This is our fourth “Girls’ Trip” and our third with the four of us together. It started in 2019 with Kris, Des and I heading to Atlanta so Cherie could show us around before she left Emory. We walked many miles, ate amazing food, and in general had a blast. Then there was 2020- enough said. Then in 2021 Kris, Des and I went to Nashville but Cherie was too busy to join us. Again- miles of walking, amazing food, the Ryman….a wonderful trip. In 2022, the four of us went to Austin and walked many miles, ate great food and had a lot of fun. So to celebrate this year’s Veteran’s Day we all went to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Hopefully Jenny will be able to join us once Law School is done! This year I made us matching t-shirts. And man, I am not a very crafty person at all.
We flew into Albuquerque and went to see Petroglyph National Monument and hiked around the hills. Dave and I were there last year, and Cherie and Eric the year before. So Cherie and I mostly chatted while Des and Kris went up and down the hills! It is a very weird National Monument because Albuquerque has grown up right to the edges of the monument.
We drove from Petroglyphs to Santa Fe. The hotel, The Lodge at Santa Fe, was quaint and very New Mexico themed. The rooms were good sized – Cherie and I had a ADA room I think. There were a couple areas grouped around a fireplace and we used those a lot. The first night we ventured out to La Lecharia (ice cream) at the Railyards. It was a fairly large area just outside of the plaza. Cherie and Kris tried green chili ice cream while Des and I stayed a bit more conventional. surprisingly (not) Des had chocolate! Kris and Cherie said theirs was pretty good!
On Friday we drove up to Bandalier National Park- stupidly had to pay because none of us brought our parks pass.. and each of us has one! Oh well. It was pretty cold and actually snowed on us as we hiked up to the Pueblo dwellings! It is such a remarkable park even though we were limited by the weather to the main trail. But Des, Kris and Cherie are went up the short ladders into the dwelling rooms which was pretty cool. So old and scary to think the indigenous peoples went up and down those ladders every day!
We then spent the rest of the afternoon at the plaza and seeing the Avenue of the Ancients where the tribal community displays and sells their wares. Some of the jewelry and pottery is simply amazing and there were a few general stores for souvenir shopping. We also saw the Cathedral of Saint Francis and the beautiful garden of the sorrows which has the stations of the cross in bronze. We went to the Loretta Church to see the floating staircase- it goes about 2 stories is a spiral pattern with no central support. We ate at an amazing restaurant for dinner – Cafe Pasquale. So good!
Cherie had to leave the next day to go to Atlanta for her Public Health Conference, so the three of us continued exploring the main Santa Fe areas – it was Saturday and much busier. Unfortunately a lot of places were closed- Capitol, and a few other areas. But we did find Canyon Road where there are over 100 arty museums. Because the buildings are all historical, you are limited as to what you can do to improve them. So the local artists decided to create showplaces for their art and you go from house to house to see various art projects!
Finally, we came back to Albuquerque via the Turquoise Highway, a road along the mountains to the east of Santa Fe. It is also an arty place but we were really intrigued by a roadside area in Madrid, NM! The flight home was pretty uneventful and smooth. Until next year!
