2006 RV Trip Diaries - Santa Fe, NM

                                                                                                                                                                               

October 10 - Tuesday

Today we toured the International Folk Art Museum before going to downtown Santa Fe.  At the museum, folk artists from around the world sell their art and share their culture.  The displays are very colorful and the artwork is intricate.  Karen found all the color to be overwhelming but the displays were wonderful.

We forgot to bring our camera into the museum so after browsing through, Karen got the camera from the truck and went to the courtyard to take pictures of the sculptures at right.

After touring the Museums of the Hill in the morning we drove downtown and spent several hours browsing there.

We toured the beautiful round Capitol of New Mexico.  The capitol has excellent displays of art and we went to the Governor's office to get a state flag pin.  

There were many old churches in old Santa Fe.  Karen went into each one and Garrey joined in when there was no fee.  Loretto Chapel built in 1878 has a "miraculous"* double helix staircase around which legends are built.  The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi houses a 380-year old statute of the Virgin Mary, the city's patroness.  It's impressive.

 


Hotel in downtown Santa Fe
While visiting the San Miguel Mission church an old mission that ministered to the early settlers in the old west, Karen looks at an old buffalo skin on the wall with a picture of Christ on the cross.

La Fonda hotel was built in 1922 on the site of a once famed Harvey House at the end of the Santa Fe Trail.

We bought a sandwich at--guess where--Subway and ate it in the downtown Plaza.

We also drove to Guadalupe Street/Historic Rail yard District and wandered through the shops in the area.

 

*The double helix staircase in the Loretto chapel.  Some people call it miraculous but the mystery about it apparently is actually that no one knows who built it.  So the nuns decided St. Joseph built it.

October 11 - Wednesday - Not much to report.  We rested and took walks around the campground on a nice nature trail.

October 12 - Thursday

Drove downtown for more sightseeing in old Santa Fe.  Today we found the less touristy - more artsy part of town.  After browsing a few of the dozens of art galleries along Canyon Road we went to the end of the road to walk on the nature trails around the Audubon preserve.

Karen got a nice picture of the garden next to the Audubon visitor center.