Santa Fe Home Exchange - Three Wks, from start to finish
 

We are almost a wk in to our 30th home exchange, this time Santa Fe, New Mexico.

It's a trip that was planned about six months ago, with the written agreement, we would each drive to our home exchangers' home. In our case, it meant a 13 hr drive from Southern California. As we approached our prospective trips, there appeared to be snags on both end, out home exchangers had some health issues, and on our end, nothing calamitious until a few days before we were due to leave. First our ever trusty cleaning women decided on a well-deserved holiday, second problems two plumbing problems in two days, both of course on the weekend, and most dramatically, my husband, N walked unknowingly onto a fast moving treadmill at the local gym, catapaulting him onto the floor with lots of bruises and a horrendous thud. Fortunately, he is fine, though he has tons of cuts and abrasions.

All chores in our house completed Tues morning, admittedly, not as pristine as in the past, but still very respectable. Though a few windows in less obvious places were not sparkling clean. We were packed, clean sheets and towels out and we were on the road by 1:00 PM. Debit and our exchangers mentioned Laposada.com for our first night. It is easily 10 hrs from our home and we arrived too late for the dining room. It's a pretty inn, reasonably priced, though we received the last rm in the house, and it felt cramped, but adequate for our needs, one night of rest. Sticking to our slothful ways, we barely managed to have lunch (too late for breakfast) and were on the road again by 12:30pm or so. The drive is easy, very unevenful, few cars, mostly long-haul trucks. We arrived in Santa Fe around 7:00. The vistas are lovely, dark clear skys, barely budding trees and the brown adobe architecture.

Our home exchangers had given us complex directions regarding parking, but we were able to pull in easily and after some manuevering found the side entry to their home. It is a lovely adobe house, filled with SW pottery, paintings, hand-crafted furniture, etc. Totally, unlike our Californian home. Not a stainless steel appliance to be seen, all hand glazed lovely tile everywhere!

As typical on a first day home exchange, we spent the morning, better be accurate, the early afternoon, picking up odds and ends at Sprouts, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, all minutes away by car.

We were too late for breakfast, but our home exchangers O and I recommended a French owned bakery, Cloufoutis, nearby on Guadalupe Street. N had a quiche and a salad and I opted for a chevre salad. We shared a raspberry custard tarte for dessert, easily the best dessert outside of France that I've had in a very long time, Delicious, but too decadent to make a daily habit. I can't remember the price, but certainly very reasonable, though they stop serving food at 3.

Feeling it important to get some of the <i>major</i> travel sites out of the way, we opted to visit the Georgia O'Keefe Museum the next day. I believe admission is $10. As we approached the museum, mid afternoon, we watched hordes of school children leaving, still the museum was hardly unempty. We had read that there were few of her painting on exhibit, but when the reviews said <B>few</B>, I thought it meant <i>limited not very little</i>! The musuem itself is only about 6 or 7 rooms, with a couple special exhibits taking up 2 or 3 of the major rooms. There is an interesting video about G O'K when you enter (no seats), you stand and watch. but it does give you a small glance into an extraordinarly woman's life. I later googled for more information. Artists certainly dance to a different beat. I suppose there are set-backs to having a strong talent that drives you, but as an observer looking on it, it must be wonderful to have that creative force.

Neeless to add much more, I found the museum a bit disappointing, since so little of her work is there. I am hoping when we visit the New Mexico Musuem of Art later on we will see more of her painting.

Sounds like, after the initial bumps, you are settled and ready for adventures. Please let me know if I can help you with anything! Do you plan to come down to ABQ? Would love to have a coffee with you!

We are very close to downtown, a mere 5 block walk. There's something wonderful to obseve everywhere. The landscaping intrigues me with lots of sandy lots, sage brushes, wild grasses, budding trees (told they are late this year), all contrasted with the lovely orangey, brown, beige adobe bldgs. And <B>Art</B> is everywhere, lots of sculptures and even paintings outside gallery doors to entice you in. Shop keepers are pleasnt, no offense taken when you merely enter a store to ask for directions. The main plaza has a plaque commemmorating the end of the Santa Fe Trail; I'm told coaches used to embark there. Now the plaze is filled with a grandstand, benches and people relaxing. Very pleasant.

We walked over to the pretty St Francis Cathedral, designed by a French architect. The church is immaculate and very attractive. Nearby is the Loretto Chapel which charges you $3 to see their famous spiral staircase (no support), but I could not understand the recording, and did not stay.

