Santa Fe, New Mexico
Sep. 27 - Oct. 03, 2020
Sunday, we are on the move to Santa Fe with an overnight in Raton, New Mexico, at the NRA Whittington Center. They have a great campground and I want to do some star gazing out here in the middle of nowhere. The Whittington Center has about 12 different shooting ranges, from pistols to 1,000 yard 50 Caliber. We actually got to watch a 50 Cal shooting match back in 2002 when we came through here. Boy the temperature sure dropped when the sun set! And the clouds rolled in so even if I were willing to face the cold, the clouds hid the stars. The sunset was pretty.
Monday, the low ended up being 34 last night. We drove on to Santa Fe and settled into the Santa Fe Skies RV Park. We actually stayed here as well back in 2002. They have made significant changes and it is really pretty. It is up on a hill overlooking a valley, they have a great walking trail circling the park, and an antique equipment display. I remembered the old equipment but now they also have several sculptures around the park. It looks like all the sites now have a concrete patio and landscaping. We went for a late lunch at Maria's New Mexican Kitchen, they have over 100 varieties of Margaritas. Once we got home I took a quick nap and then made a couple loops around the walking trail, then enjoyed the patio until the sun set. Our high today was around 74, but 74 here is way different than 74 in Louisiana.
Tuesday, we spent the day walking around the historic downtown area of Santa Fe. We started with the Oldest House Museum, but it was closed. Next we tried the San Miguel Chapel, but it was closed. The New Mexico State Capitol was next on the list, but it was closed to the public. Next we strolled to the Loretto Chapel...It was BEAUTIFUL! They have this spiral staircase with no visible means of support. You really have to see it. We strolled past the The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and up the hill to the Cross of the Martyrs, a memorial to the original Franciscan Monks who were killed in the 1600's. The views from here were awesome. We also found three USGS markers. Down the hill we found another great Mexican restaurant, The Shed. We decided to have lunch there with margarita's...instead of finding beer. I was able to enjoy the outside patio again until the Sh*% Show that was the Presidential Debate started.
Wednesday, we started with a quilt shop! Santa Fe Quilting, I only need 396 more pieces of fabric to finish the travel quilt. Should be able to manage that over the next year and a half. Next we went to the New Mexico History Museum. They had exhibits covering New Mexico history from the 1600's to today. The Palace of the Governor's closed for construction so we went across the street to the New Mexico Museum of Art. Meh. It was okay but the best part in my opinion was the building itself. Built in 1917 for the purpose of being the art museum. We also wanted to go to the Delgado House, but it was closed...Soo....we went to Rowley Farmhouse Ales. Their beer was pretty good and they had oyster po-boys and shrimp & grits. They are also a Diners, Drive Inns, and Dives.
Thursday, what a beautiful day. We started with a hike to La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs, located on Bureau of Land Management land just west of Santa Fe. It was a very short hike but you have to scramble up and over rocks to get to the cliff. We saw many petroglyphs and I managed to get up there and back down with twisting, dislocating, or busting any part of my anatomy! We continued to El Rancho de las Golondrinas just a couple miles away. It is intended to be a living history museum but with COVID all the building are closed and they have a few docents there to answer questions. But they don't have any of the exhibits like wool dying, weaving, blacksmithing, hide tanning or anything going on. It was still cool to stroll around the 200 acres and historic buildings that have been moved there. They have several building that have been used in films. One of my favorite movies is "The Missing" with Tommy Lee Jones. The building where he encounters an army patrol is here at the ranch....now I'm gonna have to watch the movie again. Nothing we wanted to see today was closed but that was a LOT of walking around in the sun so we stopped at the Santa Fe Brewing Company for a beer. Would you believe it...THEY WERE CLOSED! That's ok, we had some in the fridge LOL.
Friday, today we just chilled and took care of the everyday household chores. I sat outside most of the day enjoying the weather and reading. I saw a roadrunner! They are fast and do not hang around for photo poses. I hoped to see it again during the day but he wasn't having it. The weather has been so fantastic here this week, upper 70's, no rain, sunshine, no humidity. If Santa Fe wasn't so politically left leaning, this might be a contender for settlement.
Saturday, today we visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. It had a nice range of her works but I gotta say, the pieces I like are the florals. It was a much smaller collection than I expected. Next we walked back over to the Oldest House to see if it is open today. On the way we saw that The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi was open so we stepped in there to see the beautiful carvings and stained glass. The Oldest House is part of the Spanish barrio originally settled in 1620, the Oldest House is also believed to rest on part of the foundation of an ancient Indian Pueblo built in the 1200s. The New Mexico Tourism Department includes the Oldest House on its list of 15 must-see adobe structures. It is only two rooms with a gift shop attached to the end and it was cool. If you are walking by then definitely stop by. There is also a pizza place right next door to the house and as we passed we got a look at the pizza a couple was sharing and decided that we were hungry. The Upper Crust Pizza has been there since 1979 and it really was good. We decided that we would make the scenic drive "The Jemez Mountain Trail." It is a beautiful drive thru a river canyon and there is a volcanic caldera forming the "Valle Grande". It is so pretty, and I saw a coyote...I didn't see a roadrunner in front of him though. We returned home to enjoy the afternoon and catch up on The Walking Dead because the season 10 finale'(which should have aired in March) is airing Sunday night.
Make Life an Adventure!
