Well you really can’t see it all, but you can see the key highlights.
INSTAGRAM @jcanter71First, fly into Albuquerque (cheaper and more direct flights), get the rental car (cherry red Mustang convertible, score!), look around, breathe it all in. Along with watching the Breaking Bad TV series, you have now seen everything you need to see in the big A! i.e. Don’t ask where to get the good blue stuff, just drive to Santa Fe.
We choose to stay at the Drury Inn & Suites, somewhat charming, but very affordable (under $200/night), and centrally located just off the Santa Fe Square. Hotels near the square can easily be $500+/night.
We take a quick walk around the Santa Fe Square. Very charming adobe architecture with incredible art work and jewelry everywhere in shops, galleries, museums, parks, and even for sale in outdoor stalls. We also hit the New Mexico Museum of Art to see the best of the best and then head to The Compound for dinner. The food, cocktails and the wine list are second to none here, as acknowledged by their recent honor having their chief named “Best of the Southwest” by James Beard Foundation. I would tell you what we ate, but it doesn’t matter, it was all amazing!
INSTAGRAM @jcanter71The next morning we head to La Casa Sena, a beautiful brunch spot in a secret lush garden plaza. We had great “Christmas” enchiladas, which means both red and green chile sauces. Nobody does chiles like Santa Fe!
We then get in the car and drive to Bandelier National Monument for the day. It was a great 3-4 mile round trip walk to see ancient pueblo ruins and wildlife (deer, bats, birds, and luckily no snakes!) along a trickle that we come to find out is the “mighty” Rio Grande, culminating with walking up multiple shaky extended ladders to get to the top!
INSTAGRAM @jcanter71Back to town for Friday happy hour for the Canyon Road Art Walk. During the first and fourth Fridays of the month, this endless row of art galleries stay open later and serve free wine and appetizers and some even have live music. We also come across a stunning outdoor windmill park along the way. At the end of the road is The Compound, so we stop into the bar area for for a post-walk, pre-dinner cocktail and mix with the locals, always fun!
INSTAGRAM @jcanter71We then walk back to the square for dinner at The Shed. There is outdoor seating under multi-colored umbrellas, but they don’t take reservations and we don’t feel like waiting, so we grab two seats at the bar where they serve the full menu. Amazing margaritas and New Mexican food. Locals next to us say we are so lucky to have wandered into this gem for dinner. We also tell them, no accident, a lot of web and friend network research goes into all of our travel meals! Apparently if you have just a little time, you can always get in here and most places, especially later in the evening as Santa Fe is filled with retirees who are generally done with dinner quite early…
INSTAGRAM @jcanter71We wake up late and head to our friend’s (Claire’s) mother’s (Kay’s) homestead to celebrate the life of the family patriarch, John, who passed away two years earlier leaving an extensive wine collection behind. I realize this is not going to be listed on TripAdvisor for everybody, but we did drink some fine Bordeaux from the 70’s and 80’s. Great food, friends, and wine makes for a memorable evening at Kay’s adobe architectural wonder of an oasis in the desert, with the mountains in the distance, amid the spectacular cloud formations in the sky. If you are not lucky enough to be invited over you could instead head to Roswell for the day to check out the UFO geeks and Area 51 nuts to see more of New Mexico.
We wake up late Sunday morning and I hit the Santa Fe Square to shop for some local jewelry to surprise my wife (she loved the piece I chose) and check out the food cart for Roque’s famous Carnitas. I know you all think it is going to be pork, but Carnita literally means “little meat”, so this is beef, onions, chiles on a tortilla with pepper and spices, the flavors are dazzling on the palette. Roque tells me the story about how Guy Fieri screwed him over by bailing on a pre-arranged television segment so he told him he would punch him in his face if he ever came back. A few years later, Guy’s people called and apologized again and said they wanted to do the segment again, to which Roque said, “Great, send him over so I can punch in his face.” I love this guy! I also am fortunate to have ordered the tamales, pork, red chile which is the best. But green chile and cheese is a close second as the corn masa is perfectly moist and seasoned, the insides are juicy, hot and spicy!
We head back to Kay’s for a quick brunch and take off in the car with our friends Claire and Shawn and head to El Santuario de Chimayo, a beautiful old church that supposedly has “holy dirt”. People come from very far away to rub it on what ails them. Crutches are strewn all over the place from the healed who just left them there. I rub a lot on my recent tennis elbow and just several weeks later…I still have tennis elbow. Oh well, worth a shot.
INSTAGRAM @jcanter71We get back to the hotel for a quick nap and I sneak out for a pre-dinner snack at Santa Fe Bite (aka: the famous Bobcat Bite) to get what is purportedly a top 5 burger in the COUNTRY: a green chile cheeseburger. It does not disappoint, a thick juicy patty smothered in green chile and jack cheese, but perfectly balanced!
INSTAGRAM @jcanter71We then enjoy cocktails and great views of Santa Fe at dusk at the Bell Tower Rooftop Bar atop the La Fonda Hotel on our way to dinner at Restaurant Martin. Their Chilled English Pea and Mint Soup is a refreshing masterpiece! Martin was actually the runner up Best Chef Southwest and we agree great, but not better than The Compound. Our table neighbors say they think this is better than The Compound, but La Boca (Spanish Tapas) is even better. Next time La Boca for us (and you!)
We then get up early for our last day and take the slightly longer, but scenic High Road to Taos, made all the more spectacular from a convertible! We arrive at the active Taos Pueblo during their Memorial Day ceremony to honor their past vets and we take a tour from a local to hear a very interesting history of the local Pueblo alliances and their run-ins with the Mexicans and Americans. Don’t forget to hit Al’Thloo’s (Grandma’s) kitchen just on your right as you exit for fry bread stuffed or topped with chicken, beans, lettuce, spices, Christmas style of course! Fantastic flavors and served by warm locals happy to share their culture with you.
INSTAGRAM @jcanter71We take a quick drive to (and walk over) the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge for great views on our way to downtown Taos. The square and shops are not as impressive as Santa Fe but interesting stops at the homes turned museums for Kit Carson (Reknowned frontiersman, explorer and guide for hire) and Governor Bent (scalped by locals from Taos Pueblo during a rebellion).
Lastly we stop by the beautiful adobe San Francisco de Asis Mission Church, which is not only one of the finest example of a Spanish Colonial New Mexico mission church, but it is also one of the most photographed (Ansel Adams) and painted (George O’Keefe) buildings in the world!
INSTAGRAM @jcanter71Whether it is architecture, jewelry, art, wine, culinary adventure, or history; Santa Fe and surrounding areas in New Mexico have something for everyone!
