We woke up in our “shitty hotel” in Santa Fe. (Exact words Zak squeezed in after “I can’t wait to get out of this…” last night during a heated conversation with the manager during a very unhappy experience at the Homewood Suites. But we got the room compped and they were both polite to one another at checkout this morning.)
Our first stop was breakfast. Zak found a local favorite, Tecolote Cafe, which has been featured on Food Network. It was amazing! We don’t usually do a fun breakfast, but this was totally worth it. Ellie and I shared huevas rancheros and huevas yucatecos, both had so many layers of flavor. Each meal came with a “bakery basket” and I’m pretty sure my life changed when it arrived. Piping hot jalapeno corn muffins, fresh biscuits, blueberry muffins, an interesting nut muffin, and butter and jelly. I was in heaven. Every morsel was divine.
Our final stop in Santa Fe was the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. We hadn’t planning on being able to stop, but since we weren’t waking up in the backcountry of Bandelier, we had the time. We all found her life and works to be very interesting. She’s a true American icon.
We left Santa Fe wishing we had more time and already planning our next visit.
After a super quick hour drive to Albuquerque we stopped at Petroglyphs National Monument. This was another stop we didn’t think we’d be able to do, but it was so rewarding. There are three short hikes and we did two of them. In the 100+ degree heat. It sure was hot and kind of miserable with a moody (I mean delightful to be around) preteen, but the petroglyphs were remarkable. There are over 25,000 petroglyphs in the park and we could walk right up to so many of them. It was so much fun trying to interpret the meaning of each one. By the time we finished the first hike we were drenched in sweat and some thought they were literally going to die. The only reasonable option was to cool off by sharing burgers and shakes at the local fast food sensation, Lotaburger, and work on Junior/Senior Ranger packets. This is the first National Park where we’ve been offered the grown-up version of the program. Once we were cool enough, we did a final hike up a mesa and were surrounded by 100s of petroglyphs. It was truly astounding. We finished out time at Petroglyphs National Monument by being sworn in as Junior and Senior Rangers. (Oh!! And we saw our first snake! It slithered right in front of us!)
Our hotel is a totally passable Holiday Inn Express and after a quick swim, we headed out to dinner. Zak found this local gem, Ben Michael’s. Ben Michael built this place from the ground up. Literally. He molded and fired each brick to create the walls. He cut down each aspen tree to create the ceiling and roof. He was our host, server, cook, and dance partner. We were never presented with a menu, just told what he had cooked that day. Pork and chicken enchiladas. The girls ordered iced mint tea. He went out to his garden and picked the mint to steep. We were clearly the only out of town guests, but were literally welcomed with open arms. A live band played blues music. Fellow patrons added to the music by playing the piano. One fellow brought his own maracas. We soaked it all in and took with us a small slice of Albuquerque cuisine and culture.
