Santa Fe
After a night of camping and hiking under the pastel cliffs of Ghost Ranch, which were made so famous by Georgia O’Keefe, we wandered south to Santa Fe.
This year long trip that we are on is intended as a break, a chance to be outdoors as much as possible, and an opportunity to try on communities to see if they might be the right fit as our next home. Santa Fe works. Though it is early in the year, and we have no idea where we will in fact end up, we feel relief to have found a place that we believe we could call home.
I was surprised that Santa Fe is relatively small, under 100,000 people, even though it is the capital of New Mexico. On the way into town last Thursday, we stopped in Espanola for lunch. I, as Alanna expected, ordered a green chile cheeseburger, since I am a lover of the toppings and burgers. She had a burrito, smaller than any she had ever eaten yet packed with delicious pork and guacamole that made the absence of rice and beans actually make sense. With very full bellies and much anticipation of what was to come on the culinary front, we drove to our friends’ house.
Peter and Antonio moved here two years ago from San Francisco, also looking for change. They were gracious hosts, allowing us to camp in their driveway while also showing us around town and filling us in on SF life. Yep, another SF perhaps! They certainly love it here, which I think went a long way in encouraging us and helping us to feel grounded.
The city itself is grounding. People don’t seem to be in a hurry. Why would you need to be when you can traverse the town in fifteen to twenty minutes, even in traffic? It had a peaceful feel, no matter where we went, and we felt a sense of equanimity here that we have not felt elsewhere.
The citizens of Santa Fe are nice! Not the kind of nice you get when someone wants something from you, but the kind of nice you get when people are truly nice and kind and thoughtful. What a relief.
The adobe architecture is quite lovely and so new to us. Interestingly, many of the homes were not visible since they are tucked away amongst the abundant pinyon pines . We did get to see a great deal of the architecture, though, as we strolled through the plaza and down Canyon Road.
We need much more time on Canyon—it was described by one working artist as the most significant street for art in America. Though SF may be the center of the state’s government, it really seems to be the center for the arts for the entire southwest. Painters, sculptors, filmmakers, writers—they are all in Santa Fe, it seems, and the creative vibe is a palpable one. The photographer and quilter and all-around artist in the family (not me!) felt right at home strolling through the galleries and visiting the two museums we got to on Saturday (Georgia O’Keefe and the extraordinary Museum of Contemporary Native Arts). There are more museums and more galleries that we are excited to explore when we return, either as residents or tourists. Time will tell.
Fresh roasted chiles. It’s one of the main reasons we wanted to visit New Mexico in the fall. We have not been disappointed. Driving through town, the smell is everywhere, and when we visited the abundant farmer’s market on Saturday, we were overjoyed not only by the smells but also by the variety of chiles available. Needless to say, we stocked up and Alanna will be creating delectable meals with chile as the star for weeks to come. Tonight she is featuring kale (fresh from the boys’ garden), corn and poblano quesadillas!
Santa Fe feels fresh to us, and new. It’s really unlike anything we have ever experienced and while we have spent time in the southwest, this feels very different. If we do end up here, we are excited to immerse ourselves in this newness—so many new people, new foods, new sights and sounds (really cool new birds!). There will also be new places to explore and seasons to experience. Yes, they have winter, but I think Peter and Antonio were able to convince Alanna that it is doable, with plenty of sunshine along with snow that feels refreshing instead of a burden.
We are now enjoying Bandelier National Monument, another stunning Ancestral Pueblo site. With just three miles of roadway and seventy miles of trails, we expect to be here for a few days getting our boots dirty in some New Mexico soil. Immersing ourselves in ancient cultures has been a real gift of this leg of our trip. After the Bisti Badlands, we went to Aztec Ruins National Monument and walked through rooms with 900 year old roofs and sat in a reconstructed great kiva. We are spending significant time in places that we might bypass if this was a regular vacation in which we were pushing ourselves in a limited time frame.
It has been a great few weeks after working in Idaho. I feel fully back in explorer/adventurer mode now. As of this writing, we have no idea where we will head after Bandelier or how many days we will elect to stay here—we just know that are two of the luckiest women on this planet!
