Santa Fe, New Mexico

We left Colorado and headed to Santa Fe, New Mexico on our journey back to Yuma. When we traveled with our RV, we always stayed in a campground in Albuquerque. We were so close to Santa Fe, but never visited. So, this time, we decided to spend a day there. 

By the way, we decided to leave the fifth wheel in Wisconsin from now on. So, no more towing for Kevin.

I did not find many tour options in Santa Fe. There is one company that does trolley tours, so we made sure to be there early to get a seat as they don't take reservations. A driver had called in sick, so they only had one trolley running. Luckily, we got there early enough and were able to get on the first one. 

We learned a lot about the city. Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the country, founded in 1610 by the Spaniards. There is a great deal of history here. This sculpture was outside one of the museums. The city is known for its art. We saw many sculptures and art studios during our visit. Most of it was quite pricey!!

After the tour, we visited the Basilica of St. Francis built between 1869 and 1886. It is a beautiful church in the old town area. In one of the side chapels is the oldest statue of the Virgin Mary in North America. It is a 30 inch tall wooden statue, hand carved from willow and olive wood. It is believed she was carved between 1448 and 1648 based on tree ring dating, and brought to Santa Fe by the Spanish in 1626. She has 300 outfits and an extensive jewelry collection which is changed monthly to correspond with the church calendar. A Papal Crown was bestowed to her by Pope John XXIII in 1960.

We wandered around the central plaza which is a National Historic Landmark. 

Santa Fe is the 3rd oldest city in the US, after St. Augustine, Florida and Jamestown, Virginia. There are a lot of shops and restaurants in the old town area. Along the Palace of the Governors (the oldest capitol in the US and now a museum), there were dozens of  Native Americans selling jewelry. I managed to find a beautiful turquoise necklace made by James B Eustace of the Pueblo of Cochiti Native.

Our next stop was the current capitol building built in 1966. It's the only round capitol building in the US and was designed to resemble the Zia sun symbol when viewed from above. The Zia sun is on New Mexico's flag.

The sun symbol is seen all over New Mexico including on their state seal. There is a beautiful mosaic on the floor in the center of the capitol of the seal.

The four sets of lines on each side of the sun represent the four directions of the earth, the four seasons of the year, the four times of the day, and the four divisions of life. 

There is a great deal of art on display in and around the capitol building. The Capitol Art Foundation was established in 1991 to assist in the acquisition of art by New Mexico artists for permanent, public display. I thought this sculpture outside of the building was amazing!

In five days we leave Yuma again for our next 35 day adventure. We begin by flying to Kauai, Hawaii for a 5 day stay. Then we fly to Sydney, Australia for a 4 day visit. On October 23, we board the Princess Royal for a 10 day Australian cruise including the Great Barrier Reef. Next, we stay on the same ship for a 13 day cruise to New Zealand. Then we fly 16 hours from Sydney to Los Angeles, and drive a rental car back to Yuma. I'm sure we'll be quite exhausted by the time we get back home. Not much time for rest, though, as golf leagues will have already started, as well as all the other activities at the resort.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!