Santa Fe. It’s one of those places that makes you want to become a novelist. You imagine sitting in a café on the Plaza sipping a steaming cup of some special “local’s only” coffee. You exchange greetings with the regulars as they come and go, while spinning a yarn about the special, sometimes surreal, people and places which surround you…
Insert sound of brakes and locked up tires…screech! Wake up, smell the Maxwell House reality! Two kids, two dogs, bills to pay, remember?
Oh yeah, right, all that. But hey, truth be told, that’s what makes it even better to be here. Where else can we bring our boys and treat them (and us) to a breakfast of Huevos Rancheros aside a 200 year old city square made of adobe? The Plaza in Santa Fe is the center of the downtown area, and today it’s blanketed in snow!
The street vendors abound, selling handmade jewelry, paintings, woodcarvings, pelts of fur, you name it! The sounds of deal making, the colors of all of it, and the ever present watchful eye of an older Native American sitting at her booth, give the place real character!
At night, they light up the Plaza with those paper bag thingys with the candle…??? Lumenaries, that’s it! All around the roof tops of the terraced adobe buildings. Combined with Christmas lights in the central park, it’s very beautiful.
I could go on and on about the architecture, the layout of the city, the myriad nooks and crannies and tiny secret back alleys. I love this place! However, you really need to hear about the shopping! Kim will do a better job than I telling about that!
The side streets and alley ways are lined with little shops selling hot chili peppers, flowers, silver, turquoise, and handmade sweaters. The colors and sounds are sure to make you want to buy something!
In the center of town there is a Native American Market where each vendor has a blanket or two of goods…no tables! They sit on the ground (yes, the cold ground) ready to bargain with the next passing tourist. It’s fun to shop for little trinkets of silver and turquoise and have something to take home as a reminder of this wonderful town!
There are so many unique art galleries and shops that it’s a treat to just wander in and out of them until you find more then you want to carry around! The boys love to visit a rock shop and I can always be found at Chico’s!
Shopping, art, architecture, history, just the whole atmosphere makes Santa Fe one incredible place to visit.
While we were trying to get to all 48 states, we sometimes went in a direction that wouldn’t be our first choice.
The first city we returned to with no real agenda, was Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s a must see! We’ll see more on Monday, then head up to Taos!
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
More fun pictures!!!
Hey – - – about the Easter Egg trees, if I’m not mistaken, that same tree I just showed in its Christmas finery gets decked out with colored Easter Eggs in due season! I’ll watch and post a picture if I’m right.
I just had a new thought about you being in Santa Fe.
Have you ever seen the Disney made for television movie, “Newsies?”
Our family LOVE that movie – - – some hate it, but we are in the lovers camp.
Anyway, there is a song in that movie called “Santa Fe.” it’s the dream destination of the lead character in the movie who happens to be a newsboy in NY City.
How pretty…that’s a place I’ve always wanted to visit. Glad you’re having a great time!
I’m so glad I stumbled upon your site. I was born and raised in Los Alamos, not far from Santa Fe. I’m now stuck in Oklahoma. I love your pictures of Santa Fe. The plaza is one of my all time favorite hang outs. Great people watching in the summer!! I can’t wait to see what you have to say about Taos. Have fun, enjoy the snow!!
It sounds and looks like ya”ll are having a wonderful time !! Love you !!
ooohhhh!!! Snow!!!
xxxx’s
I was just in Santa Fe a couple of months ago, on a trip with my two brothers! It’s a favorite place of mine, especially in the fall and winter. I’m a friend of your mom’s and she just wrote about your trip and the fact that you just up and left one Christmas for London! You are my kind of family! I also asked her if you were accepting applications for adoption.
)
Have a fabulous time!
Melinda
Gosh how I love Santa Fe. It’s a place I could just keep going back to again and again. I’m so jealous that you were there! Next time call me and we’ll go together… lol
Seriously though…. I’ve never been to a more beautiful place, well, except maybe Sedona, AZ.
Di
The Blue Ridge Gal
Glad you got to enjoy the Huevos Rancheros – food in Sante Fe is nearly a religious experience (if you order the wrong kind of chilies – can lead to repentance) it is a beautiful area.
I lived in Santa Fe for two years, it’s were our daughter was born. It was really nice to see these pictures and remember home. I miss it a lot now that we’re gone. But really, it’s kind of a hard place to live if you’re not rich. It’s a much better place to visit and vaca in than live, take it from me:)
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