American West Bus Tour Day 3/20 - Santa Fe, New Mexico
Today was the first full day of the tour. After breakfast, the group gathered with Tour Director, Geoff, in the hotel lobby for our first full briefing as a group. We got a general plan for the day, met our local guide for the day, Jerry, and headed to our waiting bus and bus driver, Robin.
We headed out from the Doubletree toward downtown Santa Fe, the oldest state capital in the United States. It is also the highest state capital at 7,100 feet above sea level.
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| We passed the Santa Fe National Cemetery |
Our first stop was at Cross of the Martyrs Park.
From the park, you can see the back of the Cross of the Martyrs, commemorating the deaths of 21 Catholic clergy during the Pueblo Revolt.
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| L. Bradford Prince Memorial |
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| Pinyon or piñon pine - they produce pine nuts |
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| Prickly pear cactus |
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| New Mexico State Capitol |
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| Former New Mexico State Capitol building |
We boarded the bus and headed to the plaza area downtown. Our first stop was Loretto Chapel, the source of one of the Roman Catholic Church's greatest mysteries.
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| A model of the staircase |
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| The actual staircase - the railings were added later |
Legend says that to find a solution to the seating problem, the Sisters of the Chapel made a novena to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. On the ninth and final day of prayer, a man appeared at the Chapel with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work. Months later, the elegant circular staircase was completed, and the carpenter disappeared without pay or thanks. After searching for the man (an ad even ran in the local newspaper) and finding no trace of him, some concluded that he was St. Joseph himself, having come in answer to the sisters' prayers.
The stairway's carpenter, whoever he was, built a magnificent structure. The design was innovative for the time and some of the design considerations still perplex experts today.
The staircase has two 360-degree turns and no visible means of support. It is said that the staircase was built without nails—only wooden pegs. Questions also surround the number of stair risers relative to the height of the choir loft and about the types of wood and other materials used in the stairway's construction.
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| On the way to our next stop, we passed the San Miguel Chapel, originally built in 1610 and often referred to as the oldest church building in the continental United States |
Our next stop was outside the New Mexico State Capitol. At the entrance, we viewed a sculpture called Gate/Negate by artist Bob Haozous.
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| The names on all four sides of the base are names of extinct native tribes- the razorwire at the top represents isolationism |
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| The racially stereotyped profiles in the negative space represent America's melting pot |
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| Morning Prayer sculpture outside the entrance |
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| The State Seal |
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| Dan Namingha's 1999 sculpture, Passage |
Art can be found all over Santa Fe.
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| A classic Southwest icon |
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| Well, art and chilis |
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| Our local guide, Jerry (in the print shirt), described some of the interesting places in town (photo courtesy of tour director Geoff in the EF Go Ahead mobile app) |
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| Art is certainly subjective |
We entered one art market where we were shown this plaque.
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| The art market, Rainbow Man, stands on the site of the intake office for the Los Alamos Labs - every single person affiliated with the Manhattan Project walked through here |
It was time for lunch so we headed to Tomasita's.
There was a small scheduling snafu on the restaurant's part but we were eventually all seated and enjoyed a good southwest meal. There is some potential that we also tried their famous reposado frozen house margarita.
Fully stuffed and slightly liquored up, our options were to either head back to the hotel at 2:15 or spend time on our own in town and catch the bus at 4:15 or 5:45 back to the hotel. We opted to stay in town.
We made a stop at The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
Notice anything odd? Anything missing?
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| Funds ran out during construction so the planned twin spires were never built |
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| Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680), a Mohawk and Algonquin and the first North American Indian to be canonized by the Catholic Church |
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The statue of Mary in this side altar is said to be the oldest continuously venerated Virgin Mary likeness in the United States
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Yesterday, we spotted a hummingbird. Today - a hummingbird moth outside the church.
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| Look at the schnoz on that thing! |
We continued our tour of the town, browsing jewelry stores and art shops. After a couple of hours of meandering, we met the 4:15 bus and headed back to the Doubletree.
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| Our tour director, Geoff, posing outside the historic La Fonda Hotel |
As Geoff predicted, after the big lunch, we weren't in any mode for dinner so we just chilled in the room for the evening, watching TV and working on this missive.
Tomorrow's plan is to depart at 8:00 for Durango, Colorado, about a four-hour drive. We will spend a few hours in Durango before heading to Mesa Verde National Park where we will spend the night and the following morning. We will spend the night at the Far View Lodge atop Mesa Verde at 8,200 feet. Yay for more heavy breathing!
IMPORTANT PROGRAMMING NOTE
Tomorrow night, there is a strong possibility that we will have limited or no internet or cell service. If that is true, there will be no blog post tomorrow (Sunday). As soon as practical on Monday, I will get the post uploaded. There's nothing I can do about it so we'll see what happens tomorrow evening. Worst case, you'll have more to read on Monday. :-)
What I like about this trip, is that I get to see things again. That is a change as most of your posts have everything that I have never seen. Finally I have been somewhere that you are seeing for the first time!
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