Santa Fe, New Mexico

We were in Santa Fe, NM yesterday. The drive from DFW was 9 hours, but only because 13 miles outside of Cline's Corner (turn off for Santa Fe), three 18-wheelers got in a fight and none of them won.....one being a Fed Ex truck with packages strewn from here to Hogsnart!  After an hour of sitting in the middle of BF Nowhere.....we finally made it. 

What did we do before we could sit and play online on our phones while hubby was driving??? I quizzed Shrek with miscellaneous trivia, gave him stats and tid bits about Santa Fe, we found gas stations, places to eat on the historic Route 66, and even found our B&B for our night's stay.

Here is the first installment of our adventure!

We hit the historic Route 66 when we got to Abilene....and we were hungry.....so we stopped at the Big Texan. A famous steak ranch, created 50 years ago.   

The towering sign of a long-legged cowboy that owner/creator Bob erected next to the building became a major landmark on Route 66. From the beginning, the Big Texan welcomed weary travelers and migrating families whose roots spread all across America.

Beginning in the mid-1960s signs began cropping up along the Mother Road inviting travelers to come in for a 72-oz. steak dinner that was FREE if it could be eaten in one hour.  To date, 58,000 have tried, but only 8,000 have succeeded. One company has long-since disappeared with the dust of the old road, but the other still flourishes. Big Texan Steak Ranch billboards can still be seen to the east and west of Amarillo along Interstate 40 and on major north-south routes that run through the Panhandle. We opted for a much smaller version than the 72 ouncer.....and it was delicious!.....and back on the road we went. 

Whenever we travel, we laugh at the gas stations names. We're used to 7-11 or an occasional Stop N Go, but small towns always seem to have funny names. When we were in the Black Hills near Mount Rushmore we saw "Loaf N Jugs"....Here was yesterday's funny stop:

We made it to Santa Fe....ready to stretch our legs and get some rest.  That handy dandy internet on our phone found us Pueblo Bonito B&B.  I called while driving and a lovely gal said they had a vacancy. While the high season rate was $130, we got a great deal of $65 so I booked it.  http://www.pueblobonitoinn.com/  We pulled into Santa Fe, our eyes weary. We stepped out of the truck, the smell of pinon in the air -- a Santa Fe trademark. Our innkeeper walked us to our room and told us about the place. The B&B, once a home, was build over 250 years ago. Our room, The Santa Domingo, had maple floors, and a kiva fireplace.

The Kiva fireplace comes from the American southwestern desert region. The name, itself, is actually derived  from  the  traditional underground meeting places  used  for religious rituals and spiritual ceremonies  by  the  Pueblo  Indians  of the southwest. Pueblo architecture provided the inspiration for this unique style of fireplace. Historically,  the  Kiva fireplace  was constructed  of  adobe in the corner of a room.  An inverted cone or bee-hive  shape  was  the norm,  with  a distinctive  arched  firebox  opening. 

Our basket of wood was waiting - as was the big, fluffy bed.  Here's the view from our bed.  That Kiva kicked out so much heat - we slept with no covers all night - the room was so toasty, despite it being in the teens just outside the door. If you ever get a chance to stay at a B&B do it!  The service is always so much better and it makes you feel like you are home....if your home was built 250 years ago and it had a kiva fireplace.....

Our view from our bed:

Our little room even had a nichos.....do you know what a nichos is? A nichos is the little pocket in a wall where religious folks put their saints.....If my house had a nichos I would have St. Anthony - patron saint of lost articles. Lord knows, anytime I misplace something, I pray to St. Anthony, "Dear St. Anthony full of grace, take me to it's hiding place" and 99.9% of the time, he helps me. Thematically, traditional nichos are part or extensions of household altars, and depict patron saints, ancestors, or an ex-voto. They can act as shrines, protection, or devotional objects, and may be part of active religious practice. The most common central figure is the Virgin Mary, and in Central America especially the Virgin of Guadalupe. Contemporary nichos have expanded into more non-traditional subject matter, including the secular or the humorous, but continue to represent themes and figures in popular Latin American culture.

For breakfast we hit Pasqual's.  Now, the B&B did offer a breakfast (coffee, teas, pastries, bagels, etc.) but if in Santa Fe, you cannot miss Pasqual's - it's worth the price and the wait!
http://pasquals.com/  Hubby had "Pasqual's favorite and I had the Chili Relleno Con Heuvos.....mmmmmm!

We strolled the streets (very quiet on a Sunday morning other than church bells) and checked out a few shops and also stopped at Loretto Chapel http://www.lorettochapel.com/history.html before hitting the road to Pagosa Springs. 

Loretta Chapel is home to the miraculous staircase. Legend says that to find a solution to the seating problem, the Sisters of the Chapel made a novena to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. On the ninth and final day of prayer, a man appeared at the Chapel with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work. Months later, the elegant circular staircase was completed, and the carpenter disappeared without pay or thanks. After searching for the man (an ad even ran in the local newspaper) and finding no trace of him, some concluded that he was St. Joseph himself, having come in answer to the sisters' prayers.

The stairway's carpenter, whoever he was, built a magnificent structure. The design was innovative for the time and some of the design considerations still perplex experts today.

The staircase has two 360 degree turns and no visible means of support. Also, it is said that the staircase was built without nails—only wooden pegs. Questions also surround the number of stair risers relative to the height of the choir loft and about the types of wood and other materials used in the stairway's construction.

Over the years many have flocked to the Loretto Chapel to see the Miraculous Staircase. The staircase has been the subject of many articles, TV specials, and movies including "Unsolved Mysteries" and the television movie titled "The Staircase."



Now on to Pagaso Springs!