Day 39 – 43: SANTA FE, New Mexico

We spent 5 nights in Santa Fe.  Santa Fe is a wonderful city with lots of culture and class.  There must be a law that all buildings must be of pueblo design and only colors of tan, terracotta, white, etc.  All the buildings looked new and the city was very clean, tidy and nicely landscaped.  The downtown area is full of art galleries and restaurants and there are life size sculptures all over the place.  

We were last here about 20 years ago.  Everything is different.  It’s like the city has been rebuilt.  We really like this place and would not mind living here.

April 11 – 15: We stayed at Santa Fe Skies RV Park.  This is a nice RV park located just outside the city, in the country, and on a hill.  We had a nice view of the desert and mountains, and we looked down on the city.  At night we saw the city lights.   There is a field of solar panels that support the park.  Several metal sculptures are scattered all over the property.  These sculptures are made by the owner's son and a family friend.  It was a comfortable RV park and we enjoyed our stay here.

 Our plan was to visit museums and art galleries and do some shopping.  We also caught up on our movie watching.  We saw Cinderella and Insurgent.  I (Jo) also got my hair colored and styled (every 5 weeks).  We bought a ‘New Mexico Culture Pass’ which covered one time visits to about 15 museums in this area of New Mexico.  Only 4 of the museums were in Santa Fe.  But we were ahead cost wise with purchasing the pass.  Two of the museums were in the downtown area, Santa Fe Plaza and the other two were at Milner Plaza on what the locals call Museum Hill. 

SANTA FE PLAZA

We spent two different days in the plaza exploring the shops and art galleries.  This city is just full of art galleries.  There are sculptures all over the city as well.

The ‘Rainbow Man’ shop.        Bought one. i

   Almost bought the cat.

  Pop Art Gallery

Sculptures in front of City Hall.

Another City Hall Sculpture

Staff Sergeant , Leroy A. Petry, United States Army – A local hero.

On May 26 2008 in Paktya Province, Afghanistan , as weapons squad leader, he moved to clear the court yard of a house that was thought to contain high-value combatants.  He and another Ranger were wounded; he in both legs.  He continued to lead the fellow Ranger to cover.  He started throwing hand grenades.  So did the enemy.  The first wounded two other Rangers.  The second grenade landed too close to them.  Petry moved over to it.  As he picked up the grenade to toss away, it exploded amputating his hand.  Despite his wounds, he continued to coordinate support for himself and fellow wounded Rangers.  All lived.

 Had a nice lunch here.      Jo’s doodles. i        

We visited two museums on the Culture Pass:  

MUSEUM OF ART

This art museum is housed in a beautiful pueblo style building whose architecture was inspired by 300 year old mission churches.

 The Journey”-Tom Palmore, 1995

”Coming Down From the Mountain” – Billy Schenck, 1993

My favorite! 

Disney Jar – Bunny Tobias, 1992

“View of Sante Fe Plaza in the 1850’s” - Gerald Cassidy, 1934

HISTORY MUSEUM /PALACE OF GOVERNORS

Both museums join the old and the new.  As the nation’s oldest continuously occupied government building, the Palace has witnessed four centuries of history.  The History Museum is a 96,000-square foot addition.  It contains artifacts, historical photographs and modern day films and stories from the states earliest Native peoples, Spanish colonists, Mexican settlers, trail riders, artists, outlaws, scientists and hippies.  The Palace of Governors was built in 1610 and is considered to be one of the oldest public buildings in the US.  It functioned as the seat of government until 1906.

 Courtyard between museum and the palace.

 Palace of Govenors

THE CATHEDRAL

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi was built in 1869.  It is the first church in Santa Fe to attain the status of cathedral basilica.

 

St. Francis of Assisi

Ever since our days of living in Phoenix, Arizona, we’ve been collecting storytellers.  These are figurines made by different Native American Pueblos in New Mexico.  We have several pieces from the Jemez Pueblo and bought a few more on this trip.

Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery     
i Jemez Pueblo (we purchased this at the above shop)

 Pueblo vendors selling their crafts.

 Theresa Sando, Jemez Pueblo

Friendship Bowl made by T. Sando (above)

MUSEUM HILL

On Museum Hill is Milner Plaza where there are two museums that are on the Culture Pass.  We had a very nice lunch at the Museum Hill Café and visited the Sculpture Garden and two more museums.  

Sculpture Garden

“Dancing to the Heartbeat of my Ancestors” 
(The silver fringes move when the wind blows.)
  "Standing Strong with my Feet Rooted to Mother Earth”
Both sculptures by Kathy  Whitman-Elk Woman,  2014

 

“Morning Prayer” –Estella Loretto, Jemez Pueblo, 2000

Signs of spring on Museum Hill.

MUSEUM OF INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART

This museum houses the largest collection of traditional folk art in the world.  The museum is in four sections with more than 135,000 artifacts, folk art, toys, miniatures and textiles from more than 100 nations.  I have never been in a museum like this before.  There was a lot to see and around every corner is a fun adventure.  You could never see everything in one day.  Below are some pictures of items that jumped out at me.  I tried to find anything ‘cat’.

 Notice the old couple with cameras?

Mickey Mouse??

MUSEUM OF INDIAN ART & CULTURE

This museum is very interesting with lots of artifacts and items explaining Indian culture.  The main exhibition “Here, Now and Always” presents stories of creation, survival and everyday life over 14,000 years in the Southwest.  Unfortunately no photos of any kind were allowed.  So you will have to just visit this museum and see for yourself.

Bronze sculpture outside the entrance:

“Mountain Spirit Dancer”, 

Craig Dan Goseyun, San Carlos Apache, 2000

Next stop:  The Grand Circle.