– Santa Fe, New Mexico –

We spent all of the day today in and around Santa Fe. Our morning began at 6:30am, although we did laze around in bed until nearly 7 before we finally got in gear and got dressed to go work out. Santa Fe has very nice running and biking trails. In fact, we didn’t even have to drive to one, as the trail runs into a road at the mall right behind our hotel. We didn’t make it back to the room until nearly 9.

It was a beautiful morning, cool but very sunny. The weatherman told us the wind would pick up around noon, but overall, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. It didn’t actually turn out that way. By about 10, we were in town for Mark’s breakfast burritos at Tia Sophia’s.

Mark and a metal burro
Mark and a metal burro

The restaurant had a line out the door, since it’s a small place, but we only waited about 15 or 20 minutes before they found us a table. Mark was visibly excited, and every time they called a number that wasn’t ours, his shoulders sagged and he made the most pathetically sad face I think I’ve seen. He did manage to get a selfie with a sculpture of a burro outside the restaurant, however, so he obviously wasn’t doing too badly.

Everybody but me had a burrito. I had huevos rancheros, which I think I always get when I’m there. Tia Sophia’s has amazing burritos, whether you’re a vegetarian or not. Their red and green chile sauces are both delicious (always ask for Christmas on your breakfast), and they season their food very well. Mark was practically salivating while we waited. They all cleaned their plates, and they would all recommend visiting Tia Sophia’s for breakfast when you’re in Santa Fe.

Breakfast burrito at Tia Sophia's
Breakfast burrito at Tia Sophia’s

We were done with breakfast by 11, and we strolled around Santa Fe’s downtown for about an hour, looking into shops and checking out the vendors along the square. Many of the shops in the area are art and jewelry stores, with a few clothing-type stores mixed in. Santa Fe is quite artsy, and the shops range from reasonably cheap to quite expensive. They really have options for all budgets. My mom asked about a bracelet in a jewelry store that turned out to cost $6,500, and we all wandered around a rock shop with giant stone bowls and dishes and tables and such that cost more than a small car. We didn’t buy any of that, as you might’ve guessed.

Mom tried to negotiate with a couple of the street vendors on price, and when they weren’t interested in her lower prices, she walked away. She’s very good at that sort of thing. I always get embarrassed and just refuse to ask at all. Typically we don’t buy anything, anyway. We did get a few silly souvenirs at a little gift shop, which was fun.

All of the street vendors selling their jewelry and art
All of the street vendors selling their jewelry and art

We also stopped at a local cathedral, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, which is just gorgeous. The church is right in the center of town, and it is quite old. It was built in the 1700s, according to signage inside the church. It seems like a popular tourist destination as much as a place of worship, and we saw many other people walking through taking photographs. The stained glass was particularly stunning.

When the time on our metered parking ran out, we hopped back in the car and headed up to look around in the mountains outside Santa Fe. Google maps, and Google in general, seems to work pretty poorly in this area for whatever reason, so we had some trouble finding the ski area with our phones. Instead, we ended up using street signs like ancient savages, and Mark and I mourned the failure of our lord and deity, Google. If you’re curious, Apple didn’t help either, and we tried that before we gave up on the phones entirely.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

The road up to the ski resort is narrow and winding. It snowed here on Monday, so the higher we went, the more snow we saw along the road. It was never completely covered, even at the top where the ski resort was, but I guess there was enough snow on the ground for the skiers to enjoy, because the parking lot was reasonably full. If you’re just driving to the top to look around, the ski resort isn’t a great destination. We didn’t even stop at the top, because we would’ve had to park half a mile out and walk up a hill to the ski lift just to see anything at all.

On the way back down, we stopped at several of the pull-outs along the road up the mountain to take photographs. It was much colder on top of the mountain, and the wind had really started to pick up by this point in the day. Clouds rolled in with the wind, and we were all a little surprised by how savage the change was.

Watching the clouds come in from the mountainside
Watching the clouds come in from the mountainside

We came back down towards town and decided to see if we could visit another mountain. There’s a little college on the edge of town that Mom said was close to a road up to Atayala Mountain, and we drove over that way to see if we could find the road. It turned out that the road was actually a hiking trail, and she’d made a mistake. As a result of the confusion, Google’s difficulties in the area, and my awesomely bad navigation skills, we ended up on a dirt road up the mountain that turned out to be private.

The narrow dirt road stopped directly in front of someone’s locked gate, with no room to turn around. Mark had to back the Suburban back down the road about a quarter of a mile before we could turn around. It was a nervous couple of minutes, despite the back-up camera. Without the camera, I am not sure we’d have done nearly so well. I might be writing this from a ditch on the side of a mountain.

The leftover snow at a mountain pull-out
The leftover snow at a mountain pull-out

At any rate, we made it safely back down and decided that we didn’t want to try any more random mountain roads, so we took Ripley across town to the local animal shelter’s dog park. It was around 3:30 by this point, and the clouds were spitting just a bit of rain. As we drove through Santa Fe, it started spitting snow at us, even though it was still around 51 degrees. I guess that’s what happens when you live in the mountains. My mom was thrilled, and tried to get some photos.

It didn’t last for long, and by the time we made it to the dog park, it was at least dry. Ripley had a blast zooming up and down the the fences in the huge, empty dog run at the shelter. The rest of us were freezing while we waited for her to take care of her business and run off some of her energy, but we survived. Sabre gave up and begged to get into Mom’s lap after about 2 minutes. I bet it’s quite a bit colder when you weigh 10 pounds.

A tiny Ripley charging toward the camera at the dog park
A tiny Ripley charging toward the camera at the dog park

After the dog park, we stopped briefly at Walmart, because no Phillips/Gallahan road trip is complete without a trip to our favorite store. We bought a few things before heading back to our hotel to choose where we would like to have dinner. With all of the Mexican cuisine we have had since yesterday, we decided we wanted something else for dinner. It took us a little while to pick something, but by 5:30, we were back in the car and looking for our dinner. The sky was still spitting light rain and snow, but not enough to cause any trouble in the still-warm air.

We ended up having dinner at Second Street Brewery, which didn’t work out well for Mark and me. Their menu said they had veggie burgers, but they didn’t have any at the time, so we had to pick other things. We weren’t hugely satisfied with the results, and I was a little peeved that they didn’t bother to stock things that are actually on their menu. Still, they had decent fries, and my Dad really enjoyed his fish and chips. Mom said her burger was good, too. I guess it wasn’t a total loss.

Mark's pretty plate at Second Street Brewery
Mark’s pretty plate at Second Street Brewery

Tomorrow we will be moving on to Las Vegas, New Mexico after stops at several local parks. It should be a lovely drive, and I think the weather will be a little better. I don’t know that I really trust the weatherman here anymore, though, so I guess we will just see what the day brings.

– Trip Total : 741 miles

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