The miraculous staircase at the gothic Lorretto Chapel in Santa Fe. It dates to the 1800s. When the staircase was first built by a French carpenter it had no railings. There are no supports on the side or down the middle.. It's cool! It's no longer used except for wedding photos.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
They're out there...
If you look closely, you can see the ancient Anasazi drawings on the mountainside. I swear one of them looks like a drawing of an alien head. and there was another drawing further down that looked like a drawing of the crop circles.... or maybe I just watched too much X-Files.
More photos from Bean Mountain
Here's my sister and mom in front of another ancient pueblo cave dwelling that looks fairly similar to most houses around Santa Fe.
Bandelier National Park
Saturday afternoon we stopped at Bandelier National Park west of Santa Fe. The big draw are the Anasazi cave dwellings in the volcanic mountainside. It's cool because they let you climb ladders up to the caves. And you can do several different hikes to different dwellings. On the mountainside are drawings by the Indians done in the 1200s. Here's a photo of Kelly climbing up to one of the caves. The inside of most of the dwellings was pretty small and there was a mix of ancient drawings and newer ones by teen lovers on the walls.The mountain that these caves were on is called Frijoles - bean mountain!
Monday, April 25, 2005
Day 2, Part 1: White Rock Overlook
Here's the view of the muddy Rio Grande from White Rock overlook, west of Santa Fe and a few miles from Los Alamos.
On Saturday, we decided to hit the road with the 300. (shout out to Chris.) The 300 was pretty smooth and had surprisingly good gas mileage. the pickup on the winding hills was also pretty decent.
So heading northwest on 285/84 out of town, we stopped first at the flea market near the Santa Fe opera (which is strangely on this winding dirt road in the middle of nowhere.) Lots of cheap turquoise and silver jewelry. also pots, baskets, cowboy hats and any other stereotypical western crap you can think of. Of course, I bought some jewelry.
After we continued to the 4 West on our way to Bandelier National Park to see some cave dwellings. We stopped on the way at the White Rock overlook, which has amazing views of the Rio Grande and a nearby waterfall...
On Saturday, we decided to hit the road with the 300. (shout out to Chris.) The 300 was pretty smooth and had surprisingly good gas mileage. the pickup on the winding hills was also pretty decent.
So heading northwest on 285/84 out of town, we stopped first at the flea market near the Santa Fe opera (which is strangely on this winding dirt road in the middle of nowhere.) Lots of cheap turquoise and silver jewelry. also pots, baskets, cowboy hats and any other stereotypical western crap you can think of. Of course, I bought some jewelry.
After we continued to the 4 West on our way to Bandelier National Park to see some cave dwellings. We stopped on the way at the White Rock overlook, which has amazing views of the Rio Grande and a nearby waterfall...
St. Francis Cathedral
My sister and aunt on the steps in front of St. Francis Cathedral in Downtown Santa Fe. Yeah, I know, I totally cut off the church.
so here's a little bit of Santa Fe history that I picked up. Santa Fe is the oldest capital in the U.S. The Spaniards founded it in 1610 and it served as their northernmost capital.
this cathedral dates back to 1869.
so here's a little bit of Santa Fe history that I picked up. Santa Fe is the oldest capital in the U.S. The Spaniards founded it in 1610 and it served as their northernmost capital.
this cathedral dates back to 1869.
Santa Fe: Day 1. The difference between Red and Green
So we arrived in Santa Fe Friday afternoon. And we soon learned that Santa Fe is ALL about the food. so much good food. On the way, we stopped at El Pinto, a few miles outside Albuquerque. It's this huge Mexican, er NEW Mexican, restaurant with an outside patio shaded by tall Cottonwood trees. The food was most excellent. I had the Chicken Taco Salad with the Red chile sauce. My aunt had the same but with the green chile sauce. This is the first thing we learned about New Mexican cuisine - everything is served with either red or green chile sauce or salsa. It varies by restaurant which is hotter. And the food was all very spicy, much more spicy than Mexican food in California. El Pinto had the best chicken taco salad I think I've ever had. Mmmm. Spicy and tasty and served with sour cream and guacamole for no extra charge (ha Mexico City!) Not too much lettuce and just enough beans - not refried - and shredded chicken. and salsa. The red was very good, more tomatoey and flavorful and spicier than the green at this restaurant.
