Santa Fe, New Mexico is one of my absolute favorite places. I have been visiting there since I first moved to Denver back in 1981. It is only a six hour drive, and it still amazes me that a city founded in 1610 is such a short drive away. The Palace of the Governors, located on the plaza, was built that very year, as was the San Miguel Mission. The De Vargas Street House was built in 1646, and the city is filled with many other historic buildings, too. It is just magical there. My ex-wife Lisa and I went there a number of times when we were married, and once went to the Santa Fe Opera to see one of the weirdest operas ever. Trust me on that. My sister Susan, brother-in-law George, and I drove down there over a number of years for Thanksgiving dinner at La Casa Sena, located in a garden courtyard just across the street from the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis. I took the photograph on the left of Susan on a walk around the city during one of those Thanksgiving trips.
I took the photograph on the right of Susan and George while we were exploring one of the neighborhoods adjacent to Canyon Road, a street that boasts many art galleries, as well as El Farol, another of my favorite restaurants, housed in a building dating from 1835. When Susan and I attended the annual fiesta in Santa Fe back in 2018, we walked up Canyon Road with her two dogs and had a couple of beers on the front patio of El Farol to fortify ourselves for the walk back. There are old adobe homes like the one Susan and George are posing in front of all over town, many very old. It is fun to think about living there in one of them, but I guess the next best thing is to continue staying at the ultra-luxurious downtown Motel 6 Resort and Spa whenever we can visit.
The photograph on the left is of my sister Susan and I in front of one of the houses on what might or might not be Canyon Road - it has been a lot of years since the photo was taken. I have no idea how old that place is, or what it looks like inside, but what a wonderful home in a wonderful city. And now I think it is time to head back down there, perhaps once again at Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving marks the start of the Christmas season, and that night the plaza is lit with luminarias, a sight definitely worth seeing again and again. And perhaps one of these days, an owner of one of those adobe homes in the center of town will finally get tired of that 300 year old plumbing and offer their place for sale at a bargain price. One can always dream.
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