Santa Fe Week 1

Our casita on the left

We made it! We arrived last weekend to our 2 bedroom casita where we'll be spending the month. The place is really cute - an adobe over 100 years old and has several outdoor walled in patios. Our unit shares a pool with the other 3 units. So far everyone in town has been super friendly. The landscape and architecture is beautiful and Ed and I keep joking how the mountains in the background look like a fake movie set : ) The town itself is smaller than I was expecting, but that doesn't mean there's not a lot to see! This week we made a dent at the Plaza, 4th of July fireworks, Railyard, Farmers & Artist Market, Palace of Governors, New Mexico Museum of History, trolley sightseeing tour, the Children's Museum, the International Folk Art Festival & Museum, and the new hot spot, Meow Wolf...

But first, here are scenes fro the drive in. It was beautiful to watch the landscape change the deeper we drove into New Mexico:

Here are some scenes around town, taking in the architecture against blue skies:

Loretto Chapel

Palace of the Governors

At The Plaza

On our first full day, we went to the new attraction Meow Wolf. I'm not sure how one would describe this place. It was an old bowling alley converted into an artful, trippy, mysterious house like something from a dream or Hitchcock movie. The house starts off normal but the more you study it, the more oddities are revealed, and secret doorways and passages (like the one through the fridge door) lead to either UFOs, caves, forests or, my favorite, the life-size aquarium. The purpose is to determine what happened to the disappearing family that used to live in the house. We drifted from alternative universe to alternative universe for at least a couple hours, but never did quite find out. It was nevertheless entertaining and truly a maze unlike any other. See for yourself...

entering another dimension through the fridge

 

The lasers played music notes when their path was disrupted

 

don't go down this staircase if you're claustrophobic!

inside the life-size aquarium

Fishy face!

Enjoying a snow cone after the bizare-ness

On the Fourth of July, we did Pancakes on the Plaza where they had live music, artist tents, and of course, free pancakes. Afterwards, Ed took Morgan home since he wasn't feeling well while Dean and I visited an antique car show. Luckily M was feeling better enough to see fireworks later that night.

The kids also enjoyed the fact that we are staying just down the street from the Railyard, where there's a train depot, shops, galleries and a farmer's market and artist market on the weekends.

We also paid a visit to the Children's Museum where the boys built with magnets, made giant bubbles, pet rabbits, used a pulley to pull themselves up a rope, constructed flying objects out of recycled materials, and made tracks for marbles to run on.

At the Palace of Governor's the boys saw ancient artifacts from the 1600's and at the Santa Fe History Museum, we lucked out with an exhibit showcasing New Mexico's Lowrider history & culture.

Over the weekend, we attended the International Folk Art Festival which had hundreds of booths of people showcasing their native wares and crafts. Kept thinking of you, mom - you would've loved it! While I shopped, Ed and the boys checked out the live performances, the Big Top Carnival exhibit at the International Folk Art Museum and the Native American Museum.

Among all of this, we've also explored some restaurants, played tennis and taken advantage of the pool. We've been going to bed tired every day... Ed has also given me some shopping time here and there - I guess he could tell I was drooling at all there was to see - thanks Ed! Week 2 is already shaping up with lots more fun!