Land of Enchantment: Ranchero Santa Fe Campground, Santa Fe, NM 6/21/08

Once again we got up about 10ish. Geez, you’d think we were on vacation or something. By the time we left the campground and worked our way out of the canyon it was close to 12:00. Our first stop was Cadillac Ranch, and yep, it’s 10 cars stuck in the dirt. You park your car on a frontage road next to the freeway and walk thru a recently plowed (and muddy field from the rains) to get a close-up view of the cars. They are all heavily covered with graffiti, and it is encouraged for people to add their own markings. It’s a work of art in progress, so to speak. We continued traveling on I-40, getting off at various towns to pick up the Historic 66 route. My favorite town was Tecumcari, TX that seemed to have the most preserved/undemolished vintage architecture. The best was a motel called Blue Swallow wherein each unit came with it’s own one-car garage. It was also billed on the neon sign as “100% Refrigerated” – classic. We also had fun looking at Route 66 souvenirs and chatkis at the Tee Pee Curio shop. We finally made it to Santa Fe at about 5:30. We found a private campground that is fairly close to downtown that is pretty good. Turns out the state park doesn’t have showers and only has pit toilets. Yeah, that ain’t gonna work! The best thing about this campground is that it has free wireless and laundry facilities. After taking advantage of both, we headed downtown to check it out. I LOVE IT! This is definitely my favorite city of the trip so far. The architecture, artistic vibe, amazing history – this place has it all. Seems like everyone was out tonight and it was fun to ride our bikes around the Old Santa Fe square checking out all the musicians playing, people eating outside and strolling through the streets.(I snapped this photo when we first came into town). After riding our bikes for about 4 miles, we decided to stroll through all the courtyards and find a fun place to sit outside and have dinner. This place is really magical and I completely understand why New Mexico is called the Land of Enchantment. Ned thinks I’m just gaga over the place because there are no mosquitoes, no humidity, and it’s the summer solstice. (Yes, there was also some drinking involved). I’m liking it so much that I’m hoping to spend an extra day here. I really enjoyed seeing the Oldest Church in the US, and tomorrow we’d like to check-out the History Museum and some other churches. So, if you hear from me manana we stayed in town. If not, we’re headed to Chaco Canyon National Monument where there is no water, no electricity and obviously no internet. We’re playing on spending sometime exploring the Anasazi Culture. I’ll keep blogging and post when we reach civilization. In the meantime, Happy Summer everyone!