Santa Fe My Way

Hwy 3 connects I40 to I25 and passes through Villa Nueava, a long quiet road

Tesuque Market, a great little store and restaurant

Tesuque Market for New Mexican food, delicious drinks and wonderful bakery goods

The Office of the Silver Saddle

The kids in the office in the "family environment."

More Silver Saddle helpers and the dog Simba

A quiet little restaurant across from the hot springs Ojo Calliente

The Pecos River off Hwy 3

Hold your nose and become a vegetarian, Wildorado is a stinky cattle pen outside Amarillo

Make mine a veggie burger, pee you

Full moon over the hot springs

Cotton wood trees are everywhere, just like warm snow

Georgia O'Keefe country on the way to Ojo Calliente

Ojo Calliente

More Ojo Calliente

Watch for this sign to the turn off

Fun iron work at ojo calliente

The Hot Springs flowing arsenic and iron pool

A fun little taco stand in Espanola, we have gone there for years

We wait patiently for our tacos as the two older ladies in the stand carefully cook them one by one.

The chicken taco with guacomole at the Parasol in Espanola

Chester the rabbit at the hot springs

Rest and relax at the hot springs

My communion and stress relief springs

The blue of the blue hole

Down the road from Tesuque

Typical out the car window scene around Santa Fe

Strawberry Shortcake at Cowgirls

If you want to do Santa Fe kinda cheap and real here are some of our travel tips. It is not the luxury way but we have a really good time for not as much cash.

It takes about 11 hours for us to travel from Tulsa to Santa Fe. I know all my friends get there faster but we see a lot and stop along the way. We always pack way to much and this made me a bit nervous this time with all my talk about scaling down. I also confess we are foodies and we love to go to brew pubs, bookstores and farmers markets. John is quick to find our way and always checks the local papers and finds interesting lectures and more for us to attend. And, he thinks like a GPS and can usually find our way directly to the source.

It is hard to leave Oklahoma without stopping at a MacDonalds. So what can you do to make it better? We hardly stop anymore preferring whole foods out of our cooler but let me confess what we have been know to do. In the summer we take sliced cold home grown tomatoes, sprouts and Dijon mustard and "fixed up" a coupe of mayonnaise pickle only small cheeseburgers and eat them outside in the sunny parking lot with a small glass of red wine. Maybe it was the wine that helped. Add some blue corn chips, fresh canaope and homemade cookies and you have a decent lunch.

We usually get started too late because we clean out house ridiculously before we leave to come home to a very clean house at the end of the trip.

We ride and ride and I have included may of the typical stops and sights along the way. We don't hurry and we stop at the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, a great little town to take photos in at some of the cemeteries etc. It is like a pure communion if you jump in at 61 degrees. Usually we do. You must at least watch the locals for a bit and put your feet in.

We stay at the Silver Saddle Hotel. We just paid $62 for one of the nicest rooms with a microwave and fridge. It is right next to Jackalope so you can shop as you please and visit the prairie dogs and petting zoo if you prefer. There is an outside picnic table where you can sit and drink a glass of wine and in the evening.
If we don't stay there, we stay at a KOA cabin just outside Santa Fe where we have a nice room, a porch with a swing and a picnic table and grill. Trips to town are limited but you get a totally different sense of being there in the desert.

We usually go to the Second Street Brew Pub, Cowgirls, Trader Joe's and whole foods. Recently our favorite bakery closed due to wheat prices and more. The thrift stores are great in Santa Fe. There are about 3 really good ones.

There are great book stores and of course Canyon Road for the best galleries and tea house with wireless Internet.

The trip must include a day trip to Ojo Calliente, the hot springs about an hour away.

Check in "The" magazine for events at St, Johns college or Santa Fe College. Artist are lots of times presenting interesting talks.

I am so tired tonight , I can write no more but I will elaborate on this soon and edit this entry. In the mean time enjoy the photos.
More soon.