Dinner that night was at Bumblebee's an inexpensive fast food restaurant, (two locations), but the food is cooked to order and very good, though the atmosphere is definitely not a place to linger. We took our food home to eat.

The days are blurring together; we wandered into shops, had lunch at <i>The Shed</i> one afternoon, recommended by a Californian friend, our home exchangers and numerous tour guides. The atmosphere is very pleasant, half outdoors and a series of little rooms. Lots of people enjoying themselves and pleasantly noisy for a Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately for us, two mostly Vegan eaters with an occasional foray into vegetarianism, there were only two choices on the menu. Everyone appears to love the place, but given our limited choices we were underwhelmed. Still, the ambience is charming and would get me back for a salad and a drink.

We spent the first hr of Sun morning exploring the Artisan's Market, but it was sparsely attended and we left quickly, though I did sample a wonderful piece of chocolate there!


From there we drove to Canyon Road. Canyon Road runs for a mile or more, mostly old adobe homes, now galleries, and a few restaurants, notably the very expensive Geronimo, but there are several sandwich-type inexpensive ones as well. The weather was wonderful- clear, sunny and cool, It was hardly necessary to enter a building, there was wonderful sculpture everywhere on lawns, walkways and in front of galleries. It was like an outdoor museum and there were enough people to make it interesting without being crowded. Parking was easy and plentiful. We walked for several miles,and never realized we were tired.

Bringing ourselves up to date. Today, we woke to cloudy, overcast, skies, with an occasional rain (more like drizzle) breaking through. I had opted for a museum day or a drive, but Monday is a non-museum day in Santa Fe and a drive seemed impractical if we were to be caught in the rain. (The rain forecasters predicted heavy showers) which have not materialized as I am typing away. We wandered into town, deciding to make it a shopping, restaurant day, but I did not want to shop, (I'm waiting to see the museum stores) and other than a small gift for my neighbor have really nothing to buy. N and I could not agree on where to eat and by 2pm, most of the restaurants had closed. Finally, someone suggested the Plaza Cafe for us, a diner-like eatery where we shared portabello fajitas. We, also located the Santa Fe tourist bureau who loaded us down with brochures and gave us some ideas for short excursions.

I know the locals want and need rain, and I hope they get it during the night and morning while we are still asleep!

Thank you, Debit. It would be nice to meet you, too. But, presently have no plans for ABQ. If you have suggestions, thoughts, whatever, we would be pleased to hear them.

Are you interested in seeing some of the natural features of the area?

Tent Rocks, is really spectacular, and at this time of year, a great time to visit. Depending on if you want to do a fairly easy walk, a more strenuous walk/hike or just a drive, I highly recommend a visit.

http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/rec...ent_rocks.html

Albuquerque has a lot of worthwhile sites - The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center; National Hispanic Cultural Centers are both excellent -

http://www.cabq.gov/things-to-do/art...ltural-centers

A visit to Acoma is also really special - http://sccc.acomaskycity.org/

A drive from Santa Fe to ABQ via the Turquoise Trail is lovely and a drive up to the top of the Sandia's is a nice stop along the way - http://www.turquoisetrail.org/

A day trip up to Taos is also worthwhile.

With 3 weeks, you have plenty of time to venture beyond Santa Fe. I hope that you are able to do so, you won't be disappointed.

Debit: I can't imagine we will be disappointed!!! Thanks very much for all the great ideas! Yes, we want to see some of the natural beauty of the area, more than just shops and museums. We had planned on a couple days in Taos, (we've been there before, though many yrs ago,) maybe a day's trip is all we need. My husband is thinking two nights there, too much. :) He will be delighted to hear your take on Taos.

Wow, such a nice long lock of time in Santa Fe! I have been there many times over the last 10 yrs and have some recs.

Go to Bandalier National Monument. You can continue on the road and go to the very high alpine area of
Valle Caldera also - google that. You can cont. on to Jemez if you have enough time.

Are you planning to go to Ghost Ranch at Abiquiu, where O'Keefe lived and painted? I hope so.

Don't miss the Museum of International Folkart up on the hill in Santa Fe.

There are nice and easy hiking (really walking) trails at the end of Upper Canyon rd. at the Audubon Center. Lovely there this time of year! And the Dale Ball trails also up Canon Rd are really great.

If you liked the Shed, try their sister restaurant, La Choza, (905 Alarid St.) across the rail tracks from Sage Inn. YUM. You will need to see about how it fits into your particular diet. Casual, inexpensive, and and wonderful- but they close for a few hrs btwn lunch and dinner so check the timing by calling them.

