Thursday, October 3rd, we found ourselves with two bonus days. We did really well getting thru our 'must see' list. Now we had a Thursday and Friday to do with as we pleased. What to do? Hmmmm... Let's visit Santa Fe! We had decided not to visit Santa Fe when planning our trip. We had been there many years ago. Claude made several business trips there when we lived in Denver. I kept info on our grid 'just in case'. Now we had time so we pointed the Buick to Santa Fe.
We stopped in Cline's Corner as all my Route 66 guides called it a must see. We only purchased one Christmas gift for Joel. In all those trinkets, clothing, boots, Pottery, etc., we only purchases one item. Saw some cute embroidered dresses but they are hand wash. Not doing that. Claude tried on several leather vests but non were quite right. Onward to Santa Fe.
We found a parking garage and walked to the Plaza. I remembered being here many years ago and enjoying the feel of this place.
We walked to the covered side where the Native Americans sit against the wall with their wares spread out on the sidewalk in front of them. This is the Santa Fe I remembered and really wanted to experience again. However, Claude and I both remember these vendors sitting on two sides of the Plaza, maybe even three sides. This time they were only on one side.
Claude is really good to me at these times. He trusts that I will be careful in my selection and he would spend whatever it took to get that one piece of jewelry I found that was perfect.
My search this time was for a ring. When we visited Tombstone, I purchased a lovely pendant with a stone in it the was melon colored. I love the pendant. I wanted a ring to match. A couple of years ago, I found on in a Indian Jewelry magazine that I get occasionally. The picture showed a stone the perfect size and color. I ordered it and waited for it to be made and mailed. When I opened the package, the store was not the color in the magazine. It would not match my pendant at all. I started to return the ring. It fit perfectly and the style was pleasing to me. So I kept it. My hope was one of the vendors along the Plaza would have a ring that was just right. When I got to the next to last vendor, he had one small ring that might work. It was in my size and fit perfectly. I told him I would walk and think.
Claude and I found a nice bench in the shade in the Square. A guitarist was playing classical guitar and it was beautiful. We sat and enjoyed a gentle breeze and people-watched for about 30-minutes. I decided not to buy the ring. No regrets. I will keep looking.
Lynette, Claude's sister, suggested we visit San Miguel's Church. I found it on Google Maps and we strolled several blocks off the Plaza to this little bit of history.
San Miguel's is the oldest church structure in the United States. The original Adobe structure is under the current structure. It was built by Tlaxcalan Indians under the direction of Franciscan padres. Thanks Lynette for suggestion. Well worth the hike.
We hiked back to the parking garage and drove to our home-away-from-home for the next 2 nights.
No comments:
Post a Comment