Sunday, September 4, 2011

Sightseeing in Santa Fe

On Friday we went to the Plaza in Old Town Santa Fe.  We decided Friday would be a little less crowded than Labor Day weekend!  We had a bite to eat at a little French restaurant and then took a tram around the city (after finally finding a place to park the BIG truck)!   The driver pointed out the "real" adobe houses, you could even see the straw in one of them.  Since 1967 the architecture in Old Town must be adobe style and colors.  There are 248 art galleries in Santa Fe with 120 of them on one street!  We drove up Museum Hill and saw the bronze statue of a conestoga wagon pulled by a mule team.  He pointed out the New Mexico tree and flag.  It was an interesting tour.

After we got off the tram, we visited the Loretto Chapel and it's miraculous staircase!   The chapel was built but there was no staircase up to the choir loft.  The Sisters tried to find a carpenter to make the stairs but because of the height of the loft there wasn't room to make a staircase.  The Sisters made a Novena to their patron saint, Saint Joseph the Carpenter.  Legend has it that a carpenter arrived on a donkey with a saw, hammer, a square and tubs to soak the wood.  His "miraculous staircase" contains 33 steps in two full 360-degree turns with no center support, nor is it held from it sides!  When complete the carpenter disappeared without seeking payment!

It is a beautiful privately owned chapel now and open to the public.  It is available for weddings and other special occasions.  It has a very nice gift shop with tons of crosses to select from!


We walked around town and looked in a few of the shops, then rested our feet in the Plaza Square with some ice cream!

Yesterday we took a drive to the small town of Pecos and the Pecos National Historic Park.  It started raining but we managed to go into the visitor center and see a movie on the history of the area.  It stopped raining finally and we were able to walk out to the Pueblo ruins.  There was a large community of Pueblo Indians that were taken over by the Spanish Conquistadors.  They brought missionaries with them and the large building is the second church built on the site.  The Indians revolted at one point and burned down the first church they built.  The Spanish left for awhile but came back and took over again.


At the site of the ruins, there was a group of people that were making pottery in the way of the Pueblo Indians.  We got there just as they were just starting to build the kiln.  We left the ruins and took a drive through the Santa Fe National Forest.  It was a bit rainy and cold and we didn't see any wildlife, just a lot of people fishing in the Pecos River and camping out along side the river.  We drove along the Santa Fe Trail to get to the ruins.


We followed the Santa Fe Trail back to the campground, dropped off Max and went to Harry's Roadhouse for dinner.  We have seen tons of cars there every day.  Thought there would be a big wait but it is an old house converted into a restaurant and there was a lot of seating in each room, along with a big patio area.  We had the pizza and it was okay.  We must have not picked the really good food that all of the people come in for!   I tried the White Peach Sangria and that was very good!   Hmmmm!

This morning we took off to the Buffalo Thunder Casino.  They advertised $25 in moreplay but when we got there that promotion had ended.  Now you "flipped" an electronic coin to see what you would win between $5 and $500.00.  We both won $5.00 hmmmm!  We played for a couple of hours, finally getting a bonus or two at the end and are now home.  Today is a cloudy and cool day, may get some more rain! 

Our computer has been shutting down on us and I finally plugged it in to the socket instead of the surge protector.  So far so good, keeping my fingers crossed!

Enjoying Santa Fe..."Ain't Life Grand!"

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