Ghost Ranch- Near Abiquiu New Mexico

Ive always wanted to check out the Ghost Ranch that was made famous by Georgia O'Keefe.  She lived here almost every year. This was where she created some of her gorgeous desert paintings.

This is a resort center where many groups come for various activities. It happened to be family week while we were there. This is the church building. I attended an orientation with some singing one night here.

There are beautiful cliffs all over with many colors. We wanted to do some hiking. They have very sketchy hiking instructions. They have a list with only the location of the trailhead.

We reserved a room near the pool months ahead. I wasn't able to get a room on the phone but day of they had an opening in a bunk room that I had to myself.  It was nice to stay right on the grounds.

There were sweeping views on the one hike we went on. It was so hot in June we could only do one trail in the morning. I definitely want to go back after researching where the 5 trails go.

We carried water spray bottles during the hike to keep us cool I would recommend to go in Spring or Fall.

We loved all the desert plants.

On our last day we went on a tour entitled "Footsteps of Georgia O'Keefe" We were allowed onto property that Georgia visited regularly. The tour guide had many paintings that were painted from the desert scenes we saw.

This was the actual setting that inspired the above work.

I asked about the bone paintings she did. It was explained there was a famine when she painted and lots of cattle bones were all over the land.

Here is another painting "Hill"

At the end we got to see her actual home while she painted here. We were not allowed to go in because they are still working on the structure to allow visitors. She has another home in Abiqui a short distance away you can visit. Next time we will check it out. We did have dinner at the Abiqui inn. Highly recommend eating on the porch. Delicious!