We had such a great time exploring Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Taos and parts between with these two. This is our story of our adventure in the Land of Enchantment!
Albuquerque
We met in the Albuquerque airport, having flown from separate cities. It had been just over a year since we last saw them, so we were really excited!! After checking into our hotel, we decided on dinner at Sadies new Mexican restaurant. Excellent food, huge portions (too big, actually), and a realization we were not in California any moreš¤£. We had to Google so much on the menu. Foods we never heard of: sopapilla, a fried dough that is stuffed with many different items, or with honey- delicious!! and Calabacitas, a zuchini dish. We also learned their spicy is different from CA spicy- LOL. Further in our trip, we also learned their tacos are much different than CA's. Where CA carne asada is bbq'd and great with charred edges, theirs is much softer and seeping in a liquid. Since we were not used to it, we were happy we tried it, but did prefer the CA style. Their salsa's come in red or green, or Christmas if you want both.
Waking up, we went to explore Albuquerque, starting with the Albuquerque museum (https://www.cabq.gov/artsculture/albuquerque-museum). Fantastic museum with art and sculpture- really recommend it!!! On the outside, there is a very expansive sculpture of the history of NM from conquistadores to native peoples to wagon trains. Inside is some really great art from NM artists:
From there, we visited the old town Plaza and San Francisco cathedral.
On our way to Santa Fe, we stopped at the Los Poblanos lavender farm for a quick tour and, of course, a drink
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| A cool old tree trunk! |
First, Santa Fe is BEAUTIFUL!!! It's a very walkable, compact city with art galleries and restaurants everywhere!! We loved it!!!! Our favorite restaurant was Pasqual's (https://pasquals.com/). So good we ate there twice- because the mole' enchiladas were amazing!! Although Dick and Donna had a lunch at Oaxco restaurant and said their mole' was even better! Margaritas on the roof top bar of the La Fonda hotel to see the sunset was amazing- as was the interior of the hotel and their restauant!
In Santa Fe we took a ghost tour with Ken of Old Santa Fe walking tours (https://oldsantafewalkingtours.com/)- one of the best ghost tours I have ever taken- he combined history with folklore and ghost sightings! It was fantastic!
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| Our group: Rich, Dick, Ken and this nice young woman from Denmark! |
The Cathedral of Saint Francis (https://www.cbsfa.org/) is an amazing church in the heart of Santa Fe! The grounds are as beautiful as the interior!
Sunset margaritas at the roof top bar of the La Fonda hotel was one of our favorites!!! New Mexico has amazing sunsets!
We visited Los Pecos (https://www.nps.gov/places/pecos-national-historical-park.htm) a national park and abandoned adobe. It is about 20 miles from Santa Fe. We rented a car for the trip so it wasn't a problem. I do not know if there is public transportation to the site.
The Georgia O'Keefe museum (https://okeeffemuseum.org/) was excellent! Gave a good overview of her life and her different styles of painting as she progressed in her artistic creativity.
We took a tour of the state capitol (https://www.nmlegis.gov/). Francesca our guide is a legislative intern and did a fantastic job of giving us the history of the capitol and of the 600 art pieces in the capitol!
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| The state motto: it grows as it goes |
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| Francesca |
The one weird thing we did was go to the Meow Wolf museum!!! (https://meowwolf.com/about). This is an absolutely fun and interesting place to see!!! Santa Fe's is 70 rooms over 2 stories, with each room developed by a different artist!! It is interactive, colorful, bright lights, interesting! You travel room to room by hidden doorways, through the refrigerator, through the washing machine, under a fire place, or through ladders! it was amazing!!!! Staff said there are 3 in the US, the other two in Las Vegas and Denver. They said the Denver location is 4 times as big!!! Many of the staff said they had been there and loved it.
One place Donna the Intrepid found that we loved was the Tesuque (Native) market (https://tesuquevillagemarket.com/), complete with a fantastic restaurant!! It's about 5 miles outside Santa Fe, but so worth a see, either for lunch or dinner!
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| a notice in the bathroom- LOL. the entire bathroom was walpapered with this patter. |
Santa Fe is all about the art! These are just a few samples of what you would see. but trust me, it's all fantastic! And the people- all of them- were so very welcoming! And now for our side trips to Los Alamos (site of the development of our nuclear program) and Taos, another fantastic city to explore!
From here, you walk through a courtyard to the Fuller House, which was part of the boys school before the project. It is totally worth walking through, but every picture I have is boring. Better to check it on line. The walkthrough is VERY fast.
Oppenheimer's house is still in existence, but it needs too much work to be open the public:
There is another museum of the cold war that is quite interesting. it includes so many quotes and news items from my own youth. It brings the reality of age right to the front of the brain
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| Dick and I at a model of Fat Man (Nagasaki_ |
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| Me at a model of Thin Boy (Hiroshima_ |
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| A model of "the gadget"- the model bomb |
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| Interior of the Saint Francis church |
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| Exterior of the St. Francis church |
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| Kyrie, our guide- so excellent! |
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| the back- what you see from the road |
