Santa Fe

When Consuelo was traveling with Up With People in the 1960's, she visited Santa Fe on a day trip. She wanted to come back, so we planned to overnight here, and ended up spending 3 nights. It's a town with lots to do.

We parked at the Santa Fe Elks. This is the driest of dry camping, not only no hookups, but a dusty gravel parking area. But it sits on the top of a little hill looking northwest, with beautiful views of sunsets and sunrises.

It's autumn in New Mexico. While the tress are now barren in New England, and even in Colorado, in New Mexico the last of the bright yellow and golden aspens are hanging on for a final show of color.

We decided to check out the museums on Museum Hill, technically withing walking distance, but we decided to drive and got lost. Glad we weren't on foot!

Art gallery on the plaza

Museum Hill now houses 4 museums which are part of the Museum of New Mexico. We took in 2 of them, the Museum of Spanish Colonial Culture and the International Museum of Folk Art.

The Spanish museum displays artifacts from the arrival of the Spaniards in the 1500's through the present. Many of the pieces are religious, as those objects were special and more likely to be preserved. Development of the New Mexican artistic style is demonstrated through bultos, the sacred statues made from bundles of sticks covered with clay. Paintings on leather, used by the traveling priests for convenience, were not sanctioned by the church. And tinware, often made from recycled cans and containers.

The Folk Art Museum had a wonderful exhibit on the textile crafts, from spinning through garment making. It compared the similar techniques employed around the world to produce cloth. Lace making, and exhibits of the tools used provided a comprehensive view. In another hall, a collection of dioramas depicting local traditions and dress, and dolls and toys from many countries. We entered this one from the back, and had great fun trying to guess the nationality of each scene, either from the activity of the dress and features of the figures. When we reached the front, we found the catalog, and went back through checking our guesses. Consuelo did much better than I.

Palace of the Governors

The next day, we did the two downtown museums accessible with our 4 day passes. The Museum of Fine Arts houses a variety of artifacts, many depicting the evolving Santa Fe art scene from the first half of the 20th century. Georgie O'Keefe had numerous works on display. The second museum was the Palace of the Governors, the oldest continuously used public building in the US, having been built in 1610. This explored the history of New Mexico, and displayed artifacts from various periods in the life of the building.

The Santa Fe Cathedral

After that, we walked around the Plaza and checked out the shops and stores in the area. This varied from beautiful art, silver and turquoise jewelry to t-shirts and souvenirs. We walked by the Santa Fe Cathedral.

Wednesday night, we joined the Elks for dinner. It is the best deal in town, steak, prime rib, of cod for $7.00. And it was delicious.