Santa Fe

Sunday was our anniversary - 9/11 - and we started off by heading downstairs to a very nice breakfast on the patio with the remaining wedding party and guests.  We decided after breakfast to head to Santa Fe, about 60 miles north of Albuquerque, to just sort of walk around and hang out.  I'd been to Santa Fe before, but always in the winter.  The drive was nice - the southwest has a sort of rugged beauty to it and as you're heading north the mountains become more prevalent.  We got to Santa Fe and parked near the downtown area.  There was some kind of festival going on with a parade and the town square was covered with booths. 

Santa Fe is really just a quaint and overpriced mall usually, but today it was even worse.  We decided to have a bite to eat and settled on The French Pastry Shop, a small little bakery near the square and a great choice.  We split a Croque Monsieur and a crepe and both were delicious.   

The French Pastry Shop

We basically did what everyone does in Santa Fe - we walked around the shops and galleries looking at all the unique art and clothes.  The most impressive (and surprising) thing about the whole trip was that we didn't buy a single thing!  That's very out of the norm for us, especially with regard to art.  Nel and I both kind of agreed that we didn't really care for Santa Fe.  I know a lot of people who love this place, but we found it dirty, commercial and overpriced, and filled with a lot of sketchy people.  We were ready to leave after a few hours but our car was trapped by the parade route.   

We thought a parade honoring our anniversary was overdoing it a bit, but appreciated.

We went into a Starbucks to kill some time and an older gentleman with a Shar Pei puppy walked in.  He sat down and some other guy said something to him and walked out.  I wasn't paying enough attention to hear him, but I noticed the guy with the dog starting to cry.  I got up and went over and asked the guy about his dog and if he was OK.  He told me the guy had said some very mean things to him because he brought his dog in to the coffee house and then stormed off.  The puppy was the guys therapy dog in training.  I spent a few minutes trying to make him feel better.  It's probably a good thing I didn't hear what the jerk said to him when it happened or I'm sure I would have gotten "involved".

Here is Santa Fe - a crowded overpriced outdoor mall.  Save yourself the trip.

When we were finally able to get our car out we headed back to Albuquerque and the hotel.  We relaxed for a while before deciding to go out for dinner.  We selected Antiquity Restaurant because our guide said it was "the most romantic restaurant in Albuquerque", and because it was only 700 yards from our hotel in Old Town.  If we didn't have directions we never would have noticed the place.  It was just a door with a sign on it on the outside of one of the many adobe compounds in Old Town.  The inside wasn't exactly "tres chic" either.  It was like eating in a basement, but the tables were very private and the food, although expensive, was outstanding.