Santa Fe

Warning: This is a long one!!!! And it's only part one of Santa Fe!!!

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from Santa Fe or New Mexico. It turns out, it is a BEAUTIFUL state. Why does no one ever talk about vacationing in New Mexico? Or maybe they do and I just don't hear about it! Here is what we were up to the first part of our New Mexico trip...

Our adventure started bright and early. We left Manitou Springs at 6am and headed south. The plan was to drive into New Mexico, stop at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, and then take the High Road Scenic Highway from Taos to Santa Fe.

I was sort of dreading the drive to the bridge because it was going to be about three and a half hours. But the entire drive was GORGEOUS! As we left Manitou, Pikes Peak was in our rear view mirror and we followed the mountains all the way into New Mexico. 

The closer we got to the border, the more the landscape began to change. There were many ranches and many animals we saw crossing the roads. At one point, we even saw horses just chilling on the road. We had to slow down and get out of their way to pass them!

The drive to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge flew by. When we got to the bridge, I was too afraid to drive over it. I am including a picture of the bridge that I did not take- just to give you an idea of how high up it is!

I don't know why it scared me so much... I drove over the Bixby Bridge on Route 1, The Golden Gate Bridge, and a ton of other scary bridges on the way to the beach. But there was no way I was driving or walking over that thing. So we took pictures along the side.

Paul decided he was going to walk out to the middle and look down. I told him he was crazy about 1,000 times (even though there were plenty of other people walking across the bridge, though I suspect they weren't prone to seizures), but he went anyway. Here's a picture he took from the bridge of the river below.

And here is a picture I took of him from the safety of the side of the bridge! (I zoomed in a lot.)

 After our bridge adventure, we hopped on the scenic High Road and made the trip to Santa Fe. Again, I can't even put into words the beauty, so I will just provide pictures...

(There was NOT a steep drop off behind me!)

We stopped for a picnic lunch. It was probably the prettiest picnic I ever had!

There were a lot of historical landmarks along the way, like this church in Las Trampas.

We also stopped at the Nambe Trading post, which was owned by the women who designed the authentic Native American costumes for Dances with Wolves. She's friends with Kevin Costner. No big deal.

When we got to our hotel, we realized it was more of a series of suites than a hotel. Our unit had a living/dining/kitchen area with a fireplace, 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, and 3 huge flat screen TVs! We had a king bed and I immediately went around the unit and found all the extra pillows and put them on our bed. I like a lot of pillows. I determined the unit was bigger than our house, minus the basement area we have.

Paul was so excited about the huge place, which made me really happy. I was having a great time, but I was also starting to get really homesick and I missed the cats a lot. I tried to suck it up. (Update: I later found out that they upgraded us for free! When their fancy units are not full, they upgrade you! Fort Marcy Inn & Suites is where you want to stay if you go to Santa Fe!)

Our hotel was at an excellent location- less than a mile walk from downtown. It was pretty busy down there, but we were able to walk around and take in some of the sites. The architecture is so different than what I am used to in PA, so everything was fascinating to look at.

Later that night, we had dinner and drinks at the Bell Tower Bar on the rooftop of the famous La Fonda hotel. 

I was really starting to get homesick and missed the cats.... and the experience at the restaurant did not help. This is what happened...

1. Our server acted like we were bothering him when ordering food and drinks. 

2. The margarita I ordered was disgusting. Instead of lime juice it had JALAPENO JUICE and a jalapeno on the side. I tried to like it. I tried really hard. But it was just horrible. $12 wasted.

3. A really nosy lady sat down beside us and when I got the aforementioned margarita, I said to Paul, "Ooh there is a pepper in it." The lady beside us said (in a really condescending manner), "Oh my, well if you don't like peppers you are in the wrong state!" I don't know why, but her comment made me want to cry. It was a combo of her comment, the mean waiter, and being homesick.

So dinner at La Fonda was not the magical experience I thought it would be, but not everything on vacation can be perfect. But the view was still good and obviously I was with my favorite person in the world, so I can't complain too much!

This got really long... I will have to talk about the rest of our time in Santa Fe in another post!

What is the most scenic drive you have ever taken?

Would you be afraid to walk or drive across that bridge?

Did you ever arrive at a hotel and realize it was much bigger/smaller than you expected?

Have you ever been to Santa Fe?