Santa Fe, a Great Day!!!

22 May 2010-Did a lot of sightseeing today. Out early to go downtown, then out late this afternoon to go to the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. It truly was a beautiful day...the weather couldn't have been nicer, about 75 with a nice breeze, and we finally got some concrete under our feet! New Mexico in most places seems to be very dusty; they make no attempt to establish lawns or anything remotely close to that. That is understand in the desert, but when the wind blows there is a lot of dirt floating around.

I put 3 short videos here to wet get us started. The 1st is of the inside of St Francis Church, which was truly beautiful, and the 2nd and 3rd are of the Tent Rocks as we were looking down from the top of the mountain.

This is the church.

These are the mountains.





This is the New Mexico State Flag. It represents the sun, and is taken from the Zia, an ancient people.




We headed downtown because I wanted to see the Capitol building. I have been hoping to see all the state Capitols, (Patti told me I needed a theme-haha) but this one is not open on the weekends until Memorial Day...next weekend! I had looked it up on-line, but they weren't clear as to when the weekend hours started, so I was pretty disappointed right off the bat. We will be coming back thru New Mexico later in the year so i will have to stop to see it then. This is a picture of the outside anyway...it is the only round Capitol in the country.



All the downtown tourist stuff is basically within less than a square mile radius, so it is really easy to go from place to place following a map we got at the visitor's center. There are 3 churches within a few blocks of each other, all very pretty. This is the oldest church in the USA, established in the 1600s.

From this church we starting walking what was a part of the Santa Fe trail...now a big part of the city's attractions...art/restaurants/churches, etc., there is block after block of anything you could possibly want to buy or eat. If you like to shop, you would not be disappointed here.

Next we went into the Loretto Chapel to see the Miraculous Staircase it is known for. Built in the 1870s, legend has it that the nuns prayed for someone to be able to build something that would allow people to get to the choir loft, and finally someone showed up, but left without payment as soon as he finished. The sad part about this is that in 1968 the Sisters of Loretto closed down the school they used to teach at here, and tried to get the Archdiocese to buy it, but they wouldn't. Instead, in 1972 a private family bought it, torn down the other 9 buildings that were on the grounds, and built a hotel...that is the hotel in the back of the 1st picture.

This is the church featured in my 1st video. It is smack dab in the middle of downtown, and still holds daily mass for the community. It was built back in 1869. Notice the beautiful Baptismal Font.

Did anyone else know that it was because of St Francis that we were tortured as kids with the Stations of the Cross? It says so right here!

Right down the street from the church is a small park where lots of vendors, artists mostly, sell their wares. It is basically the "town square", and a very nice area.

Across the street from the park is The Palace of Governors, where spaces are reserved for the Native Americans to sell their jewelry. (It seemed to be mostly white people in the park spaces.)

The Palace of Governors was the original home of the 1st governors of the state...they wouldn't let me take pictures inside, but I snuck a few. The New Mexico History Museum shares a courtyard with the palace, and that of course had lots of stuff in it...from Poncho Villa info to the atom bomb...here are just a few.

After getting something to eat and then going home to let Fluffy out, we headed out late in the afternoon to go to the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. We had to pass thru an Indian Reservation to get there...notice the sign that says NO pictures, etc. That seems to be because they don't want you to see the rundown houses the people are living in.

We trekked over 4 miles here, 1st about 3 miles round trip on the Canyon Trail. But I get ahead of myself. This is a self-guided tour, up to a height if 6,760 feet. From the point we started the hike we basically went up 630 feet over a span of a mile and a half. There were points where it seemed straight up, and even though I quit smoking just over 3 years ago, I was truly winded.

There are trees seemingly growing straight out of the rocks...see how the roots are completely free-flowing.

Now the climb starts! See how we are dwarfed by the mountains.

Cathy is making sure to stay hydrated!

Climbing, climbing! At this point we are really working it!

But, God! Was it worth it!!!

This is the top of the mountain...what a view!!!

Down we go now, to do the other trail, Cave Loop.

There is a cave on this trail that they say the Pueblos used to live in. Cathy really shouldn't be trying to climb there.

The whole hike took us just about 2 1/4 hours, and I swear it was really worth it. I was hoping to see some animals along the way...they said in the pamphlet that they had Elk, Mule Deer and Coyotes at the higher elevations, but all we saw was one squirrel and then these 2 bunnies! And they were down by the ladies room.

So that was our day...one of our best yet! If you want to see more pictures, you can go to my Facebook page and I have the rest posted there.