Route 66 Road Trip – Day 6 - Santa Fe, NM

We woke up on Tuesday morning, Day 6 of our Route 66 Road Trip, at a very leisurely pace.  Everyone was able to get up in their own timing…the morning was free time.  I did laundry, while the girls and I worked on their scrapbooks of their Spring Break road trip.  We had breakfast and lunch at the house before taking off across the mountains to Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico.

The tour guide book indicated that the whole city of Santa Fe is a “Gift Shop Alert!”, but before we parked and walked around the old historic town, we went to see the Capital Building.  It is not a typical Capital, and unless you read the sign, you might not recognize it as a Capital.  We snapped a few pictures, but we didn’t go inside. 

We were then ready for our walking tour of Santa Fe.  It is not your typical Capital city either.  You basically park your vehicle and work your way around the few city blocks that comprise Santa Fe.  It is the original town with old adobe buildings sitting in a square around a central park, with a few side streets. 

First stop on our tour was oldest church in the United States.  San Miguel Mission Church was built in 1610, and has been a continuously active church.  The bell was cast in Spain in 1356, and brought here in the early 1800’s. 

  

There was another historical church just off the square that we visited…

St. Francis of Assisi

  

 

After a short time of reflection in these historical churches, we went to the square to begin our browsing through the shops.  Oldest granddaughter thought this was one of the highlights of her trip.  She’s a browser and a shopper, and has exquisite taste.  Thankfully Dad was along to assist her in her purchase decisions.

Some of the shops had open air markets….

Some were inside the adobe buildings…

And then there was the homemade jewelry and wares displayed on the porch of the Palace of the Governors.

Oh, the choices to be made…everything was so beautiful, and somewhat expensive…but as you can see, the girls were having a good time with Dad.  It was cooler that day, maybe in the 50’s, but the sun was shining.  The cooler weather and being midweek kept most of the normal shopping crowd away.  It was time to leave Santa Fe and head back down to Albuquerque.  In the picture below, look close and you will see the top of Miss Holly, the green van, and one happy shopper with her loot!

When we got back “home” Aunt Susan and I took our youngest granddaughter to a playground to burn off some energy.  We fixed lasagna for supper, and spent the evening playing games, watching movies, working on the scrapbooks, and just relaxing…the end of Day 6. 

My next post will be Day 7, a day spent in Albuquerque…our last day there…and the nicest weather day, up into the high 60’s.  Might I mention while we were down in ABQ, Michigan was having record breaking temperatures for March, up in the high 80’s!  Of course.   But what we did on Day 7, I wouldn’t have wanted to do in hot weather, so a sunny day in the high 60’s was close to perfect!  See you next time!!