Now onto New Mexico

One of the offices in my new region is in Albuquerque (which by the way is very hard to spell) so I ventured into New Mexico for the first time last week. Spent a few days in the office and met the staff who were fun and filled with good ideas of what to see and do in New Mexico.  The office and I went to lunch at a very authentic Mexican restaurant which had red chile sauce that made my nose run for most of the afternoon. John came with me to New Mexico as he had lived there in the 1960's when he worked for Railway Express. While I was working, he went out driving around visiting his old neighborhood and the fun shops and galleries at Old Town. For dinner we went to an amazing place called Los Poblanos which was a working farm that raises vegetables, livestock and LAVENDER! Went home with some wonderful lavender products. The dinner was a farm to table type of meal that was extraordinary. Here is a somewhat pathetic picture of the long driveway to enter the farm, if it had been lighter you could have seen how the entire driveway was canopied with trees, but hopefully this photo will give you the idea.

New Mexico is not exactly lush and green, it is quite brown and I think that remains year round. Also, you can see it is not densely populated. However, once you get up to Santa Fe, you realize that it is rich in art and culture. There were museums, galleries galore, and jewelry made by local artists. The food was also amazing (do I say that every post?)

First we visited the Georgia O Keefe gallery and were joined on our tour by Phoebe Rose...the celebrity pug. She was adorable. Georgia O Keefe led an interesting life between her time in New York City and in the desert Southwest.





















Another beautiful structure in Santa Fe is the St Francis cathedral.  It had amazing stained glass and the light was at a beautiful angle during our visit.

After our day of walking the streets of Santa Fe, we had a great dinner with our friends, the Dinsmores, at the St Francis Hotel restaurant.

 

The next day we saw the infamous Loretto Chapel with the "miraculous staircase" and continued hoofing it around the city.

 

It was an exhausting several days, but we enjoyed being with good friends, and viewing much of what New Mexico has to offer. As you can tell, it took its toll on John!!