April 13, 2010: Santa Fe and Chimayo, NM

This trip to New Mexico is my first "real" visit to NM. I had been to the state once in 2007, but it was one of the silliest token visits possible. I was with a UAlbany student who worked in the office where I used to work. I literally walked to New Mexico in that visit....via the Four Corners Monument. (The states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah all come together to form four corners. The corners are in the Navajo Reservation, so they maintain the monument.) I stood in all four states at once and got my picture taken like everybody else. But, that was not all. We had a hotel room in Flagstaff, Arizona for the night. But I insisted we take the long way and drive through New Mexico just so I could really count it as a visited state (#25). What did we do in New Mexico? We bought gas, postcards, and sandwiches at a grocery store. It night time so we didn't get to see any of the beautiful scenery typical of New Mexico. There were lightning storms, so we could briefly see rock formations when they were lighted up. That was it.

Back to 2010. The day was absolutely beautiful. The sky was a perfect blue without a cloud anywhere. Much of Santa Fe is surrounded by mountains, which provided a beautiful backdrop. The city requires all buildings to be in the adobe style, giving the city a unique atmosphere. It was interesting to see McDonalds, Walmart, etc. in this style.

Santa Fe seems to have a Mexican restaurant on every block. It was tempting, but as I am trying to lose weight --- and I really didn't have time to eat at a regular restaurant --- I passed. Mexican food is delicious, but the best food is not really healthy. Since Mexican food is much better out west then it is in the east, I would of course go for the unhealthy but delicious items if I actually went to a Mexican restaurant here. But, I just don't even want to cross that line once. I'm afraid that if I do, I'll want more in the future and that's going to mess up my diet. In previous trips, I've had far too much Mexican food.

I had limited time in Santa Fe as I had to get up to Durango, Colorado for the next hotel. That's around four hours away. Santa Fe has strong Catholic, Native American, and Mexican influences. I like all three cultures. Once you get to the downtown historic district, you really get to see impressive architecture. (The chain stores and restaurants do their best at adhering to city code, but the bottom line is that they still look like themselves, just "framed" in an adobe style.)

The downtown area is condensed into a close space. The city provides inexpensive parking (easier than worrying about meters) and then you can just walk around the downtown. It seemed quite safe and there are plenty of other people around. The photographic opportunities just for the architecture alone were great.

I visited the Cathedral Basilica of Santa Fe, which is dedicated to St. Francis of Assissi, and was built in the 19th century. They also have a large statue of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, who is from Montgomery County, NY.

After visiting the Cathedral Basilica, I visited the Lorretto Chapel. This contains a circular staircase with no visible support. Science has yet to explain it. The Chapel is no longer in use; it is now a private museum, primarily because of the staircase. I took lots of photos of the staircase, from every angle. I hope to get some photos up by this weekend.

Finally, I visited the San Miguel Mission. This is the oldest Catholic Chuch in the United States. It was originally built in 1610 (note that the Mayflower landed in 1620). This too is a museum primarily, though Latin Mass is celebrated at he Mission on Sundays.

In looking at the guest book for April 13th, it appeared that a couple from Albany, NY had been there the exact same day. I spoke with the man who ran the gift shop and took admission. He is from the Bronx and moved to Santa Fe after college. He had a long chat with the couple from Albany. He told me a bit about the area, including what the people are like, the temperatures, etc.

I visited some of the shops. There are a wide array of jewelry shops featuring turquoise, of course. There are also some shops selling pottery among other things. The environment of Santa Fe was very nice. I wish I had more time because I think one could spend days going through everything available, plus things in the surrounding area.

After Santa Fe, I headed towards a small shrine in Chimayo, NM. The scenery along the way was spectacular. I had to stop several times to take pictures of the beautiful red brown rock formations.


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Chimayo's small shrine was in the GPS as a point of interest, but the GPS got it wrong in terms of getting there. Thankfully, there were enough signs so I could do it without the "help" of the GPS. Apparently over 300,000 people visit the shrine each year. This is out in rural New Mexico, so people really have to want to get there to actually find it. I only spent a short time there as I was getting exhausted and still facing a four hour drive. But, more information is available about the shrine.


After leaving Chimayo, I began the journey up to Durango. The GPS took me through all sorts of local roads and finally onto US routes. The views were spectacular and once again, I had to stop many times to take pictures. An area I liked in particular was the Ghost Ranch area. The ranch is open to the public for information about geology and other things. But, I didn't have time to stop there.


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As I came closer to the New Mexico/Colorado line, the elevation became higher and higher. The temperature dropped to around 50, though it still did not seem that cold. There were several snow-capped mountains, but also snow on the ground on either side of the road. As I went further, I saw more and more of it. Thankfully, there was no snow at all on the roads.

After leaving New Mexico, the snow only increased. The road twisted and turned quite a bit. Cell phone service was not available or very low power throughout this area. I got to the hotel a little after 8pm and was totally exhausted.