art, West Palace Ave.

Maria's Kitchen, West Cordova Ave.

Coming from parts of the country with predominantly wood architecture, I found the adobe architecture of New Mexico to be very interesting. It is ideally suited to the hot summers because the thick clay walls keep the blazing sun at bay.

Spanish festival, Sanat Fe Plaza

There is no end to cultural activities and fun. The Santa Fe Plaza has been the social, commercial, and political center of the city since about 1610 (remember, this is one of of the oldest cities in the United States, only matched by St. Augustine in Florida). The Plaza is a National Historic Landmark.

Glass fruit at the famous 109 East Palace Ave.

Just off the Plaza is a block of 1600s adobe buildings. One of these was the security and clearing office for the Los Alamos scientists and engineers during the early phase of the Manhattan project in World War II. Newly-arrived workers entered a perfectly ordinary-looking door and met the formidable Ms. McKibbin, who issued their passes. Then they exited out the rear to a bus, which took them up into the mountains to the new Los Alamos facility. From the Atomic Heritage Foundation:

After arriving in Lamy, the scientists, SEDers, and families were directed to 109 E. Palace Avenue in Santa Fe. The building, constructed as a Spanish hacienda in the 1600s, is located just off the plaza in downtown Santa Fe. During World War II, it was the administrative hub of the Manhattan Project.  

Dorothy Scarritt McKibbin was the first reassuring face the fatigued newcomers saw. At 109 East Palace, McKibbin informed them that their journey continued another 35 miles along the winding road up to the Pajarito Plateau. In the early months, she dispatched an average of 65 people each day to “the Hill,” as Los Alamos was called. The steady stream of arrivals meant the office was often “bedlam,” as McKibbin described it. She issued passes and IDs and directed newcomers to their homes, received shipments of household items to be distributed to the Hill’s residents, and tended to personal matters as needed.  McKibbin was the perfect person for her job and quickly became indispensable as the “Gatekeeper” at 109 E. Palace Avenue and a close friend and confidante of Oppenheimer. She had a warm smile, an engaging personality and was reassuringly calm and efficient. In recognition of her contribution, McKibbin was awarded the title of “First Lady” of Los Alamos and declared a Living Treasure of Santa Fe. 

Today, 109 E. Palace houses gift shops and sells glass fruit and other artsy items.

A family friend generously let us stay in his guest cottage. He has interesting items in his yard, along with resident bunnies.

Aspen Vista trail, approx. 10,600 ft altitude, Nexus 4 frame reprocessed with DxO FilmPack 5.

Buy a hiking guidebook and try some of the trails around Santa Fe. Many are less than a hour from town.

Valles Calders National Preserve, Olympus Trip 35 exposure on Kodak BW400CN film.

Head north into the mountains to the Valles Caldera National Preserve (established by president Clinton, part of the National Park Service). The high altitude air is clear and crisp. View this ancient supervolcano and watch elk grazing in the pastures. Listen to the silence (except when some Harleys come thundering along).

The composer, Igor Stravinsky, conducted regularly at the Santa Fe Opera from 1957 to 1962. This bust is on the Stravinsky Terrace of The Santa Fe Opera. The opera, on a stunning site north of town, is a fabulous venue for top-class opera. Make a point to attend a performance!

Santa Fe and the surrounding mountains are a fantastic vacation destination, highly recommended!

The square photographs are from Tri-X 400 film in a Hasselblad camera. The rectangle frames are Kodak BW400 film from a Yashica Electro 35CC camera (a convenient travel camera with a top-quality 35mm f/1.8 Color-Yashinon lens). The view of Valles Caldera was taken with a Olympus Trip 35 camera with a polarizer to emphasize the clouds. You can click any frame to see the larger photograph.

Small Towns in Mississippi: Bolton

Madison St. (Old US 80), Bolton, Mississippi

Bolton is an old agricultural town in Hinds County on the east-west Kansas City Southern railroad line between Jackson and Vicksburg. Many Vicksburgers who go to school in Raymond take the exit from I-20 and pass through Bolton in a hurry, likely not paying much attention. Like many other small towns, Bolton has faded. The small commercial strip is mostly empty, the shops and nearby houses rather run-down. It is sad.

