5/4 Ghost Ranch & Georgia O'Keeffe's Scenery

I had been to Ghost Ranch, where Georgia O'Keefe had a home and spent a lot of time painting, a few years ago, but this time I made reservations for the bus tour.  This was a very large ranch that was donated by its owner to the Presbyterian Church of the USA.  It is still owned by them and is now a retreat and arts center.  You can stay in one of their housing units, take art lessons, take some trail rides, or just relax and enjoy the scenery while you are there. 

Or, you can just stop by for the day and visit the gift store, museum, and some of the facility buildings.  Depending on the seasons, they offer several different kinds of bus or trail ride tours. Here is the website that describes this interesting facility:   https://www.ghostranch.org/

Just driving the few miles there from the camp ground was pleasant.  By the way, Georgia O'Keeffe first drove here from Santa Fe and from Abiquiu on dirt or non-existant roads. 

It's easy to miss the entrance!

 

 

The road into the ranch is dirt and about 3 miles long.  

 

 

It's a surprisingly large facility.  

 

 

The main entrance, lobby, and gift store.  They also sell drinks and box lunches here.  There is a formal restaurant in the ranch, but it is for overnight guests who are attending workshops.

This was the original home Georgia O'Keeffe lived in here.  She later had a home a couple of miles down a ranch road that was more private and quieter. 

 

 

The two rooms on the left here was the original ranch house of the owners. 

 
 Inside the original ranch house. 

A couple of the other ranch buildings.

This is the small museum on the facility, with artifacts found there. 

Below is the ranch road that goes to the second house O'Keeffe owned here.  The tour leader said she often set up her painting easel on this road.  She tour leader would stop at various points and show us copies of the paintings O'Keeffe made while also pointing out the specific scenery that was painted.  I think it was worth the fee, but I am not sure I would want to take the tour in extremely hot weather.

 

 

This puzzled me because it looked like someone had been doing some digging here. 

My next stop will be a state park about 60 miles from here, so that will be my next posting.