Do you all like to listen to music in the evenings? try Vanessie, on Water St. Nice piano music and singer most nights, and the food is great too, but again I don't know about your particular diet.

I envy you, such a nice time of year for an extended visit to that area, before it gets so hot in summer.

>>Neeless to add much more, I found the museum a bit disappointing, since so little of her work is there. I am hoping when we visit the New Mexico Musuem of Art later on we will see more of her painting.<<

The one by the Plaza? There are a couple of O'Keeffes there, from what I recall, but other than that and the ones at the O'Keeffe Museum there just aren't many on display in New Mexico.

I'll second emd3's suggestion to visit Bandelier National Monument and all of DebitNM's recommendations. If you two get together, I'd love to join you!

Vanessie is a nice place for a drink and music. We've been there a couple of times and enjoyed it. Check out the Staab House at La Posada, too; it's a more intimate room so you're close to the musicians. We heard a really good vocal/jazz guitar duo there in December.

While you're in Taos, check out the Fechin House, which now is the home of the Taos Art Museum. Nicholas Fechin built the house and it has some really lovely woodwork.

Lee Ann

Oh! How could I forget? Go see Ronald Roybal perform!!

He is at the Hotel Santa Fe every Friday and Saturday night @ 7 pm in the lounge. There is <i>no charge</i>.

Have a Prickly Pear Margarita [the best around] and enjoy his soul stirring music. It is a wonderful, true New Mexican experience.

http://www.ronaldroybal.com/

>>Don't miss the Museum of International Folkart up on the hill in Santa Fe.<<

I agree - I love this place and the recommendation for El Choza (tho probably tough for a vegan, maybe less so for a vegetarian) and a hike at Tent Rocks.

I have been underwhelmed by the G O'K after a pair of visits (3 years apart) both by the collection of her work and the exhibitions that were up when we were there. I paid $12 last summer and was done in about 30 minutes -- thought, oh well, I support the arts so it isn't money wasted.

I probably wouldn't return unless there was something specific that I wanted to see....like the exhibition that just closed: "Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage" which was uncharacteristically non portraiture and a kind of personal show for this photographer.

I saw it in DC last year and it took up a half dozen galleries -- it must have been edited down for the G O'K. This exhibit has moved onto San Jose for anyone in that part of the world interested in Leibovitz's photography.

A few vegan/vegetarian-friendly restaurants I would recommend would be:

Jambo Cafe - African/Caribbean cuisine. In a strip mall, casual and great soups. If the coconut guava-lime soup is on the board get it. It's wonderful! Won Best Soup at the Souper Bowl - he's won all four categories as well as Best of Santa Fe restaurant.

Sup - soup and sandwich type of place.
http://eatsoup.net/todays-menu/todays-selections/

Lan's - Vietnamese place near Jambo Cafe. Small, one-lady show with daughter or ? who helps serve at lunch. Very good and inexpensive.

Regarding the O'Keeffe Museum I agree it is sparse with her works. I heard many are in Denver and will be returned this summer/fall. A visit to Abiquiu to Ghost Ranch is a nice 1/2 day trip. There is a tour for her Abiquiu home which is nice and it's held to a small group so a reservation is necessary.

I meant to post this link - a great way to try some good restaurants and get a discount as well.

Vinaigrette is another vegetarian friendly spot and is one the 999dine site:

http://999dine.com/NGiftCertificateS...bId=18&RsName=

Thanks, everyone for all the great suggestions. We'll probably need more than our two wks left to do them all, but we are happy to to read so many ideas. Thank you, beachgirl and Debit for some more restaurants, too.

We took emd3's and Lee Ann's suggestion today to visit Bandelier's National Monument. We had considered a museum today, but with clear shining skies, we decided to save our museum visit for a wet,rainy day.

The weather was perfect, blue skies, cummulous clouds ( I wish I had a spell check to catch all my typos and spelling errors) and wonderful scenery on both sides of the road. Lots of sand, large and small mts,small shrubs, sagebrush, sometimes large orangy and brown rock formations and I have no idea what else, but lovely.

Hardly a car in sight. As we ascended, there were more fir trees and when we entered the monument, the parking lot was filled. Always, a mystery when you arrive at a destination to see a full parking lot when traveling relatively empty roads. We watched the 15 min or so film in the visitor's center (with subtitles) and then hiked the 1.2 mi loop. It was fairly easy and I overcame a bit of trepidation and climbed a ladder to peer into one of the cave like dwellings. So nice to be out of the city and visit this beautiful place. Thank you for the suggestion.

obxgirl: The Folk Art Museum is high on our list. Thank you.