Oklahoma to Santa Fe

We left Oklahoma this morning after C. and A. went to school.  We miss the S. family already, so that made it hard to leave.   Not surprisingly, Allen did most of the driving from OK to Santa Fe--a looooong way (7 hours or so) on I-40.  Along the way, we've been enjoying wonderful mix CDs lovingly made by my dad and by our friend Misty, as well as the literary stylings of James Lee Burke via an audiobook.  I've listened to it before, but can't remember the plot, so even though I've slept through most of it, I at least know the characters.  Allen just has to fill me in on the details when I wake up for a snack. As we got further into New Mexico (Land of Enchantment) we stopped to take a few pictures of the landscape, which was beautiful, but desolate.

We arrived in Santa Fe at about 6:00, and got a great parking spot downtown, right next to the Plaza and the La Fonda hotel and restaurant.  We walked around for an hour or so, then stopped for a local beer on the patio of a brewery.

Santa Fe is a beautiful town, with lots of statues of saints (particularly Saint Francis of Assisi, one of my personal faves) and tons of art and craftwork.  We enjoyed just walking around and taking it all in.

(I saw these flowers on the bushes outside a nice hotel close to the plaza, and thought some botanical readers might enjoy seeing and/or identifying them.)

After we finished our Santa Fe Wheats, Al asked our waitress if she knew of a good spot to watch the sunset.  She recommended the Belltower Bar, on the fifth floor of the hotel where we had parked earlier.  It didn't disappoint.  We had a chance to talk about our plans for the next few days and enjoy the hour before dark in the company of some other happy folks.

Tomorrow we're hoping to see the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, have a late breakfast at a local spot, and head on toward the Grand Canyon.  Tonight we're staying in a low-rent motor court, and feeling very Route 66-ish, even though that's not actually the road we're on.  Like the old song goes, this has been a pretty good day.