Petroglyphs, Mole & Mariachi

So here it is our last night in Albuquerque. Tomorrow morning we will head on up the road to Jemez Springs where we have a rustic little hideaway awaiting us for the night. From there it is on to Abiquiu.

We spent quite a nice day doing all the trails at the Petroglyph National Monument. Some we'd done before, but the whole petroglyph thing is something we enjoy. I took far too many pictures, so feel free to zip on through them. I promise not to be insulted.

Today we drove up to Santa Fe using the Torquoise Trail, which is a scenic byway. Along the way we stopped in Cerillos, which is a remarkably sleepy little town that seems to have lost track of time. The centuries old adobe buildings and the dusty streets made the perfect background for films such as Young Guns and Lonesome Dove. Where else would you find a functioning town with hitching posts outside all the establishments? Again, I got a little trigger happy with the camera. :)

Frankly, Santa Fe is far too bustling a city for me. The traffic heading into town on Cerillos Rd. is awful. Once you get to the center of town, however, things do calm down a little bit, and it really is beautiful to behold. We were hungry, so we headed straight for a restaurant we remembered Rachael Ray recommending a few years back. She pointed us to an incredible restaurant in Tucson, so we decided to try the Rooftop Cantina atop the Coyote Cafe. The quality of the food is the same as the pricey, chi chi restaurant on the ground floor, but it is basically an open air bar, and the prices are far more reasonable. We both enjoyed a Santa Fe pale ale before marveling over the chicken tacos with mole sauce. It was accompanied by arroz verde (green rice - yum!), pico de gallo, and the most wonderful beans. Wow! It was terrific.

Afterwards, we headed to the O'Keeffe museum where I was happily surprised to find the special exhibit for the summer was Ansel Adams. Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keeffe! It is difficult for me to describe the feelings when confronted with the original works of both these artists. I smiled my way through most of the rooms.

We walked down to the plaza and enjoyed eyeballing the Navajo crafts artfully arranged on blankets, and then headed to the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. It was a beautiful church, but I can't help but get a little queasy whenever confronted with colonial Spanish art. It is rather a bloody affair.

The Loretto Chapel, with its spiral staircase that seems literally suspended in mid-air was great. The carpenter remains unknown (or so the tale goes). He arrived one day and offered to build this incredible piece, asking no compensation. He disappeared as he arrived, and the staircase still stands. It is truly a work of art.

We will be returning to Santa Fe again. There is still much to be seen in the city.

When we got back to our hotel, we discovered there had been an invasion of children. It seems Albuquerque is hosting a Junior Mariachi competition. The management was wise enough to put them all on the other side of the hotel, but the pool was overflowing with children. The older kids did serenade the guests with mariachi music at dinner time. Lord help us at breakfast. I can only hope they sleep late. The last group (I think the last one was softball) emptied the milk and filled most of the tables. Oy.