“A City Different”

Santa Fe, New Mexico! One of its nicknames is “A City Different” because of it’s unique multi-cultural architecture and spirit!  It’s a great nickname, because it sure is different from so many places we have seen!  This is our second time to visit Santa Fe, and we were excited to be back!

On the way, we had an interesting thing happen!  We were stopping in Longmont, Colorado for a night and we were all just cruising down the highway, Airstreams in tow…we were making great time, and our arrival time was approximately 3:00 pm…ALL OF A SUDDEN our GPS showed our arrival time to be almost 6:00!!!  We couldn’t figure out what was happening because we were out on I-80 East, which is a wide open interstate!  Well, then it happened…traffic slowed and then STOPPED!  After a few minutes, it was clear that we were not going anywhere anytime soon!  The traffic in the opposite direction was flying by with no issues!

After about 15 minutes, people were getting gout of their cars, trying to look ahead to see what was happening – we did the same thing!  Then we heard that it was a BAD accident and the entire interstate (going our way) was shut down!

One of the things we realized immediately was that we had a built in rest area behind our trucks – haha!  We all took advantage of using the  bathrooms in our trailers, and then just hung out outside of our trucks, waiting to see what would happen.  After about 45 minutes, we could see traffic starting to move ever so slowly – we jumped back in the trucks and sure enough, we were moving once again!  It was a bad accident with an 18-wheeler, and we were so thankful that each of us was okay!

We made up time and arrived around 4:00 which was amazing!  After a relaxing night at a really nice campground in Longmont, Colorado (we stopped here on the way out six weeks ago!) we were up and on the way to SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO!!!

We arrived at our campground, which was really cool!  You could see mountains all around  – and we even saw a ROADRUNNER near our campsite!

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The next day we headed off to Bandelier National Park to see the Bandelier National Monument!  Leonard and I had been several years ago and were so happy to be able to go back!  Bandelier National Monument protects over 33,000 acres of rugged canyon and mesa country in New Mexico!  It was founded in 1916 and is named after Swiss-American anthropologist Adolph Bandelier – it preserves the homes and territory of the Ancestral Pueblo people.   It was shaped by a volcanic eruption that left deep canyons and soft volcanic ash layers, known as Bandelier tuff.

It’s an amazing place, because you are greeted with sheet-walled rust colored cliffs and canyon floors shaded by pine trees!  One of the highlights is the wooden ladders you can climb into ancient carved alcoves in the cliffside.  The original inhabitants represented at least 23 tribal nations – it’s amazing to climb up and see these “holes” in the cliffs, and know that the people lived there!

After a FUN experience there, we headed back to Santa Fe to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant where Leonard and I ate the first time we came through – TOMASITA’S.  It’s an historic, family-owned Santa Fe landmark serving authentic Northern New Mexican comfort food – since 1974! One of the best parts of the meal is the sopaipillas and honey! Every visit to Tomasita’s wraps up with a warm, complimentary sopaipilla, served with local honey!  They are light, golden pastries that are served warm – you just tear it apart, drizzle honey on it and enjoy!

The meal was great and the atmosphere was really fun!

Our bellies full and our feet tired from walking, it was time to head back to the campground!  What a great day we had!

As we were sitting outside that evening, we talked about this trip and how much fun it has been – the blessings we have had, and  God’s protection over us the whole time – as we did that, we looked up in the sky and saw the moon and just marveled at the night sky!

The next day was Saturday, which meant FARMER’S MARKET DAY! Santa Fe has a GREAT farmer’s market, which we were able to see the last time, and we were so happy that we were there on a Saturday again!!!  Off we went!

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After the farmers market, we walked around town, mostly in the historic district, to see some amazing things!  One of those was one of  the oldest houses in the United States!

We also visited San Miguel Chapel, which is the oldest recorded sanctified church in the United States – built in the early 1600s!  We had seen it before but were not able to go inside – this time we could! What a fascinating place! It features simple, authentic 3-foot-thick adobe walls and an original dirt floor section near the altar.  It is both a living, active parish and an historical museum!

 

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What a great day we had in Santa Fe!  So much to see and do!

At the end of that day, we had a special treat waiting back at our campground!  One of my dearest friends in Pittsburgh, Mary Kay, and her husband George, have been out on an awesome camping trip at the same time we are on ours!  Before we left Pittsburgh in May, she and I were talking about our trips, and she made a quick comment about being in Santa Fe during part of their trip! I said “we will be there also” – after comparing calendars, we could not believe that we would be there on the SAME day!  She mentioned the campground where they would be staying – it did not sound familiar to me, but I asked Leonard where we were staying – GUESS WHAT!!!!???? We were staying at the SAME campground! On the SAME day!  So the day had arrived…after our day in downtown Santa Fe, we headed back to the campground and spent the evening with these dear friends!  What a blessing that was, and it was so good to catch up!  We all said how weird it was that we were sitting together having dinner outside in SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO!  The fact that we planned our trips separately, and we ended up at the same place on the same day is amazing!  Another “chance” encounter on this trip!  Thank you, God!

What a great ending to a wonderful two days in Santa Fe!  Our trip is coming to a close soon, and this was definitely one of the highlights for us all!  Coming up are a couple of driving days – one stop in Amarillo, Texas, a stop in Oklahoma City, and then a two day stop in Little Rock, Arkansas!  All leading up to our last fun stop on the trip – Nashville, Tennessee!

UNTIL NEXT TIME…