Family Week Fun Times

Ahh yes, the most stressful week of the year--the week the family comes to visit me in Colorado.  I sometimes think I would rather do a Greg Bennett and pull back to back Saturday Sunday races."Stay calm" I thought, "keep a positive mental attitude" and "smile and nod as much as possible."  I like to give them a hard time, but honestly, it was nice to see them and I am glad they came.

They got here on Thursday and we cooked out a bit, walked around Pearl Street, and I gave them a tour of the new building (where the chemical engineering department recently moved).

On Sunday we loaded up the car and headed to Santa Fe NM for a few days.  On the agenda was Harry's Roadhouse (apparently it was featured on TV (and as it turns out had very good food)), the Santa Fe historic district, and the Georgia O'Keeffe art museum.  In the past few years I have become increasingly interested in art and always enjoy critiquing.

Georgia O'Keeffe was an interesting lady for sure.  According to the museum, born in 1887 she developed/established herself to 1924 when she married her BFF Alfred Stieglitz (a famous photographer who took these pictures (as well as some nude ones (not shown (for your viewing sake)))).

Although she publicly stated that her art was not related to abstract female body parts, it was still hard to ignore the stereotyped analysis of her work.  What do these look like?

But she also was influential in depicting the desert southwest at a time when still very few people lived there (New Mexico only became a state in 1912).  Some of her most famous pictures were of skulls and of the mountain Pedernal near where she lived to the NW of Santa Fe.

Honestly, her art is OK, but I am not a huge fan.  Much of it is very desolate and done in dull offtone colors.  I suppose that is an accurate depiction of the area, but I wouldnt want it on my wall.  She did spend some time at UVA though, go hoos!

Later we walked around the downtown district which was mostly loaded with trinket shops and native women peddling turquoise jewelery.  My only conclusion was that there have to be a lot of sucker tourists who way overpay for these things...

I also got some training in with a nice 2.5hr ride and 50min transition run before heading home.  Santa Fe is at 7000ft which is a tad higher than Boulder but to be honest, I didnt really notice it that much.  Maybe I am finally adapting to the altitude?

The rest of the week was more standard ending with a cookout where I ate 7 burritos.  They were delicious but the next morning I had a terrible swim.  Live and learn I guess...

Rudy