What a Trip!

We're home again and enjoying lots of hugs from our kids. Being away from them for three days was the only downside to my amazing birthday trip. Santa Fe could not have been more perfect. Our first day we walked around the plaza for a couple of hours and ate a great Indian buffet lunch. We saw a beautiful old chapel with the most amazing staircase. It really has an interesting story. Visit Loretto Chapel and click on the staircase button to see a photo. it is remarkable. Then we checked into our "casita" at Sunrise Springs. It was a large room with a kitchenette and a very good shower which is always a plus when traveling. The casitas are all very private and each have a private patio with high walls and a gate where one enters and exits. Here's the outside of ours
We went to a movie that first evening, Pirates of the Carribean. I wasn't impressed. And then we grabbed a bite at Olive Garden before heading back to the hotel. I was feeling a little nauseated from the pregnancy and ate only soup and salad (and only the broth of the soup at that!) while Cody chowed on a massive T-bone steak. We must have looked strange. The next day was my birthday! We drove to Bandelier National Monumentwhich has interesting ancient ruins which center mostly around the spectacular cliffs. The soft stone of the cliffs is full of holes that were used long ago by a cliff-dwelling tribe. We walked the mile loop and saw the remains of their lifestyle. The area was beautiful, full of trees and a small creek. We only stayed an hour, then headed back to the hotel for my spa appointment. I had a terrific massage followed by a 30 minute foot massage. I've had several massages in my life and this was probably the best one yet. I felt like I was walking on clouds after it. Right after the massage, we drove the pretty route to our favorite restaurant Rancho de Chimayo. It was not crowded. We ate sopaipilla rellenos and I had a prickly pear lemonade. Here I am, 30 years old, and sitting in front of Racncho de Chimayo
When we were leaving the restaurant- which is really in the middle of nowhere- there was another young couple walking up toward it and Cody recognized the girl. Turns out they were in some honors classes together at Harding over 10 years ago! We visted with them for a while and found a few other links of people we all knew. What a small world! (We even saw them again the next day back in Santa Fe at the plaza.) We headed home and borrowed Anchorman from the front desk. Again, not very impressed. The next day, the last of our trip, we walked around the plaza all morning looking for gifts for the kids. We finally found the perfect "flute" for Nate. It is Native American looking and will make sound easily without having to worry about covering the finger holes. And for Ava we found a Mexican dress. This girl loves dresses so it is perfect. Here's our little senorita
We ate at the famous Plaza Restaurant for lunch before heading back to the airport. I had a great Mexican pulled pork sandwich. Cody had chicken chili made with Hatch green chiles. There was a huge glob of sour cream served on top of it with good reason. That was a bowl of fire. It was so good, but so very hot! It inspired Cody to stop at a roadside stand on our way out of town and buy 15 pounds of roasted Hatch chiles. They smelled so good as we drove to the airport. He stuffed them into his carry on bag, which now smells of rasted chiles also, and we brought them home to freeze. We can't wait to make our own New Mexican dishes with those!
We arrived home, bestowed gifts on the kids, and examined the one injury sustained in our absence. Poor Nate pulled a heavy wooden stool down onto the top of his foot and it is severely bruised and swollen. He is walking on it some though, and hopefully the swelling will go down soon.
So there it is- the quick wrap up (if you can call that quick) of a milestone birthday trip. Lots of good memories to enjoy.