When we woke during to our first morning in Santa Fe we found everything lightly dusted with snow. It was very, very cold outside. It did not seem like the temperature got above freezing the entire time we were here.
We said good bye to our trailer just after breakfast and headed to an Airbnb close to the plaza in what we assumed is old town Santa Fe. The neighborhood we were staying in had a very large park on one side and lots of neighborhood in the other direction. Emma was very glad to have a bit of green to run around on. The plaza and all of the restaurants and shops were 3/4 of a mile away. An excellent location we all agreed must say.
Dad was getting a little tired of working in the trailer bathroom, so he was very excited to be able to upgrade to the bedroom closet in the rental. It wasn't much more spacious, but at least this way he didn't have to leave every time someone needed to pee.
On our first morning in the rental Dad and Emma went to the park and met two very energetic Australian shepherds and one very old Australian Shepard. He might have been energetic at one time, but at 16 years old he was mostly good and standing in one spot and asking for pets. Emma got to run free and play with another dog for a few days which will hopefully satiate her need for high output bursts of energy. She will have to reserve herself to long walks and hikes for a while from here on out.
On Tuesday Remy and Mom went to the Audubon Center. They hiked on a snowy trail, played on a very neato playground, and saw some birds.
On Wednesday Mom and Remy went to check out the children's museum. It was basically built to keep Remy entertained for hours with a huge train table, Legos of all shapes and sizes, and a wall that you could build tracks for pool balls on. Afterwards they stopped at Craft Donuts and got four of the best donuts we've ever eaten. The donuts were made fresh to order, you get to pick the toppings, and they are served hot. They are also a bit on the smaller side. Everything about them was perfect. Dad was very glad that they brought one home for him.
We got a few different recommendations to check out Canyon road, and luckily it was only about a mile away from our house. We did not see any canyons, but the road is lined with art galleys, most of which have outdoors displays. Remy was particularly fond of some large steel animals that were standing in one of the showcases. We considered shelling out $45,000 to bring one home but the weight was a deterrent. Maybe next time we are in town and we don't already have 6,000 pounds to pull behind the truck. At the end of the road is a tea house that has a tea menu half a dozen pages long. Through a miscommunication we never got table service at our outdoor table despite being told that we should sit down to order as tea was only served via table service. We did get to look through the menu and learned a few things about tea that we didn't know before.
Thursday's dinner was the fanciest of the trip so far, featuring multiple courses of Spanish tapas and some very delicious Spanish wine. Remy ate the middle of an entire baguette. We were also fortunate enough to find two very good coffee shops in Santa Fe to keep us caffeinated throughout the week.
On Friday afternoon we all went to Meow Wolf (Emma stayed in the car). Any guesses as to what Meow Wolf is without Googling? It is not a pet spa, it is not an animal sanctuary, and it is not a restaurant.
It is actually quite hard to put a proper label on Meow Wolf. Part art installation, part funhouse, and part psychedelic experience, it is about two hours of very interesting visual and audio stimulation. The entrance is benign enough, there is a giant robot in the parking lot, but when you get inside everything gets very crazy very fast. Your journey starts at what looks like a the exterior of a house (within the building mind you). There is a living room, kitchen, office, etc. The house belonged to fictional gentleman who specialized in cosmic energy, and his writings and works are strewn all over. As you begin to poke in drawers and doors things go sideways very quickly. When we opened the fridge we found that you could climb through into an ice world. The washing machine was a tunnel that took you first to the inside of the washing machine themed room, and then into a forest. Some of the rooms mixed mirrors and lights, while other combined huge sculptures with music, sounds, and every other manner of audio/visual effect. We spent about an hour and a half inside, and I think we got to see most of it. Dad would have loved to have spent another hour trying to piece together some of the story elements (they were scattered throughout), but the smaller members of our party was running a bit low on patience. Remy was very interested in the entire experience, although some of the transitions were a little challenging for him, particularly going down the washing machine shoot and descending a very narrow spiral staircase. He took everything in though and lead the charge into several of the rooms.
We had one pair of glasses that we purchased from the front desk that added a bit of texture and depth to a lot of the lights and art. They were definitely and interesting addition. Dad almost walked into several mirrors though so he had to be careful and make sure the doorway he was walking through was actually a doorway.
We finished up our stay with a few beer samples from a local farmhouse brewery (no actual farm, they just brew with open fermentation), and will be heading out early tomorrow to our next adventure location, after one more stop for snobby coffee of course.
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