On route to Santa Fe along the I-40, we had to make a quick pit stop in Winslow to view the now famous "corner". The town has embraced this bit of history along Route 66, and have done it up real nice. Of course, out came the camera.
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| details everywhere |
Tired from yesterday’s I-40 drive and trucks, we decided that once we got to Albuquerque, we would head up the scenic Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe. Although a tad slower, it was a much nicer drive.
Named for the turquoise mines in the area, the trail heads to Santa Fe along Hwy 14. The are a few small towns along the way, and we stopped for a while in Madrid, a funky little artist’s community with galleries, restaurants and unusual shops. The entire drive along the trail was very scenic, weaving up and down many little canyons along the way.
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| a very cool little town to wander |
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| even the post boxes have artistic flair |
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| this was a great little gallery |
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| turquoise...of course! |
Santa Fe soon appeared, nestled in a valley with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. For some reason, in my mind I had imagined a small town surrounded by the red rock hills, but that image was not realized, it is much larger and spread out. Upon reading that Santa Fe has a very old historic downtown core made us very anxious to check it out.
After setting up, we took a little run into town to get the lay of the land. It is very easy to get around, as places are not really that far from each other. A few of the main streets leading into the core are appropriately named “trails”, since they were the original stagecoach trails. Following the Old Santa Fe Trail in, the street narrowed as it moved closer into downtown. As the city evolved, the streets were not widened, in order to retain the historical nature of these routes and all the original adobe buildings along them, and the added benefit is that downtown Santa Fe is very walkable and has an authentic charm.
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| San Miguel Church...circa early 1600's |
Lots of old adobe downtown, which had Dale very excited, and photo crazy. She also soon discovered another obsession...primitive wood fences are everywhere, which we later found out are called ‘coyote fences’ and are made of vertical continuous runs of raw tree limbs (with bark), all wired together, supported on the backside with pipe rails. I could sense the wheels turning, but this little discovery is not going to be retrofitted back in our neck of the woods.
Santa Fe, founded over 400 years ago, is a capital city with the highest elevation in the States, sitting at 7,200 feet. The famous Rio Grande River winds through the city, the Spanish built the town around a central plaza, in 1610. The historic plaza (park) is still the heart of the city, and the downtown core bustles around it. In 1878, the Santa Fe Railway arrived, and this allowed even more access to the area, but then in later years when the train was re-routed, the town started to decline. Then in the early 20th century, artists and writers were drawn to and established themselves in the city, and it became and continues to this day to be a vibrant thriving artist colony.
One cannot help but notice that adobe is the prominent architectural feature of the city. The adobe stucco colours are all warm, matching the surrounding landscape, sometimes with accents of turquoise, or the “Santa Fe Blue”. The downtown adobe buildings oooze history, conjuring up images of what life might have been so many years ago.
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| the New Mexico Museum of Art |
We wandered the downtown and fell in love with the historical section and the surrounding neighbourhoods. The architecture, the museums, the shops, and the people all meld together to make this an amazing place to explore.
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| the plaza |
What sets this place apart from say, Tucson or San Antonio, is the amount of historical retained buildings and the walkability of the downtown. One can cover a lot of ground in a few hours of wandering. Grab a coffee, take in a museum, cruise the galleries, then quench your thirst in a nifty little bar, it’s all here.
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| more interesting adobe...and fences |
We checked out a cool little restaurant called Bumble Bee’s, famous for their fish tacos...right up our alley.
Santa Fe is outstanding, and a ‘must see’ on a destination list.
Being at a higher elevation we experienced an all time low of 26F a couple of the nights, so we kept a close eye on the weather forecasts. Our visit was over just as a cold front with more nighttime lows of below freezing temperatures, and some snow, was moving into the area. Going on to the higher altitudes of Taos will have to wait until another year.
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| a sure sign it is a cold morning |
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