We spent one day in New Mexico. It was May 1, 2003, and we were driving across the U.S. on our way from California to France. I had been to Santa Fe before, just once, but Walt hadn't ever been there. We had a nice lunch at the Inn of the Anasazi restaurant, took a walk around the town with the dog, and then drove on to the town of Tucumcari to spend the night. Here's a two-minute slideshow. One of the first things I saw in Santa Fe was a 2CV, or deux-chevaux, the iconic French car, driving down the street. Santa Fe is that kind of town.
Santa Fe is the capital of the state of New Mexico. It was founded in 1610 and has a population of less than 100,000. It's a great art city, with many galleries and museums. The architecture is distinctly New Mexican (or Southwestern). The city and state also have a distinctive cuisine, but I don't really remember what we at at the Anasazi. I just remember it as being very old-fashioned (in a good way) and formal in atmosphere, and not crowded at lunchtime. The city is built on a very high plateau at an elevation of 7,200 feet (2,200 meters). I'd love to go back to Santa Fe one day. Could happen.
Great photos of Santa Fe. It's one of the most enjoyable cities anywhere, imo. Glad you two got to stop. They're big on hatch chilis and New Mexican-Mexican food, which they will tell you is very different than Tex-Mex.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was working in Silicon Valley, the companies I worked for would often send some of us to off-site conferences and seminars. I got to go to Santa Fe and spend three or four days there one year. Another such boondoggle took me to places like Sundance, Utah; Kalispell and Glacier National Park in Montana;, Seattle several times; and Half Moon Bay (not very exotic when you work in the Bay Area, but pretty anyway). I also twice got to attend (and speak at) a conference in Grenoble in France two years in a row. That's when Walt and I started to come back to France, in 1988 and '89, after no trips to France since 1982.
DeleteNice to go to such interesting places, especially when your employer is footing the bill. ;-) Aren't you glad you got to see them all before air travel changed?
DeleteSanta Fe is a lovely city. we stayed there probably two days so we could visit the area. Frank had problems breathing at night because of the altitude that we didn't know anything about. Seven thousand feet, if I'm not mistaken.
ReplyDeleteAt Santa Clara, I bought a minuscule pottery as a gift to my friend JL for an astronomic amount of money!
We also went to lovely but touristy Taos. New Mexico is a very nice state.
I do agree on what Diogenes said.
I went to Taos too, but it didn't really compare with Santa Fe. I went to another nice town that was southeast of Santa Fe, I believe — I can't remember the name or find it on a map. I remember that story about Frank and his respiratory difficulties.
DeleteA pretty place and a very interesting bench!
ReplyDeleteWhen we went to Santa Fe, we did a drive out to the Santuario de Chimayó, and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in historic structures. It's a small, adobe style, mission church built in about 1816, I think--I'd never been to anything like it. It's described as being in the foot hills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. The drive there (at least the route we took), was incredibly scenic-- I'm pretty sure it was the HIgh Road to Taos Scenic Byway. I must have had a guidebook or something, because I remember also stopping to see an even older adobe church, in las Trampas, called San Jose de Gracia -- built in 1716. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteThese are really nice memories for me -- thanks for bringing up the topic :)
Seeing the 2CV was foreshadowing for you future life in France.
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