Go down to the gods

I have been SOOOOOO busy in recent weeks! Went to my mom's house two weekends in a row to fix her car and deliver a refrigerator to her, a three and a half hour trip each way. 

Then last weekend, I drove up to Denver with my daughter to see a concert- Arcade Fire! It so rocked. I have had their songs in my head ever since. If anyone doesn't know who they are- they won Best Album at the Grammies this year. The crazy thing about this concert is that they're playing in Santa Fe on Monday, an hour from my house. But, it's a very small venue and I couldn't get tickets. So I did the next best thing- bought tickets to a venue 450 miles away!

Saturday night, when we parked on the street near the venue, we asked the people parking in front of us if this was the right place. They said they didn't really know. They were from out of town. My daughter asked where they came from. Guess what they said? Albuquerque! Why? Because they couldn't get tickets to Santa Fe! How many people come down to Albuquerque from Denver for concerts, I wonder? ZERO!!!! I'm sure! I've gone up to Denver to see the Rolling Stones, Blondie and The Cars, and others.  If we don't go to Denver, we go to Phoenix. ABQ has a terrible concert schedule- all the good bands drive right through without even stopping or waving hi.

Anyway- before the concert, I got worried about it living up to my expectations and whether my daughter would appreciate it. I shouldn't have worried. It was fantastic- one of the BEST concerts I've ever been to. We got there early and, although we couldn't get Floor tickets, sold out, we got Seats right down front in the Stands. The opening band, Local Natives, out of Los Angeles, was thrilled to be playing with them and came out to watch, standing right below us during TAF's entire set. I really got a kick out of seeing one of the band members pan the crowd with his cell phone camera to show how many people were there. lol.

There are eight members in Arcade Fire and they switch instruments after every song. There are two violin players, two drummers, guitars, a cello, keyboards, and even an accordian on some songs. The singers are a husband and wife who alternate lead vocals on the songs and when Regine is not singing, she is dancing. And sometimes, she dances while she sings. She looks like a pixie princess.

But enough, if you get the chance- go see them! And, if you have an extra ticket, I'm coming.

Before the concert, we went sightseeing around Colorado Springs, as evidenced by the Balanced Rock photos for the Sunday Stills challenge. I even got my letterboxing journal stamped by the Rangers in the Garden of the Gods gift shop. Try saying that fast. Since I never can find the planted stamps, I have to get them where I can. ;) Anyway, here's a few more photos of the Garden of the Gods area:

You can just make out the Kissing Camels at the top left of the next photo, in about about 1/4 of the way. There's an archway kind of thing. Look closely. Otherwise, it looks like a Tiki God or something laying down, doesn't it?

As we entered the parking lot for the gift shop, we came across a herd of deer. They walked across the parking lot down the way from us, one and two at a time.

I managed to get a great close up of this young one.

We saw many, many people walking, running and biking in Colorado.

I got a kick out of this- a person went splat here!

These strange rock formations are in the Garden of the Gods. My camera setting got tweaked, making this photo kind of surreal.

We came across the Balanced Rock area just as we were discussing blitzing through the rest of the G of the G. Way cool! We had to stop and look around.

 And take pictures!

We thought these rocks were way cool.

 We had to go down inside. It kind of reminded me of the movie, 127 Hours, where the slot canyon rock climber cuts his own arm off with a pocket knife to free himself from a rock that waited millions of  years to fall on him.

Aron Ralston said" You know, I've been thinking. Everything is... just comes together. It's me. I chose this. I chose all this. This rock... this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. It's entire life, ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space. It's been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I've been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I've taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the out surface.

If you haven't seen that movie- do! I highly recommend it. Only, I couldn't watch the parts where he cuts himself.

This tree was clinging to life. Amazing!

It was pretty solid too.

Go down to the gods - song: Width of a Circle, artist: David Bowie, album: The Man Who Sold the World

Garden of the Gods

The other day we drove down this road on our way to Santa Fe. Instead of ending at the foot of the mountain, it curves around the mountain and there's a very scenic, very curvy, downward slope to drive down, on the other side.

 Along the Turquoise Trail, a specially named section of highway, so named for the many turquoise mines in the area, there is a place with "holey" rocks, the Garden of the Gods.

  Notice the tree growing out of the rocks at the top? This large formation, known as the Dakota Wall, is part of a continuous sandstone wall, part of the Rockies, running north to south, from Canada to Mexico. This area is known as the Garden of the Gods, so named because of its similarity to the well known region in the Colorado Springs area. About a mile north, are ruins of the ancient San Marcos Pueblo, one of the most populous pueblos at the time of the Spanish explorers in 1540.

Ancient peoples revered this area. Here is a beautifully carved pole, possibly religious in nature or at least spiritual. Also known as Ambush Rock, this area was often used by masked bandits to waylay travelers on foot or horseback and to rob stagecoaches and wagons carrying silver and gold from the local mines.

There is a delightful little outdoor art garden in this area but it is behind locked gates. Later this year, it is anticipated that there will be a residence, studio, and gardens open to the public.

I love this sculpture of the Rock-Paper-Scissors.

Peeking out from the trees is this life sized black horse.

Here is a distant shot of the origami horses to give you perspective of the area.