Day out in Santa Fe

Captains Log October 6 – After a bit of a lazy morning we headed into Santa Fe. Parking was

The famous stairs

the main hurdle of the day! In addition to lack of spaces, there was a box truck blocking the street on the old square and held things up for about 15-20 minutes. We found a city lot that had space and although it was $15 for the day, it was better than driving around forever.

We visited the Loretto Chapel which is well know for it's spiral staircase. The staircase has two 360 degree turns and no visible means of support. It is said that the staircase was built without

Chapel Window

nails—only wooden pegs. Supposedly the man who built it left when it was completed and no one ever saw him again.

Then we stopped at the San Miguel Mission. It's a small church but claims to be the oldest church in the USA. It was started in

Bill on the right

1797 by the Franciscan Order. They have a side room off the chapel that houses their relics.

And of course we have to visit St. Francis Cathedral. It's really gorgeous inside and so calm and peaceful. The stained glass windows are beautiful and it was a nice sunny day so it was perfect.

In addition to visiting the historical places, we did our share of shopping as well. We found a bargain spot close to our parking area and bought a

Inside the little mission

few things there and there was a outdoor market with 6-8 booths set up. The craftwork is beautiful but we didn't have any space left at home for anything large and new.

I bought some Talavera items, the one I bought for me is an air balloon that I will hang on my front porch. I could spend a fortune on that pottery. It's so bright and colorful, perfect to get your day started with

St. Francis Cathedral

on your table!

By lunch time the recommended places were packed with waiting lines. We had seen what we wanted and spent more than we should so it was time to head towards our campground and watch for a place to eat.

Bill knows I LOVE Chick-fil-a and was planning to stop at the one on the way. It was on the other side of the road and we had to

Their windows are gorgeous

pass it and get in a turn lane to get to it. As we passed it I saw a Greek place on our side of the road and told Bill I'd like to try it. Best decision of the day! They were not busy when we arrived so service was prompt and the food was excellent. We both had some leftovers to bring home.

The rest of the day was doing a load of laundry and chilling! 

Shopping and Santa Fe

October 6 -  This morning we stopped at the local flea market before heading into Santa Fe.  They said they have more vendors tomorrow but I did find the earrings I have been looking for.  We did a test run to Wal-mart on the west side of Santa Fe.  We are picking Kam up at the airport on Sunday morning and needed to make sure the route was OK for the RV and where we would park while I take the car and pick her up.  Since we were there I needed some allergy pills so I went in to Walmart and left with new Corelle dishes for the RV.  They do not provide plastic bags!  Here they charge .10 per paper grocery bag.  Then we stopped at an RV place to pick up a part and then we stopped at a nursery that didn’t have what I was looking for.

We had lunch at a place from Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins: Tecolote Café.  The place was packed and from what I understand this is their new place.  The service was excellent as was the food.  I had tamales with beans and posole while Bill had a beef burrito with beans and rice.  We both had some to take home because they give you a choice of tortillas or bread basket so we took the bread.  It had 2 each of blueberry muffins, chocolate muffins and biscuits with containers of strawberry preserves and butter.  We took our biscuits and the jam and butter with our leftovers.

Shopping at the Plaza

Ristras for sale

Finding a parking spot in Old Town Santa Fe was a challenge but we managed to find one just a block off the plaza.  We enjoyed checking out the jewelry vendors set up on blankets along the Palace of Governors.  So much jewelry!  I did find a ring to match the earrings I bought earlier.  We picked up a few gifts for friends and checked out some of the over priced shops.  We made it back to the car with 8 minutes left on the parking meter.  

We stopped Albertson’s on the way out of town to get some meat as we were out of chicken, ground beef and cube steaks.  Again this store had no bags!  The short trip home was uneventful.  I had a glas of wine and eventually got around to making dinner.  We had chicken alfredo with spaghetti and salads.  We watched some TV and talked on the phone with Bill’s sister, Carole and our Sue that we volunteered with in Idaho.  

October 11 Doing Santa Fe

Great, we didn’t have to get up especially early. Bill is always up early but I slept til 8. The reward was I made sausage gravy and biscuits. We both enjoyed that. Have enough sausage left for another batch. After showers we left about 9:30 for Santa Fe. We actually are not as far as Bill thought we were. We were right downtown in the Old City in about 20 minutes and it’s an easy drive.

Cathedral of St Francis of Assisi

San Miguel Mission

Once parked we headed right for the plaza in the old town. We decided to go on a bus tour. We got to see parts of Santa Fe that we would never have gone to. The art district where most of the galleries are is where the original adobe homes were and gradually artists’ homes, then their galleries. The interesting thing for us was all of the outdoor art at many of them. Lots of bronze statues of western animals, Indians, abstracts and yard art. There was a bronze Conestoga wagon with the trail boss out in front and a pioneer woman on foot behind. Then we saw all of the old churches from the outside, new building developments that have to maintain the same adobe style and the terra cotta color. The new homes cost 1 to 5 million, but the view is great! We also learned that the pinon trees which produce those expensive pine nuts only produce every 6 years, explaining why they are so pricey. Another thing we learned was the juniper trees are used to make both gin and turpentine, explaining why gin tastes like turpentine. After the tour we did some shopping from the street vendors. Along the sidewalk in front of the original Spanish governor’s palace on the plaza are native Americans who make and sell their jewelry. They just lay out a blanket and display their wares. Most only take cash and we forgot and only had about $100 between us. Picked up some nice Christmas gifts. We had lunch from a vendor cart on the plaza. It was a good deal for a good meal. $10 for 2 chicken fajitas. They were big with plenty of toppings. We just sat on a park bench and ate and enjoyed it more than an expensive lunch inside someplace. Then we went in some regular shops on the plaza and one was going out of business so we did a lot of Christmas shopping there. By now our parking time was about run out so we bought a bag of fresh made caramel corn for the road and headed to the truck. We stopped at the NM Visitor Center which is right beside the San Miguel Mission. I got directions to the Camel Rock which is on our way home. Then we went into the Mission which is the oldest church structure in the US dating to circa 1610. The altar is beautiful, but had been repainted since in the late 1800’s someone painted the altar wall with 6 coats of turquoise house paint. Later someone repainted the original wall from a photo. It is still an active church.

Camel Rock

On the way home we did find the Camel Rock, and it does look like a camel. It’s actually right along the road but unless you’re looking for it you wouldn’t really pay attention. We stopped and took some photos then came back to the RV.

It was about 3 when we got home and Bill washed the truck and I vacuumed the RV. Boy, Xena and Molly leave a lot of hair. I’m used to Bill vacuuming several times a week at home and we haven’t been that diligent. I also did a small load of wash. We both wrote some postcards and Bill had some calls to return and I discovered a charge on my stolen M & I credit card and spent my time on the phone with them, then with the St. Louis police department. That was a fiasco. I called the number the police gave us at the time we did the original report and after several calls back from various departments, the last number I was given to call was the same one I started with. I was just trying to get the second charge added to the report so now they said to call the number and ask for a detective. Yeah, like they’re going to spend any time on my two charges. Will call tomorrow as I got burned out on the phoning today. We had our leftover venison burgers and hot links with some steamed cabbage with butter, lemon and horseradish sauce. Tried to do some posting but this WIFI is no better today than it was yesterday. I watched “House” and we watched “Castle”. Will try one more time to get a good signal and if not will read a while.