Stop 7: Santa Fe, NM

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Santa Fe is known as “The City Different” and when your eyes fall upon the adobe houses and Spanish courtyards that makeup the city, it’s easy to understand why. Brian and I were pleased to find that our Bed & Breakfast had us staying in a truly Santa Fe style house; an adobe building with chili peppers hanging on the front door for decoration, a kiva fireplace in the room, and southwestern accents throughout the room. After getting settled in we decided to find the main Plaza and get a bite to eat.

The Plaza is a square in the center of Santa Fe closed down to cars and lined with southwestern shops, restaurants, and street vendors (mostly Native Americans selling jewelry). While it’s a nice area, (certainly worth visiting) it seems a bit like it exists solely for the enjoyment of tourists, which is a little disappointing. Regardless, we ate at a popular spot located right on the square called the Plaza Café. We both had Mexican dishes that weren’t anything spectacular in themselves but the sopaipillas that accompanied them were heavenly! Sopaipillas are essentially hollow, golden pillows of quick-fried bread with nothing but hot air trapped on the inside. To add to their deliciousness, squeeze-bottles of honey lined every table for the purpose of drizzling the honey over the sopaipillas.

After finishing our meal we rushed off to buy a bottle of wine to enjoy during the fast-approaching sunset we’d be watching on the hilltop of the Cross of the Martyrs. As you can probably tell from the photos, the sunset was gorgeous and Brian and I spent the evening sharing a bottle of wine as we watched the sky change colors. It was so romantic! (See! Brian knows what he’s doing sometimes!) After about two hours, we went back to the B&B where we found an unpleasant surprise…

MOTHS. I would say about fifteen of them were in our room! Now I don’t really have anything against moths as long as they’re just sitting on the wall…but when they come flying around my face…we have problems! So that night when we opened the door and the moths were darting in every direction…I made a beeline right for the bed and under the covers! Brian just stood in the middle of the room and asked me about three times if I wanted him to kill all of them. When I told him I didn’t mind them as long as they calmed down a bit, he hesitated before saying, “Well…I don’t like them, so I’m going to kill them.” That’s when the show began! Brian picked up a magazine and began swinging away. It was actually quite entertaining. I would call out where one was just sitting on the wall and he’d go after it. Sometimes the moths would make Brian chase them, or climb up on furniture, or spin in circles…I was laughing the whole time and Brian was thankful I didn’t have the video camera on! When the moth massacre finally ended we crawled in bed, watched some entourage episodes, and went to sleep.

When we awoke the next morning, the place was moth free…they seemed to only arrive with the darkness. So we got dressed for the day and headed to the main house of the B&B where breakfast was served. The breakfast was delicious. A lot of homemade egg dishes, fresh fruit, granola, and blueberry crumb bread (loaded with blueberries!), etc… We then set off, on foot, to discover Santa Fe. We mostly walked in and out of stores, trying on some southwestern gear for fun along the way. Brian makes a really good-lookin’ cowboy! (You can see the pictures and decide for yourself!) After a good bit of walking around we decided we’d get lunch at a restaurant called Pasquel’s. We had to wait for a table, but the food was worth it! I had their Durango Omelet which was filled with mushrooms, ham, cheese, and sour cream, while Brian had a stack of pancakes with bacon. My meal also came with cinnamon toast on the side which was the thickest toast I’ve ever had with butter and cinnamon melted on it. So good. The meal was delicious but we decided we probably wouldn’t need to eat for the rest of the day due to how full we were! After lunch we continued to explore the city and make our way over to Loretto Chapel…a chapel with a very captivating story (in my opinion anyway!).

Loretto Chapel was built sometime in the 19th century and when it was finished, the nuns found there was no staircase built to get them to the top level. As the story goes…they spent nine days praying to St. Joseph, a carpenter, and on the last day a man arrived at the chapel doors saying he was a carpenter who could build a staircase for them. This man then constructed the staircase all by himself, without a single nail or glue, and then disappeared without waiting for his payment. A rumor began throughout the city of Santa Fe that the carpenter had been St. Joseph himself. The staircase became known to be “miraculous”, but the mystery doesn’t end here. What makes the staircase miraculous is that it has no central support. Architects, engineers, and scientists say they cannot understand how the staircase can balance without any central support. Another mystery lies in the type of wood used because the wood that was used does not exist in the entire region. Finally…the believers point out the fact that the staircase has 33 steps….the age of Jesus Christ. (Brian’s thoughts on this are as follows: Larry Bird was number 33…do you think he was Jesus?!)

When we arrived at the church I was surprised/pleased to read that the church was designed after the Sainte Chapelle in Paris. Sainte Chapelle is one of the most gorgeous buildings ever built and everyone should make a point to see it at one point in their lives. Anyway, while Loretto didn’t even compare to the beauty of Sainte Chapelle, it was still a lovely chapel and I found the staircase to be both beautiful and intriguing. Brian on the other hand, fully aware of the story of the staircase, was unimpressed. He kept calling it the “unmiraculous staircase”! I guess it doesn’t help that neither of us are very religious…oh well.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around before we decided we’d try and see another gorgeous sunset. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate and we didn’t see anything more than rain in the distance.

To end the evening, Brian and I decided to take my sister’s advice and have a margarita in Santa Fe before continuing on to the West Coast. Lorraine’s college experience in Albuquerque taught her that you won’t find a better margarita than when you’re in the southwest! Actually finding a place to have the margarita became the problem! Some places we stopped at didn’t even serve margaritas and others didn’t have the atmosphere we were looking for. We were finally directed to the Ore House on the plaza, which was perfect! We made our way upstairs and out onto the balcony where we had over twenty different margaritas to choose from. By this point it was around ten and since we hadn’t eaten since lunch; we also decided to split some chips and queso. The mix of fabulous margaritas, chips, and live music was the perfect way to end our stay in Santa Fe. The next morning we enjoyed another home-cooked meal at the B&B before heading off to Sedona, Arizona...red rock country.

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Comments

[Mom]

I miss you
I'm glad you and Brian are having a blast. I miss you. Mom