Shrine to Mary Magdalene

St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Questa, also known as San Antonio de Padua Catholic Church, was built in the mid-1800s by the first families of what was then the village of San Antonio del Rio Colorado. It was recently renovated and this shrine sites just outside the main doors of this beautiful church. I sat and marveled at it's simple southwest design and beauty. Finding these gems on your travels is worth the exploration.

In Monument Valley

We were exploring Monument Valley’s floor one evening in the winter when I took this photo. This a a great time of year to saunter the high Colorado Plateau when the afternoons are cool and great for hiking. This Navajo Tribal Park is so beautiful and the landscape will inspire every photographer!

Teig on John Ford's Point

One of the most iconic places in America. Teig is standing on John Ford’s Point in Monument Valley. Some of the best westerns of all time had landscape shots from this very point. John Ford was one of my favorite directors and they named this location after him.

Doorway to History in Alamo Canyon

This is the abandoned historic house in Alamo Canyon set in the Ajo Range in southern Arizona. There is a great trail to this location and is one of the gems in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. I really love sauntering in this region during the mid winter months.

The Cross in the Desert

I went to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert. This benedictine monastic grounds is near Abiquiu, New Mexico which has a Abbey on the banks of the Chama River. I walked and meditated at this monastery and sauntered through the grounds. The scenery and extreme quiet was very appealing to me. This cross was below the large cliffs that arise above this compound.

Longhorns Grazing on Wyoming Grass

The couple of Texas Longhorn steers were grazing on grassland near Devils Tower National Monument in Northern Wyoming. It caught me by surprise to see them out on the prairie grassland mixing in with the American Bison.The Texas Longhorn was fashioned entirely by nature in North America. Stemming from ancestors that were the first cattle to set foot on American soil almost 500 years ago, they became the sound end product of "survival of the fittest". With the destruction of the buffalo following the Civil War, the Longhorns were rushed in to occupy the Great Plains, a vast empire of grass vacated by the buffalo. Cattlemen brought their breeding herds north to run on the rich grazing lands of western Nebraska, Wyoming, the Dakotas, and Montana. Thus, the Great Plains became stocked largely with these "bovine citizens" from the Southwest.

Longhorns Grazing on Wyoming Grass