Hello again everyone! We have been in Santa Fe for a little over a week now. Today is a rainy, cold, windy day and we’re sitting by the fire (love it), having a cup of Peppermint Tea (are we the most exciting people ever!! 🙂 ) so I thought I would catch you up with our visit in Santa Fe.
We’ve enjoyed our time in Santa Fe. We’ve only done one hike here so far, we’re hoping to get one in tomorrow if the rain stops. We leave here in two days to head north to Taos and Angel Fire. It’s snowing there today! We loved the hike we did, Nambe Lake. It started at about 10,100 feet and went up to about 11,300 feet. Beautiful trail, in the mountains, up to a beautiful frozen lake. There was about 4 inches of fresh snow on the ground. It was about 7.5 miles round trip and we loved it. That’s the good news. The bad news: a) somehow our pictures on our phones at the frozen lake all turned out in black and white. On both our phones. Don’t know what happened. We were so excited to get back and look at our pictures and found that when we got to the lake, they all are black and white or some monochrome color setting. The were in color up until then….I don’t think we are meant to be picture taking people!!! The bad news: b) there was this beautiful stream, clear water babbling over stones for much of our hike. Couldn’t resist drinking the water. We did this often in Alaska with no problem. Well, by that evening, Steve was sick, and has had a fever and tummy trouble for 3 days now. I didn’t get sick, but I only drank a small amount of the water, Steve drank a lot. Note to self: do not drink the water no matter how clean and beautiful it looks! We have since learned livestock live on that mountain in the summer. 🙁 Hard to tell what was in that water! Lots of pictures of our hike in the link below.
We also have caught up with a high school friend of Steve’s, Chris, who lives in Santa Fe with her husband. They were friends all through high school, college and early adult life, but lost track of each other after Chris moved to San Francisco then Santa Fe. She is head of retail operations for several museums in Santa Fe. We had lunch with her one day, and just as we were sitting down, I got a phone call from doggy daycare. It was Gerry’s first visit to the local doggy daycare, and since it was a rainy day, they were playing inside. He caught his dew claw on the indoor turf, and tore it off. So after lunch we were off to the vet. He tore it clean off, so it just needed a bandage and he also got a cute little bootie that kept it dry and clean outside. He’s feeling just fine, got the bandage off the other day and got to go back to daycare for the fun he missed the first time!
We had dinner with Chris and her husband also, at a great local restaurant that has been here for many years. They are both so nice and it was fun to get to know them. Catching up with friends and family as we travel is one of the benefits of this RV lifestyle.
We’ve been tourists here too. They have a great Farmer’s Market here, twice a week, and we’ve been both days. I can report the local vendors revenue has increased significantly due to our visit! It’s one of the best farmer’s markets we’ve been too, and we took full advantage and stocked up on lots of great things. We’ve visited a couple of museums, walked around the historical plaza, and visited San Miguel Chapel, the oldest church in America. It was built in the early 1600’s. Santa Fe is an “artsy” kind of town. Lots of public art along the streets and in the parks, galleries everywhere and vendors selling jewelry, art, pottery and all kinds of crafts everywhere. We’ve enjoyed browsing and buying a few gifts.
Chili peppers – they are a big deal here! And it’s harvest season so they are everywhere! We’ve sampled many – they roast them in these big roasters everywhere. They are good, and I’ve been adding them to my cooking too.
No, we did not make it to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. We had planned to, and even had a reservation at an RV park outside Albuquerque that we cancelled. We just weren’t sure it was going to be worth all the trouble…big crowds, have to be there at sunrise, weather not great. In fact, our RV neighbors here in Santa Fe made the drive (over an hour each way) twice to see the balloons take off only to have it cancelled each day due to weather…maybe we’ll make it another time when we’re out this way again.
So that’s what we’ve been up to here in Santa Fe. We’re off to Taos and Angel Fire in a couple of days, and Samantha will visit us in Angel Fire for a few days. Then, our friends Shawn and Julie are coming to visit. Can’t wait to see them all and I’m sure we’ll have lots to share from their visits. In the meantime, it’s still raining here and I’m going to get another cup of tea. Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Gerry resting in his favorite chair after the vet:
Steve and Chris:
Santa Fe: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LBwvNJvkLH8YA2ts9
Nambe Lake Hike: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pbmvLbBDjjMnEMQcA