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by Laura
Over the 4th of July, I flew out to see my siblings in Santa Fe. The plus side: that gorgeous mountain/desert scenery combo, fantastic spas and appropriately spicy green chile sauce. The drawbacks: “Umm…I just stepped on a rattlesnake.”
Despite a few threatening shakes from the rattler, my brother escaped unscathed, and we were able to head towards a nearby hot springs. Ojo Caliente houses a large selection of pools carved into a cliffside and at least partially fueled by Mother Nature. Our favorite was the mud bath, because, well, mud baths are fun. But, there were also saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs, and soaking pools. As a spa junkie, I was certainly not complaining.
On the way back, we stopped for lunch at Rancho de Chimayo, where about $8 would get you some killer local grub. (Thanks for the rec, Erin!) There, we consumed the first of many sopapillas with honey – the New Mexican equivalent of a bread basket. I essentially forced us to eat only regional specialities for the entire trip, one step closer to fulfilling my dream of eating this type of food pretty much all the time always.
My hotel, La Posada de Santa Fe, was a Priceline bargain, and upon check-in, I was especially happy to hear that they would even waive the $30/day (ridiculous) resort fee. The place offered yoga, a wine reception, afternoon tea, live music, a shuttle around town, and pool/hot tub access as part of the deal. I wasn’t extra pleased when a rainstorm made its way into my room, but, of course, I stoically soldiered on anyway.
The hotel was a short walk from the main downtown Plaza area, which included tons of art galleries, the Georgia O’Keeffe museum, and a chapel with a “miraculous staircase” story. Apparently a random carpenter showed up and helped the local Sisters solve the engineering problems that prevented them from gaining access to their choir loft. The man disappeared without a trace once the job was done, and due to a number of other clues, they concluded that he was TOTALLY SAINT JOSEPH, which then led to hundreds of tourists taking pictures of some stairs. But, still – pretty church.
One of the best things about Santa Fe was that desert met mountains met sky all over the place. Driving up to the ski area, we got to see pine trees minus the snow, and stopped at spa #2, Ten Thousand Waves. The Japanese baths were clothing optional in the communal tub areas, which begs me to question why most of the folks taking advantage of this opportunity had to be very old men. But, the entire facility was nice enough that you couldn’t help but feel extra serene, elderly exhibitionism and all.
Back in my sister’s hood, we checked out the community garden that she started (Go, Sis!) and got to witness the madness/awesomeness that ensued when hundreds of people celebrated their right to set off fireworks in their backyard.
Hope you all had an equally wonderful 4th!
Laura
Harold
