Santa Fe

TUESDAY. We spent some time in Santa Fe yesterday, enjoying blue skies and cool temperatures so typical of early autumn. As we made our way north on 25, brilliant yellow-orange trees, both captivating and surprising, dotted the desert.

We found a much-coveted metered parking space just off the square in Santa Fe and crammed it full of quarters. Our first stop was the historic Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, initially established in the seventeenth century. The present French Romanesque building was completed in 1886 and houses the oldest Madonna in the U.S. I especially enjoyed the spectacular stained glass windows.

Statues of Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy, St. Francis, and Kateri Tekakwitha grace the grounds of the Cathedral. Also known as Lily of the Mohawks, Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656, daughter of a Mohawk chief and Catholic Algonquin. She was raised in the Mohawk community of Ossernenon, now Auriesville, NY, as part of the turtle clan. This alluring statue was commissioned in 2002 to honor the Native American spirit.




The front doors to the Cathedral were particularly interesting, depicting the history of Santa Fe in bronze.



Jim and Ginger caught some rays on a bench in front of the Cathedral.


We continued our journey around the square, exploring galleries and little shops, occasionally stopping in doorways for photos.


After a few modest purchases and wandering under the portal of the Palace of the Governors, the oldest public building in the United States (circa 1610), where dozens of Native American vendors gather daily to display and sell pottery, jewelry, bread and other goods, we made our way back to the car and headed toward Tomasita's for lunch, located next to the old Santa Fe Railway Station. The station now houses a gift shop and serves as the starting point for day-long high desert scenic tours in vintage railway cars.




After a tasty and filling lunch we drove to Tesuque, took in some amazing vistas (snow is already visible on some of the higher peaks!), visited the Santa Fe Opera, and headed back to Albuquerque, closing the door on a very satisfying day.