Santa Fe, oh Santa Fe

Last Friday morning, we woke up. We knew we were on vacation. We knew this was coming. We had talked about it for months. I asked you guys about Europe as we truly planned to go there. But then time got the best of us and Europe was scrapped. And another plan was never placed on the table. We discussed. I checked out books. And researched online. And we talked some more. And again, time got the best of us. So Friday morning comes, we know we are obligated to leave town, because we are NOT spending our 10 day vacation in this place we barely call home. Because then it would be a 10 day cry festival. And no one wants that.

I cooked a lavish breakfast that morning, because the practical girl I am, we needed to empty out the fridge. And we dined and discussed. And probably watched a bit of the History channel. While I played online. And then I packed some stuff. And decided that I better come up with a plan. Because if one of us did not just lay out the plan for the next 24 hours, we would end up staying home another day. So I picked Santa Fe. It wasn’t too far, the next stop could be either North or West without too much difficulty and well, I have always wanted to see Santa Fe.

We left our place around 1 PM and then we leisurely went to Wal-Mart. Ya’ll we have lived in the South long enough to know you don’t embark on a long journey without at least looking around Wal-Mart to ensure that you have everything you need. And apparently we needed XM. I drove to the next town over while Dear looked over the directions and readied the installation of said XM. We then stopped there for a half hour or so and got that all hooked up.

We then drove to Roswell. And stopped at Wal-Mart. I was starting to wonder about this whole vacation thing. Is it just going to be a tour of the Wal-Marts within driving distance of our home? I already mentioned the Roswell fascination with aliens. The whole town is covered in the little green things. And freaking Wal-Mart has a whole souvenir section filled with ‘em.




And then we continued on our trip. XM rocks. After we were situated with XM, we did not stop again until Santa Fe.

I still don’t know if I had the worst lactose issue ever or if I had some guac gone bad, but I was in a bad way from Thursday night until at least the Grand Canyon. With the threat of turning back home, I did my best to hide my misery. At night, it got worse. By the time we hit Santa Fe Friday night, I was pretty miserable. The roads in Santa Fe suck. Suck big donkey … toes. If you have been to San Antonio….very similar. We call around and find a decent hotel price. At least better than the $160 Days Inn look-alike. And we head there. Or at least we think we do. I talked to the front desk three times trying to find our way there. And I end up in tears. I was in pain, lost and very pissy.

After driving around for an hour, we end up scrapping that hotel. And finding a no-tell motel for $30 cheaper, much closer to the downtown area. And they didn’t make me cry. I crawled into bed right away….not getting to experience the Santa Fe nightlife.

The next morning we wake up and head to the beautiful downtown Santa Fe area. The city is gorgeous! Very Austin-ish. Except brown. Most buildings are brown or terra cotta, or adobe, whatever. I swear it must be a city ordinance. Adobe everywhere.






The downtown area is full of cute little shops, art stores and restaurants. They also have a town center park area where a festival was going on. Lots and lots of cool over-priced knick knacks. We ate at a gorgeous restaurant. Unfortunately, I was still not feeling well so we did not truly “Do” Santa Fe. I love the feel of the town, the look. It is a gorgeous city that I would love to see more of.





I sure wish I had more to tell about Santa Fe, but we needed to get on the road so we could get further away from home. I had already been threatened with turning around if I didn’t feel better. So I needed to put some miles behind us so even if I didn’t feel better, it wouldn’t make sense to go home!





Damn guac gone bad.