Tuesday, October 3, 2017: Six Days in Santa Fe

The travel blog is again active for the approximately six days that we will be in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  This edition of the blog will be a little different from prior blog entries in that each "day of the blog" may not exactly correspond to a "calendar day".  The blog will be updated as is convenient.

After flying to Albuquerque, we take the Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe, but first we travel a short stretch of "Historic Route 66" just off I-40 and just east of Albuquerque where a section of the roadway has strips which, when the car tires travel across them, plays "America the Beautiful".  No, I'm not kidding and it actually works.  You can look it up on Snopes (true!) and ABC News.  I heard about it a couple of weeks ago from Phlash Phelps, the AM disc jockey on Sixties on Six on Sirius Radio.  This is how you do it:  Take I-40 east and take exit 170 for Historic Route 66.  In a short while, the road will cross back under I-40.  Get in the right lane and put your speed at 45 mph.  It is signed.
Our lodging for this trip is at the Inn & Spa at Loretto, next to the Loretto Chapel.
Our first evening is orientation and dinner at the Blue Corn Cafe
after Beverly cozies up to a couple of local animals.
We wind down in the hotel "living room" with wine and crab cake by the fireplace and a selfie.
Breakfast on Tuesday morning is at the very popular Cafe Pasqual, allegedly the best breakfast in town and a very-worth-it half hour wait.
We snag seats at the ten seat "community table" in the center of the restaurant and instantly have four new friends.
After breakfast we head to the railroad yard section of town and the farmer's market
which features a lot of, what else?, peppers.
Beverly makes the first vacation souvenir purchase ... a water bottle.
We do visit Pasqual's Gallery where Beverly makes a more substantial purchase of a "mica" pot from Felipe Ortega mica cookware made from mica clay.
The San Miguel Church is the oldest church in the United States.
We have some "down time" in the afternoon to plan our ensuring days.

Santa Fe is 7,189 feet elevation and I can feel it.  The sun is really intense.  More tomorrow.

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