Sit up straight, don't fidget!

Since we were pretty much done with the house business we decided to take a day trip up to Santa Fe. It only takes an hour to get there on the interstate. On the way up we saw the Rail Runner commuter train running in the highway median. That looks like it will be a good way to go once I get moved.

Once you in Santa Fe it is a little confusing. The place was laid out in 1610 and they didn't believe in the grid system and probably never thought it would be as big as it is. After a few wrong turns we finally made it down to the plaza and found a place to park near the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The church is covered with plastic because they are doing some sort of renovation work. It is not like the other Spanish-style churches....this is in a Gothic Victorian style because when it was built they were trying to step away from the Spanish-ness of everything....so now it usually sticks out like a sore thumb but only more so being covered in plastic wrap.



We went into the Palace of the Governors and looked around. It is the building with the Indians selling their crafts under the portal. The palace has existed from the earliest times but has been reconfigured and renovated a bazillion times. It has been restored to the Spanish colonial look now but it even went through a period when they were trying to be less Spanish. One interesting thing they have is a couple of old paintings - mural size - drawn on animal hides. These depict Spanish colonial military expeditions and battles with the Indians...one in what became western Nebraska. The paintings ended up in Switzerland in 1728 and the state brought them back a few years ago.


The restaurant T-shirt of the day: We had lunch at the Plaza Cafe in Santa Fe. This is a long established restaurant that probably catered to the first tourist that showed up in town and has been at it ever since. The welcoming sign at the door says "Get In Here!" Once you are in you begin to wonder if there is a fire marshall in Santa Fe because the place is so crowded that it would be hard to get everyone out in one piece if they had to in a hurry. Paul thinks that the fire marshall owns the place and that's how they get away with it. Some of the waiters have T-shirts with a postcard type picture of the place on the back. The front says: "Sit up straight; Don't talk back; Chew your food; Elbows off the table; Don't fidget; Be nice; Say thank you". They must have known our mother but when Paul asked, the guy said she had never been in there. The food was good. I had huevos rancheros and Paul had a burrito and both were good. The green chile was milder than the red. They offer Greek food but Paul was a little wary of trying it.


We paraded around the plaza and then headed back to the car and tried to get out of town. Our plan was to find highway 14 and follow the "Turquoise Trail" back to Albuquerque. Getting out of Santa Fe is almost as hard as getting in.


The Turquoise Trail runs south from Santa Fe but goes on the east side of the mountains through some little towns. Paul had a good time driving because it is a two-lane blacktop mountain and desert road with not a whole lot of traffic. We stopped in Madrid, an old ghost town that found new life as the Woodstock generation began to move in and open up coffee shops and craft and art galleries. We wandered through a couple shops and got some coffee at Java Junction. The whole place is laid back but it seems to be growing and losing some of its ghost town charm. People still live in boxcar houses but it looks like it is having some growing pains.


We got back into Albuquerque by late afternoon and relaxed a little at the motel. We decided to try going to a brewpub for supper so we ended up going to Kelly's brewpub back on Central Ave. We don't actually always gravitate toward Central Avenue, it is just fairly convenient and it doesn't close early. Albuquerque seems to go to bed at about 9 PM.


Kelly's is in an old car dealership building....they have lots of room for indoor seating and they have a large outdoor area. We ordered two of their beers and were carded. We haven't been carded in a long time but here it seems to be happening more often. Either we look so young or some of the young people here look pretty old and wrinkled. Kelly's offers 19 of their beers on tap, which is pretty ambitious. They also have a 'brew on premises' operation where people can come in and brew their own beer but the smallest amount is 15 gallons which costs about $105. The food was good -- we had 1/2 pound hamburgers. They managed to sneak some sweet potato fries into the french fries. Sweet potato fries are a little too sweet for my taste.

After Kelley's we went back to the motel and relaxed.


We leave you tonight with the image of Marshall Gene from Madrid reminding you to slow down.