At one point, we did see a lone cow grazing. Several miles down the road were the rest of the herd. But there was no barn, no ranch, no outbuildings in sight. And it was pretty flat terrain so we could see for miles.
Driving north off the interstate up to Santa Fe we were surprised to see mountains with snow on the peaks. Frankly I was surprised to see how mountainous the area is. (I don’t remember flunking elementary geography). But Santa Fe has an elevation of 7,000 ft – 1,500 ft. higher than Denver. It is nestled at the base of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, which is the southernmost part of the Rockies. It just didn’t seem right to see billboards advertising skiing in Santa Fe!
We arrived at Santa Fe Skies RV park about noon and we did the dreaded (at least for me) RV washing. Why, we had places to go (Santa Fe), people to see (the Santa Feans or Indians) and things to do (tour museums on the history of the area)! The straw that broke the camels back for Mike was when we put the slides in that morning to leave, they made an awful squeaking noise. I would have sprayed them with WD 40 and called it good, but Mike was convinced that the problem was all the blowing dirt and dust from not washing it. When we inquired about washing the motorhome, they said yes, but to use the water sparingly and empty our bucket on a tree because they have not had any measurable amount of precipitation in 4 months. So under sunny, but very windy skies, we both did step one and step two of Mike’s method of RV washing. I didn’t do step three, but came inside and dusted.
(step 1- hand wash entire motorhome. step 2 – hand squeegee entire motorhome. step 3 – hand wipe entire motorhome with a cloth)
This took up most of the afternoon, so we didn’t get downtown Santa Fe until about 4:30. What a charming area! No high rise buildings to obstruct the views. We only had time to visit one area, the downtown Plaza. And what we did see was terrific This is a lovely green park surrounded with a square area of shops and restaurants all in the adobe/Pueblo architecture. Everything from a five and dime where I picked up postcards to high-end clothing and jewelry stores where I just window-shopped. Mike was glad we washed the motorhome because he said it saved him from being downtown all afternoon looking at more silver and turquoise than you can imagine. But we also missed going into some museums, too, which, again, bothered me more than it bothered him! We saw a coffee shop called The Pony Expresso, which I thought was clever.
Other highlights: The Mission of San Miguel of Santa Fe, which is the oldest church structure in the US. (I continue to be amazed at how many cities can claim an “oldest this or that”) The original adobe walls and altar were built by Tiaxcalan Indians in 1610; a beautiful spiral staircase in the St. Loretto Chapel that defies logic as it has no center or side supports. In fact, it is called miraculous. The story goes like this: a conventional stairway from the chapel up to the choir loft could not be built due to space constraints. (we are talking the late 1870’s). The Sisters prayed for a solution. One day an old man showed up with some rudimentary carpenter tools and proceeded to build the spiral stairway. When he finished, he left without a word, never asking for payment. The nuns were convinced the old man was Joseph the carpenter himself.
The patio along the Palace of Governors is reserved for Native Americans selling their own arts and crafts. (unlike the Five and Dime where the bracelets were made in Thailand). Only a few were left by the time we got there.
We had dinner on a second story patio overlooking the Plaza.
After dinner we traveled down The Turquoise Trail for about 25 miles while it was still daylight in search of ghost towns. We didn’t come across any, but did see large ranches and a funky, obviously artsy town called Madrid.
One afternoon in Santa Fe is not nearly enough (we could have went white water rafting on the Rio Grande!) as there are several other distinct parts – this area is considered an art lover’s mecca. Some of you are probably saying, “Then stay another day in Santa Fe.” Unfortunately, we have a time schedule as we need to be in St. George, Utah by Friday because Mike is flying home on Saturday to attend the bank’s board of director’s meeting and annual shareholder’s meeting. When we leave St. George, we have no time restrictions or schedule so if a place suits our fancy, we’ll stay as long as we want!
We were saddened by the bombings at the Boston Marathon. It will be for us, one of those “where were you when” memories. Especially after we had, less than a week ago, visited the site of the Oklahoma City bombing.
More windy adventures to report tomorrow.
Pictures today are examples of the architecture (a housing subdivision by our campground and a hotel in town), San Miguel Church, the miraculous stairway, sign on the Palace of Governors, fajitas and the obligatory margarita, us on the patio and then our view from the patio, and the oldest house in the US, built in 1646.
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