There's a plaque on the outside of our time share, Otra Vez en Santa Fe, commemorating the three-month stay of Billy the Kid during the winter of 1980-81. At that time, the structure was a miserable windowless one-room adobe building serving as the Santa Fe, NM, county jail. Today, however, Otra Vez offers lovely vacation-stay units in the heart of Old Santa Fe.
We started our vacation at 3:30 a.m., waking up very early to catch a 7 a.m. flight to Albuquerque, NM. The San Diego airport is about an hour away and we have ranch chores, thus the early rise time. Also, I always like to start early so I have time to remember everything I forgot the night before. As it turned out, I forgot my Kindle (yikes!) as well as my wrist-zapper that keeps me from getting motion sickness. Not a very good start.
After negotiating the airport gauntlet, we had an easy 1-1/2-hour flight to Albuquerque. We left cold, rainy weather in San Diego to arrive in a warm, sunny climate. Why did I pack all those sweaters?
We had a spicy Mexican breakfast at Little Anita's Mexican Restaurant in Old Town Albuquerque then took a leisurely walk around the town square.
Our first stop was across the street to visit the Candy Lady, ostensibly to pick up a walking map of Old Town. However, once there, Dennis engaged the owner in a discussion of "hot" chocolates, chocolate candy with hot seasoning. He tasted a couple and bought several. I picked out one peanut butter chocolate and 8 red vines. We haven't eaten any yet. We did do some shopping as we strolled around the square. You can hardly not buy anything since the square is surrounded with boutique shops featuring jewelry, clothing, and food.
We ran across two shops where I had purchased beads online: Sun Country Beads and New Mexico Bead and Fetish. Dennis was very patient.
Then we took some photos of the cathedral, park and the many bronze statues associated with the museums in the area.
Exhausted from marathon shopping and sightseeing, we took off in our rented Liberty Jeep and headed north to Santa Fe. On the way, we passed a sign for the Sandia Peak Tram, touted as the longest tram in the world. We saw the little white dots (trams) going up and down the mountain. Dennis declared he'd "always wanted to ride that tram." I said, "Huh?" No way. "But look at the view," he said. I looked and saw an expanse of brown nothing. No thanks, I'm not risking my life for that. We just got off an airplane that was way, way up there. I'm done. Well, maybe we'll go back later in the week and take the tram at night, have dinner at the fine restaurant on top (at 10,000 feet) and at least see a view of twinkling lights. Sigh.
Onward another half-hour to Santa Fe, where we checked into our time-share condo. Turned out it was a 2-bedroom rather than the 1-bedroom we expected. We're on the corner and there's a bookstore below us! Yea. We are surrounded by shops and restaurants all within walking distance. This will be a fun week. We are happy with our accommodations, compact but nicely appointed in the southwest style.
We unloaded the car and unpacked our stuff, then took advantage of the good weather and sunlight to walk about 1 mile to Whole Foods to pick up some odds and ends. My feet were sqawking after the 2 mile walk, but in about a half-hour, Dennis suggested we walk about the area and have a light dinner. So off again. We had dinner a couple of blocks away in the tiny Burro Alley bakery/cafe. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food there. We split a 3-cheese salad and had French onion soup, both of which were delicious. They kicked us out at closing time (8 o'clock), but were very nice about it. Down the street we found a performing arts theatre. It was closed, but we looked at the posters and found we had just missed Arlo Guthrie. Oh, well.
At last we arrived back "home" and were able to kick off our shoes and relax with a movie Dennis had recorded on his iPhone. We watched The Fighter, which was a pretty good flick. Actually, I watched it while Dennis took a nap on the sofa. Just like home. After the movie, to bed. Finally.
