Santa Fe, New Mexico
As we drove onward, the landscape changed yet again, this time from pine forest to wide plains with large red rock formations forming in the distance. Had we kept on heading north we would have reached the Grand Canyon—but we were on a tight schedule and turned east heading to Santa Fe. After a few hours, however, Theodor needed to stretch his legs. We searched on the map for a place to stop and found a small town that seemed like a good place. However, when we got there, the place was basically just a few worn-down buildings—but it had a nice playground, so good enough for us! The same thing happened when we needed to stop for lunch. We found what seemed to be the larger town in the area, but as we arrived, we realized that every other building was completely empty, worn down or out of business. We wondered how many Americans actually live in towns like these, as we drove to the best lunch spot we could find—McDonald’s, which meant Theodor’s first happy meal!
We arrived late afternoon at the St. Francis Hotel in Santa Fe, which had a cathedral/spa-like feel to it with stone walls, statues and a whole lot of incense burning. Our room was small, but very nice still—it felt like living in an old monastery, with furniture in dark wood and white-washed walls. We strolled around the small streets in the city center, which were filled with art, pottery and shops selling Native American artifacts, and enjoyed the very different architecture present here. Most of the buildings here were built in an old Native American adobe-style, with earthy-clay colors and rounded edges.
Once again, it was time to eat and we had booked a table at Radish & Rye. We had the feeling they weren’t that welcoming towards small children and with no highchair available, we sat with him on our laps. To make the situation worse, Theodor was not at all in the mood for sitting. We ordered some plates to share and cocktails, and although both tasted great, we hurried to finish and get out. Back at the hotel, we got Theo ready for bed and went down for a night cap on the very cosy porch area connected to the bar. Looking around at the people beside us, we instantly regretted our choice of place for dinner—the burgers and fries from the hotel restaurant looked so, so, SO good! Shame!
The next morning we ate a small breakfast consisting of croque monsieur et madame at a small french pastry shop located in an another beautiful old hotel, and then strolled around in the garden of the church by the main square. Luck was on our side, as a huge artisan market was going on that very day. We browsed the stalls filled with ceramic bird houses, hand carved wooden boxes, knives, paintings and so much more, but even though there was so many beautiful things to look at, a lemonade was our only purchase!
After perusing all the beautiful things, we checked out of the hotel and went to the Santa Fe Railyard, which is not a rail yard anymore, but a trendy new place with a farmer’s market, cafes and museums. The farmer’s market was about to pack up, but we managed to grab some lunch— a freshly grilled sausage on a stick, and a couple of blue corn pupusas, which are small packets filled with beans and cheese together with some extremely hot hot sauce (which, apparently, was the mild version). We the visited the nearby SITE museum, where the featured exhibition was a collection of artwork having to do with opera. The most impressive part of the exhibition was a collection of photographs taken from hundreds of operas all located in Italy. In another part of the museum, an artist was painting portraits live on-site.
An afternoon ice cream later, we headed towards our dinner destination Milad, a Persian restaurant on a long winding street filled with galleries. We had some very nice hummus and lamb, as well as beet root and carrot falafels. Once again, Theodore was not in a particular restaurant-happy mood, but we managed to grab some huge baklavas to-go (although we actually never got to eat them, sadly they were just sitting in the car).
And then … onward to Amarillo.
