Busy Day in Santa Fe

We liked Santa Fe so much we decided to stay an extra day, which turned into deciding to stay an extra two days. Along the way we had some great adventures. Thursday was the best day so far on our journey. We began the day by going to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum.

The Entrance To The Georgia O'Keefe Museum

Waiting For the Museum to Open

It was inspiring to see her work, but also to see documentaries and photographs of her life. Izzy especially like the camping gear on display from her many journeys into the wilderness to sketch. And Eli wants his own hacienda in the desert now that he's gotten a good video tour of O'Keefe's house in Abiquiu. He was interested in the idea of taking a tour of the house, but it was a bit out of our way.

After we left the O'Keefe Museum we stumbled across a gallery that sells paintings and prints from cartoonists like Dr. Seuss. It's called the Chuck Jones Gallery. The guy has a whole room set aside for children to draw their own cartoons and hang them up. The kids got a kick out of it and all sat down and drew something.

The Sign Over the Door to the Kids' Drawing Room

Izzy: We went to a cartoon gallery in Santa Fe. I liked it because some of the things were funny. Beep Beep!

The Kids Drawing, There Were a Bunch of Chuck Jones Prints on the Walls for Inspiration

We then went to the New Mexico Museum of Art, which turned out to have a lot of very contemporary art in it. We had some good discussions about the viewer and the viewed, and some rather difficult conversations about genocide and also photographic technique. We decided that everyone had behaved really well, but that we were done with museums for the day, because sooner or later someone was going to stop behaving.

Outside the Museum

The Court Yard Inside the Museum

Inside the Museum, I Took This Picture As Part of an Explanation About Photography

Our next stop was lunch. We were right around the corner from where we had eaten the night before, so we went there again. Hannah didn't throw a tantrum this time. Eli did. Turns out he gets really grumpy when he's hungry.

Izzy Was Trying To Cheer Eli Up

It Didn't Totally Work

Then Elijah texted us to inform us that the cool outdoor pool was open, so we hurried back to the hotel to check it out.

Finally The Outdoor Pool Is Open!

Eli: In the hotel in Santa Fe they had an awesome pool. There was a little island in the middle of the pool. There was a small sprinkler place too, that was cool.

Not long after we got out of the pool and just as I was finishing yoga on the patio it started to rain. Did we mention that we hit the southwest during monsoon season? It turns out that August is the greatest time to visit the southwest.

Storm Clouds Brewing Behind Our Hotel

There are electrical storms with lovely cool rain almost every afternoon, and all of the landscapes turn green with wild flowers. We had no idea, but we are feeling pretty lucky. It rained hard for a couple of hours. We were worried because we wanted to go see some music in the plaza and we weren't sure if it would happen in the rain.

We went into town with the intention of having dinner at a place that was recommended to us called the Shed, but it was full because it was too wet and rainy to use their outside seating. This was true of the next restaurant we went to also La Casa Sena, but they suggested we try their Cantina which was right next door instead. We walked in and it turned out to be this totally great place where all of the waiters and waitresses were also singers. During the meal they took turns singing show tunes, and they all had truly fabulous voices. The food was surprisingly good too. The kids loved it!

Hannah Was Into the Music the Whole Time, She Insisted On Tipping After

Izzy Listening To A Waiter Sing "Rainbow Connection"

After dinner we went to the Santa Fe Plaza and the rain stopped just as we arrived. Carolyn Wonderland was playing for free. She's absolutely an amazing singer if you ever get a chance to see her live.

People Were Dancing In the Rain, It Was a Small Fun Crowd

She's from Austin, TX. The music was astoundingly good, part of their summer Bandstand series and the kids made friends with some really nice kids and played in the park until 9 PM when the music ended. Every person we interacted with in Santa Fe was incredibly friendly. As far as we can tell it is a great town, nice people, good food, beautiful architecture, and lots of culture. We will be back!

We finished the day by winding down with a movie in the hotel. It was a truly busy but amazingly fun day.