A Tourist Saturday in Santa Fe

The drive from Albuquerque to Santa Fe takes a little over an hour.  We did that on Saturday because we wanted to go and see the City Different one more time before we head east and into Texas.  We picked a good day.  It was warm and sunny.

On our way down Cerrillos Road into town, I noticed how different things are each time we visit.  Way back when (1960's), there were no Walmarts.  The Yucca and Pueblo Drive-Ins are long gone.  Henry's Hamburgers isn't there.  The Holiday Inn is now a Day's Inn.  The A&W Rootbeer stand is gone.  Ashbaugh Park, where we played league baseball, seemed so much bigger.  The Indian School and NM School for the Deaf have had major facelifts and campus building programs.  VIP's Restaurant is gone and replaced by a new McDonalds.

But there were some familiar landmarks like the Silver Saddle Motel and Lamplighter Inn.  The White Swan Laundry building is still there.  And Oddfellows Hall looks much the same as it did long ago and still well maintained.

We saw that there was a lot of people and booths up over near the Railyards area at Paseo De Peralta and Guadalupe St.  This has been an area of town that just had a series of old warehouses and empty buildings.  Not now.  It is busier that ever.  With the terminus of the Railrunner there, lots of businesses and shops and restaurants are nearby.

We found a parking place and wandered around for a while.

The produce market was quite active.

But there were all kinds of things going on from colorful chair shops to bunnies-on-a-leash to a May pole.

One addition to Santa Fe are the buskers/street performers.  We saw a group that had some music going and was doing all kinds of hand stands and head stands.

One of the performer's 3 year old took his turn.

We also walked over to the Artist Market.

Next we drove down to the Plaza.  It took a while to get a parking place because they had streets closed off.  Turned out that it was "Community Day" on the Plaza and they had a non-stop variety of bands playing.  It was actually quite entertaining.

Reid and Amy were in town also and they joined us for lunch.  We found a pizza place on the portico of what used to be Woolworth's, on the south side of the Plaza.

We took a table outside and enjoyed some good food and did some people watching.

Down we could see a wedding was just finishing up with the bride and groom

After lunch we wandered around for a while and looked visited some booths.  And we wandered down some side streets.  We went by the Lorreto Chapel, through La Fonda Hotel and over to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

We finished up by going over to Sena Plaza and then down to the Palace of the Governors

The crowds were there but nothing compared to the big events:  Santa Fe Indian Market or the Santa Fe Fiesta.  Those draw 150,000 (or more) people each year.  For a city of 60,000 that means it is a crowded on the Plaza and not something we'd jump into.

It was another fun day in Santa Fe.  We could have spent days there and seen a lot more like previous visits.  I'm sure we'll be back.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...