This was my 3rd or maybe 4th trip to Santa Fe, but I'd never really had a chance to explore the area. This trip was different... we certainly explored!
Wednesday & Thursday ... in Albuquerque with Frank, admiring his new house and a few Albuquerque oddities.
While waiting for Wendy in the ABQ airport, I got into a not too acrimonious discussion with a guy who was there to meet his wife. Over the course of several minutes, he informed me that Cheney was an honorable man and a great patriot, that Iraq was behind 9/11 and had WMD, and that the attack on Iraq was necessary and not a diversion from Afghanistan. He knew all that because one or two of his sons had served in Iraq. OY!
Friday... Las Vegas (NM, not NV), and the Pecos National Historical Park
Saturday... the Santa Fe historical walk from Lonely Planet, lunch in the famous (?) Plaza Cafe, and a visit to the Shidoni bronze art foundry.
We stayed at the Inn of the Governors, a couple of blocks off the plaza. They provided an enormous buffet breakfast, complete with optional Spanish lessons with the Mexican staff. The weather was wonderful, with lots of sun. Maybe best, there were very few tourists as the season was pretty much over. That may have been a problem for the shop owners, but we liked it.
Santa Fe is an interesting mix of old Southwest, Mexican, and New Age. There are vegetarian options in the restaurants, almost everything is non smoking, it's obviously GLBT friendly, huge turquoise jewelry is de rigeur, and there are representations of la Virgen de Guadalupe everywhere. The scenery is lovely, and it's both funky and charming but I don't think I want to live there. I'd visit again, though, anytime.
The art foundry had a sculpture garden with lots of interesting pieces, but the best part was watching the pour.
Sunday... Taos and the Pueblo, fish tacos at Orlando's, the Millicent Rogers Museum, a quick stop at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, and a beautiful sunset. Monday... Canyon Road, the art gallery center of Santa Fe, Bandolier National Monument, Los Alamos and the Bradbury Science Museum (which we both thought was named after Ray Bradbury... it's not)
At Bandolier, I asked the ranger about the use of the term Ancestral Pueblo Peoples rather than Anasazi as I'd heard that the latter was no longer in vogue, but couldn't remember why. She said that in one of the native languages, Anasazi meant "ancient people who are not our ancestors" or something like that. But, they were the ancestors of many of the local tribes, who thus prefer ancestral puebloan. Who knew?
One of the interesting things at the science museum was the display of pictures/stories about the people who lived and worked at Los Alamos during the project. Some shared their views about the bombs; other simply talked about what the life had been like. It was a much more personal view than one usually gets of that place/period.
Tuesday... back to Albuquerque by way of Coronado State Monument, which was closed. And now we're home... and I'm cleaning mouse turds out of the cupboards, again. Should have stayed in Santa Fe.