Lots 2 See

Driving on, we stop at Holbrook, NM. Those of you who accompanied us on Route 66 would remember Bozzo’s garage! Especially Jim who went with Roger to look for parts. What memories!

We stop in Santa Rosa.

The gentleman receiving us, Chris, is the owner and the cook. We enjoy a great fish supper after he threatens Roger of not serving us unless Roger lets him drive his 57 Ha! Ha! 

The park is beautiful and offers a 360-degree mountain view.  What sunsets!

 

At an elevation of more than 7 000 ft. (cooler summers) and with more than 323 glorious days of sunshine a year, 250 + art galleries and 400 + restaurants, no wonder Santa Fe has been rated one of the greatest smallest city to visit in the U.S.A.

We have two days in Santa Fe so we leave early and head for downtown. To our surprise, there is a lot of traffic and it is very difficult to find a parking space. Roger is not sure he will like this city! 
Today we discover why Santa Fe is amongst the top historic cities in the U.S and why it is referred to as The City Different. Besides being the oldest capital city in the U.S.A., it boasts the oldest church structure,

and the oldest house in the U.S.A.

We visit St.Francis Cathedral and admire the Pueblo style architecture.

Of course, we have to enter a few art galleries and museums. Imagine, our first stop is at the Touchstone’s gallery where ‘nature`s art is etched in stone’. This beautiful table top of petrified wood with quartz is only 37 000$! It weighs 300 lbs! Obviously, no picture will ever do it justice.

We have time to visit 2 museums : The New Mexico History Museum and Palace of Governors  (a must)  and the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
Of course the first is very informative. In the second we find an exceptional collection of Reza’s prints.
Reza Deghati is an Iranian-French photojournalist who has won many world awards. His photographs have appeared in National Geographic and Times magazines.
Along with his work as a photographer, since 1983 Reza has been a volunteer committed to the training of youths and women from conflict-ridden societies in the language of images, to help them strive for a better world. Our favorite photograph in the present collection was A breath of Life.

You may visit this website for more info. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/contributors/r/photographer-reza/

The idea of going to a specific restaurant El Farol is mine, but Roger goes along. By then, the pedometer says we have walked 5 miles and we are o.k. to walk to the restaurant and take a taxi back to the car. The food is excellent. The skate wing fish tapas are tasty. All I have to do is close my eyes to forget I am eating raw fish lol
The grilled green chile cheese bread is to die for and the main course is delicious. 
The problem arises when the waitress informs us there is no taxi service in Santa Fe, only Uber. Well, we do not have Uber in Sudbury, we do not have the app and so, we eventually walk back. At the end of the day, we have walked seven miles, one step at a time 🙂  Tomorrow is market day and we will be there.

Saturday morning, we head out to find parking at the market, luckily, without too much trouble. As soon as we park, a mother walks by with her 3 year old son. She is in awe of our 56 Chevy and asks her son: Isn’t this car beautiful? And the son to answer…I like that white pickup (pointing at a very ordinary ½ ton Ford pickup) Ha! Ha! The beauty is all in the eyes of the beholder!

At the market, we pick up a good supply of fresh vegetables, especially arugula for Roger 🙂 Mel, I know you would like to see all this wool. Pure wool however and not too many of us can wear it, can we? 😦 

We’ve put on our walking shoes again and so walk the Plaza and downtown, visit more galleries, mostly from the outside…

By 4 p.m. we are back at the motorhome. Tomorrow, we are on the road again! 
However, we will visit again. We now know where the parking lots are…and there is still LOTS2SEE… 
We have to travel the historic Turquoise trail from Santa Fe to I-40
We have to do the Food tour or attend the Santa Fe School of cooking like we did in New Orleans 
We have to visit the Georgia O’Keeffe museum and more art galleries.
We have to visit the Loretto Chapel with its miraculous staircase…built with no nails or visible support…
We might even have to visit a spa!