The second thing we learned about New Mexican cuisine is that just about every restaurant serves Sopaipillas with the meal. sopaipillas are basically smaller, squarer versions of Indian Fry Bread. Fluffy and yummy with honey that you'll find on every table. Sometimes they even serve honey butter with them! Sometimes they serve them stuffed with chicken or beef, but the ones we tried weren't as great as the plain ones with honey.
After we ate, we made it up to Santa Fe, checked in to the house we were staying at run by Santa Fe Casitas. It was a cute old house with brightly colored walls and paintings and cheap for Santa Fe. ($150 a night for a 2-bedroom that slept 5 of us.) We walked to downtown, which was a few blocks off. Roamed through some galleries on Water street and had some good and cheap coffee at a place (I can't think of the name) on the corner of Water and Galisteo.
that night we ate at Coyote Cafe on Water Street. We had steaks that they overcooked. The halibut was good. Steaks were served with a green chile sauce.
We also visited the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, which is free on Friday evenings. Pretty paintings, but it's a small museum. And her more famous paintings are at other museums.
photos to come...
The second thing we learned about New Mexican cuisine is that just about every restaurant serves Sopaipillas with the meal. sopaipillas are basically smaller, squarer versions of Indian Fry Bread. Fluffy and yummy with honey that you'll find on every table. Sometimes they even serve honey butter with them! Sometimes they serve them stuffed with chicken or beef, but the ones we tried weren't as great as the plain ones with honey.
After we ate, we made it up to Santa Fe, checked in to the house we were staying at run by Santa Fe Casitas. It was a cute old house with brightly colored walls and paintings and cheap for Santa Fe. ($150 a night for a 2-bedroom that slept 5 of us.) We walked to downtown, which was a few blocks off. Roamed through some galleries on Water street and had some good and cheap coffee at a place (I can't think of the name) on the corner of Water and Galisteo.
that night we ate at Coyote Cafe on Water Street. We had steaks that they overcooked. The halibut was good. Steaks were served with a green chile sauce.
We also visited the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, which is free on Friday evenings. Pretty paintings, but it's a small museum. And her more famous paintings are at other museums.
photos to come...
Never Fly LAX on a Friday morning!
Holy crap! My sister and I got to LAX for our 8:15 a.m. Southwest flight to Albuquerque an hour and a half early. Plenty of time to get coffee and a magazine, right? Wrong. We had no baggage to check but still we just made our flight. The line to get through security stretched back from Terminal 1 midway through Terminal 2. Luckily we made it when we did because a half hour later the line was almost to Terminal 3. We thought maybe there was some security breach that sent everyone outside and through security again, but Airport workers along the line said it was NORMAL Friday morning traffic. And it was only this bad at Terminal 1 with Southwest and America West, so maybe if you fly another airline, you'll be fine. A lot of people were missing flights, like the guy in front of us. But if your flight is about to leave, you can go to the front and they'll let you through, which almost makes it a wise idea to get there late and just go to the front and skip the line.
When we finally passed through security, the airport was empty and we made our flight, which was totally empty.
Two hours later, we were landing in Albuquerque, which looks a lot like Arizona, except slightly greener. Lots of shrubs on the hills, no trees and kind of barren. We got the rental car and headed up I-25 to Santa Fe with my mom, aunt and grandma in our huge Chrysler 300...
When we finally passed through security, the airport was empty and we made our flight, which was totally empty.
Two hours later, we were landing in Albuquerque, which looks a lot like Arizona, except slightly greener. Lots of shrubs on the hills, no trees and kind of barren. We got the rental car and headed up I-25 to Santa Fe with my mom, aunt and grandma in our huge Chrysler 300...
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