From Alabama to Arizona: Today in Santa Fe

Everywhere we look there are flat-roof, sand-colored, adobe houses, schools, and businesses. The city is surrounded by the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo (blood of Christ) Mountains. In so many ways, Santa Fe reminds Steve and me of Quito. Spanish conversations and bilingual people are common. Sadly, there are also many homeless people wandering the streets looking for food, a bathroom, and a place to survive the night. There is a cold wind blowing tonight. I don't count my blessings nearly enough.

Parking is a huge challenge here. As a young man explained to us, Santa Fe is fiercely proud of its history and is determined to protect it at any cost. However, the city also wants tourists. They are going to have to figure out a way to have both.

We arrived from Albuquerque about noon and headed to a very popular restaurant called La Choza (it means small, hut-like building), which is appropriate since La Choza has a sister restaurant in town called The Shed. You won't see any food photos, because we both ordered salads. :) The menu looked very good, so we might try it again before we leave on Saturday.

Santa Fe is known for art districts. We TRIED to visit Santa Fe Plaza but had no luck finding a place to park. We walked from our hotel to the Railroad District, then later we drove to Canyon Road where there are at least 100 galleries and restaurants. Just FYI, there is a small paid parking lot on the Canyon Road. Just keep going, and you'll find it. The art in those galleries is beautiful, but be warned. It's EXPENSIVE!

Our hotel for tonight and tomorrow night is Hotel Santa Fe, which is the only Native American-owned one in the downtown area. The Pueblo influence is everywhere. It's beautiful. A particularly valuable amenity is a shuttle that the hotel provides to the attractions within a mile radius. This is great considering the parking situation I've described.

For dinner, we made our way to Cowgirl BBQ and shared the combo platter pictured below.

It was good, but it didn't hold a candle to Big Bob's or Southern Hickory in Hartselle.

Tomorrow our plan is to explore the natural beauty of Santa Fe.

Without a doubt, however, today's biggest and best news was the arrival of our 2nd great grandson. We got a text from our daughter Julie (the grandmother of this baby) while we were eating breakfast. Woohoo! What a way to start off the month of May!! Baby Andrew Charles Freeborn (to be called "Andy") arrived at 8:23 a.m. and weighs 8 lbs. 1 oz. His big brother Teddy will be two in August. These little boys will have a mighty busy Momma. :)

Dear God, thank you so much for the healthy arrival of this beautiful baby.

#travel #food #SantaFeNM