Santa Fe

It's “Dad Blog Writing Time” again.

Yesterday, we diverted from the historic Route 66 in favour for a more scenic road: From Tucumcari we took NM-104 north-west towards Las Vegas, NM which led us through the impressive scenery of the high mesa. We climbed up to about 7000 ft! The plateau had fantastic views to offer, and the road was nice and curvy, a dream for every motorcyclist!

The weather couldn't decide if it wanted to rain or stay dry, so we donned our rain gear several times only to take it off again a few miles later. Fortunately the temperatures remained in the mid-60s and so  we stayed cool even with the rain gear on. A welcome change from the 100+ degree weather from the days before!

We had lunch in Las Vegas and then briefly stopped by the Montezuma Castle which is now used by United World College before riding to Santa Fe. Who would have thought there would be a castle in New Mexico?

The historic Santa Fe Trail which we had followed from Las Vega leads through Santa Fe's town center with its historical Plaza.

It was a great experience to ride through those roads with the beautiful adobe houses before reaching our motel (this time a very mundane Motel 6) just 1 mi from historic Plaza.

A nice evening stroll over the Plaza gave as a first impression of this beautiful town. We spend some time in the New Mexico History Museum where we learned a lot about the Spanish colonization of what was later to become “New Mexico”, the American annexation, the Civil War and modern history.

At dinner Ruth had a special experience: We wanted to order 3 beers and of course Ruth got “carded”. Although she had reached “legal drinking age” earlier this year, they would not sell her beer because she still has the junior-style “vertical” drivers license because New Mexico law stipulates that you can buy and drink alcohol only with an “adult” license. Go figure! If she had brought her passport it wouldn't have been a problem....

We started today with going to a laundry and washing our clothes. While the washing machine did its job we had breakfast.

Then we walked into town again (only 1 mile) and for the rest of the day canvassed uncounted art galleries and traditional jewelery stores. Initially the weather was rainy with some serious downpours. Hence being in the galleries had the advantage of staying dry! Later it cleared up so that we spent more time outside also visiting the local Art Festival which took place this weekend on the Plaza.

At the Basilica of St. Frances we witnessed the end of a wedding, and later in the afternoon we attended mass there.

We returned to our hotel relatively early because tomorrow will be another long day with about 300 mi to ride.