Sante Fe 07

Third Stop - Sante Fe, NM and environs

For those viewing the blog for the first time in a while who want to follow this series of posts chronologically, start with Brazil several posts back and work your way up...

Anyway, after our trip to Alaska, we thought we were done - again. But, we were having dinner with friends who were telling us about their up-coming trip to New Mexico for a nephew's wedding. Testing to see how spontaneous we could be, they mentioned that they were renting a house and had an extra room and, well, you know the rest (having never been to the Southwest and intrigued by Rob and Annie's pictures and stories...). So, we were off, this time for just a long weekend.

We flew in to Albuquerque on a Friday night and rented a car to drive up to Sante Fe to meet our friends. Saturday and Sunday we expored Sante Fe, which we found very interesting and very commercial. (Interesting historical note - Sante Fe was an established and thriving city long before Jamestown was settled...). The universal adobe architechure is fascinating and the plethora of artists and galleries was almost overwhelming. One gallery of American Indian pottery and weavings we visited was actually more like a museum. Many of the pots displayed were from the early 1800s and were selling for $225,000+. (We didn't buy one!)

By Sunday noon we were ready to see more of the environs outside of Sante Fe. Several people had mentioned Bandelier National Monument, with it's preserved American Indian cliff ruins. Bandelier is not as well known or a s large as Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon, but as it turned out, was still pretty spectacular. After an afternoon hiking through this beautiful canyon littered with ruins of what must have been a large city over 1000 years ago, we drove back to Sante Fe through a series of storms that filled the sky.

The next day we drove into the mountains towards Taos. The transition from high dessert to forested mountains was facinating and unexpected. It seems the artists' theme of Santa Fe has transformed all of New Mexico. Every little town we drove past or stopped at had more galleries than any other storefront businesses.

The views continued to be huge (I can't think of a better word). The term "big sky" certainly applies to this landscape.

That evening we drove back to Albuquerque via the Turquoise Trail (Similiar to California's gold country trail- Highway 49) and flew back to California.

Now except for a planned trip to South Carloina, we're done for the year...maybe.