Santa Fe, March 10-12

Before heading to Santa Fe we drove back over to Lake Heron to use their facilities, i.e. dump.  (There is another dump in Chama but it is almost 20 miles further.)  Joel noticed there was a dried up mess around the sewer  drain and decided to hose it off.  You guessed it.  The sewer was plugged.  None of the water and muck would drain down the hole. This was one time I was glad Joel is so picky.  He could have hooked up the sewer hose and pulled the black water handle  and there would have been a real mess. Fortunately, the lid to the main sewer drain was unlocked and close to the hose  and we were able to get it the lid off and drain the black water into the main drain.  Whew..the black water tanks were really full and we would have had to drive another 20 miles up the road to find another dump before heading to Santa Fe.

With the tanks emptied,  we were finally on our way to Santa Fe for the night.  Actually, we ended up spending several nights at the Elks Club in Santa Fe.  We woke up to snow the first morning, but by mid morning, the sun came out and we went exploring.

Looking east from the Elks parking lot:

 The old downtown area is a shoppers mecca with lots of specialty stores.  We parked the car and walked the area. (parking is hard to find and expensive). Last year when I was in Prescott I purchased some aged balsamic vinegar and I've used up most of it and have been looking for more. Aged balsamic vinegar is sweeter and not as acidic as the stuff you buy in the  grocery store and it is as costly as buying a nice bottle of wine, thus not to be used for cooking and is great for salads.  The Oleaceae in Santa Fe has a huge selection of balsamic vinegar and olive oil and it was hard to decide which one to buy. I was successful in finding what I wanted so I can  cross that one off the list.

This is the beautiful old St. Francis Cathedral. Some of the churches actually had an entrance fee to go in, but this one did not.

Some fun wind sculptures in the main square. There was also a market going on. 

One day we ventured down to the Rail Yard, which is not  far from the old town. You can catch the  Roadrunner Train which is a commuter train and makes frequent stops on the way to  Albuquerque.  It makes several runs a day and when I saw it, it was pretty full of commuters. Parking is a real challenge and very expensive so I can understand why people park and ride.

There is also a very nice bicycle path which traverses Santa Fe.  You can catch it near the Rail Yard. We caught the bike bath and road for a long ways until....we hit some hills. Joel doesn't "do" hills.  On the way back we stopped at the local Brewery for a brew for Joel's reward. :)

The weather in Santa Fe has been absolutely gorgeous but it is time to move on.