The gas station at the corner of Old US 80 and Bolton-Raymond Road is now a fast food joint.

I do not know if Bolton ever had a passenger depot. This old railroad warehouse or shed is at the crossing of the Bolton-Raymond Road. I have photographed it several times over the years. The tracks and bedding are in good maintenance because this is the main Kansas City Southern east-west line.

Jackie's Beauty Boutique is just a few steps from the railroad warehouse. On January 9, 2014, the Hon. Bennie G. Thompson in the House of Representatives asked his colleagues to recognize Ms. Jackie Bailey for her contributions to the community (Congressional Record, 113th Congress, Second Session, Volume 160-Part 1) 

East of Bolton, Old US 80 runs through woods interspersed with farm fields. I am not sure how much of the route is the real 80, the former Dixie Overland Highway, and how much is 1970s-vintage frontage road.

Proceed west on Madison Street, which is also Old US 80, and you reach the police station in a tiny modern office. Across the street is a closed gas station.

Continue west, and we have cottages and shotgun houses in various states of habitation and maintenance. I like the symmetry of these older cottages. Unfortunately, there is not much more to see in Bolton.

I took most of the black and white photographs with an Olympus Trip 35 compact 35mm camera on Kodak film. I wrote about the Trip 35 in January. I also wrote about the Trip 35 on the 35MMC blog.

Update: I found a 1996 Kodachrome slide of Bolton.

Madison St., Bolton (Kodachrome 25 film, Leica M3, 90mm ƒ/2.8 Tele-Elmarit lens)

The Arkansas Delta 2: McGehee (B&W film)

North First Street or US. 287, McGehee, Arkansas.

Dear Readers, many of my previous posts have been about the Mississippi Delta. Cross the Mississippi River to the west side, and there is a similar flat alluvial plain in Arkansas, which comprises it's "Delta." Note, I am not referring to the geomorphic delta of the Mississippi River. That is the immense mass of riverine sediment that protrudes south into the Gulf of Mexico in southern Louisiana. For reasons I do not know, the flat alluvial plain that was so fertile for agriculture in northwest Mississippi and southeast Arkansas was historically also called the "Delta."

McGehee, a city in Desha County, is one of these agricultural and railroad junction towns in the Arkansas Delta. McGehee developed in the 1870s, when the railroad was cut through this area of undeveloped hardwood bottomlands and marshes. A sawmill was one of the first industries.

The rail lines, still active and an important commerce routing, are now operated by Union Pacific Railroad.

The Missouri-Pacific Depot was built in 1910, in a Mediterranean/Italianate style, combining Spanish tiles on the roof and exposed beams with a Craftsman appearance. The depot has been restored and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Hord Architects of Memphis, TN, and Miller-Newell Engineers restored the North Building of the McGehee Train Depot, with funding from the Arkansas Highway Transportation Department and local contributions. The south depot was restored in 2013 and now houses the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum. The internment camp was east of town. The site now is a grassy field with no remnants of the WWII barracks.

McGehee looks like many other delta towns: shuttered stores, almost empty streets, and a forlorn look.

First Street was once the commercial strip with sturdy early 20th century brick shops.

The old cinema is now the 2nd Chance Ministries. It's a sign of a town's decay when ministries occupy old theaters, schools, or auditoriums on otherwise deserted streets. 

These photographs are an experiment with a 1970s Olympus Trip 35 camera with a fixed 40mm f/2.8 lens. This compact camera was sold in the millions and has become somewhat of a cult item among recent film users. The lens is a 4-element 3-group design, which likely means a Tessar-type optic. Tessars are noted for sharpness with a type of edge enhancement that make transitions look crisp. I can confirm that this Olympus lens is excellent. The film was the Kodak BW400CN C41-type black and white film, which is rather grainy. I used a yellow filter to enhance the sky. This BW is very forgiving on exposure but never quite has the tonality of traditional film. Next time, I will experiment with a finer-grain traditional B&W film.