Since arriving in Santa Fe Saturday, September 24, we stayed busy exploring Old Town Santa Fe, the Turquoise Trail leading out of Santa Fe, the High Road to Taos and the low road back to Santa Fe, the Taos Pueblo, and Los Alamos, among other places.
For the past week, we enjoyed a seemingly endless supply of beautiful scenery, fascinating architecture, historic museums, ancient churches, high-end art galleries, Native crafts, weaving, pottery, jewelry, markets, ethnic and organic food...and perfect weather!
The Santa Fe Skies RV Park turned out to be the perfect place to park for convenient access to Santa Fe and surrounding areas.
The park offered interesting walks, fabulous views of Santa Fe, an odd display of antique farm equipment, and delightful plant life.
The Turquoise Trail started with lunch at a superb little restaurant - San Marcos Cafe - whose food was as interesting as the location quirky ... complete with peacocks, turkeys, yard art and feed store.
The trail -- actually Route 14 between Santa Fe and Albuquerque -- continued through hippie havens which offered everything from high-end art to low-end junk.
The trail ended with a drive up to the Sandia Crest ... 7800 feet above sea level. The views were great all along the way. Autumn is on its way in New Mexico!
Given our home base in Santa Fe, we were also able to take a day trip up to Taos, New Mexico.
We drove the old 'high road' to Taos on the way up, stopping along the way to view old churches, miraculous sites, local art, and, of course, yet another amazing place to eat. The food at Sugar Nymphs, owned and run by a former executive chef from San Francisco who found her way to the serenity of a small village in New Mexico, has been my favorite so far, even given all the good and creative foods we've eaten. I can only imagine what the chocolate pecan pie tasted like, and have since been admonished by people we've met for not having tried it!
We drove though Taos and ended up at the Taos Pueblo ... a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where 100 Tiwa-speaking natives still live in the same place that has been home to their ancestors for more than 1000 years. Out of respect, we did not take photos at the pueblo.
However, we did photograph the road back to Santa Fe, along the Rio Grande.
Another side trip was to Puye Cliff, where we had hoped to climb ladders and hike up trails to view cliff dwellings. Unfortunately, the Puye Cliff was closed, since the recent wild fire in northern New Mexico caused damage to the cliff.
Since we were in the area, we decided to visit Los Alamos instead. Very engaging, starting with the road up the remote mesa where the town is, and including the requisite science museum, plus an unlikely history museum that covered everything from the volcanic geology of the area to a reproduction of an apartment that engineers and their families lived in during the Manhattan Project that resulted in the development of the first nuclear bomb.
So, what about Santa Fe? As a wood worker, Benson loved the use of wood in the architecture, the mysterious wooden staircase (no visible means of support) that was built by a mysterious man (thought to be Saint Joseph) using mysterious wood (unknown to anyone today), and the fragrant pinon wood, a bag of which we are bringing back with us to burn in the fire place.
I loved the museums, art galleries, and local artisans, and preferred window shopping to purchasing -- although I did find a single stunning silver bracelet made by a young man of the San Filipe Pueblo who has been selling his jewelry on the famous veranda of the Governor's Palace for more than 15 years ... as did his father before him.
But most of all, we enjoyed the Santa Fe Farmer's Market. What produce to behold! What bread on which to feast! What convenience it offers as a stop on the high speed rail.
Of the handful of places at which we ate, most of them featured local, organically-grown produce ... some of which was even grown on site.
Daily, we meet and share time with interesting people -- mostly tourists like ourselves -- who have made our trip even more memorable.
For hikers, climbers, and outdoor enthusiasts, New Mexico offers even more opportunities. Benson and I only scratched the surface of a land worth exploring.
I'm writing this blog after having been at the 40th Annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta for 2 days. Look for that posting later this week (and yes, we did go up in a hot air balloon along with dozens of others this morning. )
Shamu has suffered only minor issues, including an awning that required coaxing to retract, a broken motor rotor in the dishwasher, an uncooperative universal remote, and a masserator that needed repair...hardly worth mentioning in the scheme of things. Gas prices are lower out here, for which we are grateful!
Benson and I are doing well. Morty says hello.
