If it’s your first visit to Santa Fe there are somethings you must do – see the “Miraculous Staircase” in Loretto Chapel, shop the wares of Native Americans along the promenade of Palace of the Governors, pop in and out of galleries on Canyon Road, and tour the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. I’ve done all of those on previous trips and loved each one.

On my most recent trip my friend Lisa and I walked out of Eldorado Hotel and Spa to a glorious Saturday morning. It was the kind of weather you hope for on a trip to Santa Fe.  It was still cool with temperatures in the 50s paired with a bright blue sky, sunshine and the promise of an afternoon in the low 70s.

We past the Santa Fe Society of Artists Art Show on our way to breakfast. It was about 9:15am when we popped into Cafe Pasqual’s, which on a Saturday means a wait. With 35 or so minutes to kill we headed back to the art show.

We were immediately drawn in by sleek, elegant bronze sculptures of couples, families, and birds created by Yenny Cocq. I was intrigued by the powerful nonverbal communication exuding from her bronze figurines – the arm around another, legs crossed towards each other, and how others just seemed to fit together in a “two bodies becoming one” abstract expression of love.  A couple of booths over I was momentarily mesmerized by images of Chaco Canyon, a Tomahawk gas station weathered by time, Santo Nino, Shiprock, and Black Mesa along with poems and bits of wisdom written by photographer Josef Skye Tornick. I particularly enjoyed the Tree of Souls and House of the Ancient Ones photographs and poem, but my favorite was Cloud Reading, photos capturing changing weather at Ojo Caliente, an amazing hot springs experience about an hour from Santa Fe. The next booth to draw me in was one filled with horses.  These magical drawings are the creation of Ashley Binder.  She works in charcoal and pastels to bring Arabian horses to life on canvas in a stunning blend of elegance and power.

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With tummy grumbling, it was to chow down at Cafe Pasqual’s, my favorite breakfast spot in Santa Fe.  Normally I get the Huevo Motuleños with two eggs, sautéed banana, feta, and green peas served with roasted tomato-jalapeño salsa and tomatillo salsa served on the side along with a corn tortilla and black beans.  In fact, I’d never had anything else and I’ve eaten breakfast there now about 5 or 6 times.  I love the unique combination of flavors with the peas, feta, and sautéed banana.  I had gotten my fix the day before – yes, we ate there two mornings in a row – and I wanted to try something different.  Lisa had gotten the Two Poached Eggs on Avocado Toast the day before and that’s what I went for minus the bacon.  Both of us got it on the Seedlucious bread.  The avocado toast is sprinkled with Dukkah seed and served with a side of home fries.  It was wonderful!  The bread was so good that on the way out I asked if the recipe was in their cookbook and was told no but I could request it (which I’ve done and hopefully can share), along with the comment “a loaf of it weighs about five pounds!”  I don’t doubt it with all the yummy goodness packed into it.

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If you’re ever in Santa Fe on a Saturday morning (or Tuesday morning), you have to stroll through the Santa Fe Farmers Market at the Railyard. You’ll find locals and tourists perusing the many booths filled with produce, flowers, spices, and artisan goods.  In one of the booths, we saw this guy spinning wool into yarn.  We chatted with Frank Osborne, owner of Oasis Fiber, for a few minutes.  He has 29 angora mohair sheep.  He uses an old-fashioned way to spin the yarn and it was fascinating to watch him do it while chatting with us.  I also love that once a sheep at his farm stops producing the perfect wool, they get to retire there and enjoy greener pastures.

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Next we made our way over to Santuario de Guadalupe, the oldest shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in existence in the United States.  In the 17th and 18th Centuries colonist from Mexico brought with them their devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Records show in 1777 a tiny adobe church was built as shrine to Our Lady of the New World on the banks of the Santa Fe River.   It is now called “The Soul of Santa Fe.”  The church is simplistically beautiful with wooden pews, gorgeous wooden beams in the ceiling, and simple yet powerful retablos and depictions of the Stations of the Cross.  We had noticed a crowd behind the church when we walked in, but somehow got a few prayer filled moments to ourselves inside.  As we were leaving we found out it was confirmation day.

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The night before we had popped into the Santa Fe Oxygen and Healing Bar for tea or health elixir.  I went for a One Love Leche with coconut milk, cinnamon, cardamon, ginger and a touch of rose.  I had never visited an oxygen bar before so of course we said yes to 20 minutes of oxygen!  We had such a wonderful experience that we booked massages and numerology/astrology reading for Saturday afternoon.  We had a little time before our appointments in the healing bar, so we plopped down on the couch in the apothecary/restaurant and enjoy an elixir.  I went for the O2 Mojito Boost with pineapple juice, lime juice, chloroxygen, and touch of mint.  After hydrating up we heading over to the spa across the street.  With relaxed in the waiting area and fusion bar sipping soda water with flower essence.  I picked up a color book of birthdays and was shocked how dead on the description was for July 3rd!  I was in desperate need of a massage and boy did I get worked over by Jerry.  He’s a true renaissance man – massage therapist, high school teacher, actor, and Santa Fe Shakespeare Society coordinator.  Using a 7 point trigger method of pressure of 7 (on a scale of 1-10) then hold for 7 seconds, Jerry worked out a lot of locked up stress and tension in my neck, shoulders, and upper back.  I’m definitely booking another massage with Jerry next time I’m in Santa Fe!  Feeling relaxing, especially since I did CBD oxygen during my massage, I headed into a numerology and astrology reading with Brendan.  This is a psychic reading, instead it’s based on your birthday, time of birthday, and your full name at birth.  I found it fascinating and quite frankly spot on with some personality traits and stages of my life.

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After treatments I walked around a bit enjoying the late afternoon in Santa Fe loving the variety of boutiques and galleries.  First stop was Real Deal Collections, a luxury designer consignment shop with accessories from Chanel to Louis Vuitton.  I made my way over to my favorite boutique in Santa Fe, Chocolate + Cashmere.  It’s a wonderful shop of cashmere sweaters, ponchos, and accessories along with jewelry and chocolate.  My last stop was catching the last few vendors still selling their wares at Palace of the Governors.  Even though I didn’t buy a thing this trip, I still enjoyed looking!

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We had an early dinner reservation at Coyote Cafe and Rooftop Cantina.  I found it ironic that I found our sea coral was my birthday color and the menu had it on the cover!  I thought to myself this was exactly where we were supposed to dine.  It was Cinco de Mayo so I indulged in a Salty Señorita, their signature margarita with silver tequila, orange liqueur, and lime shaken and strained then topped with a layer of salted lime foam.  Off of our server’s recommendation, I ordered the Patagonian Sea Bass.  It was fantastic!  It’s served on top of a very thin potato and spinach ravioli and Romero Farm vegetables then topped with a ruby grapefruit butter.  To cap off the evening, Lisa and I split a spectacular dessert.  The caramel creme brûlée is topped with a Venezuelan milk chocolate covered hazelnut ice cream log.  I love a brûlée that’s thin so you get the crunch with every bit.  This was and it was sinfully decadent.  I think both of us could have licked the plate!  Lisa order decaf and when it came out, our server brought me one of the cookies so I didn’t feel left out.  Such a thoughtful gesture!  I ordered a decaf too and enjoyed a wonderful end to a day in Santa Fe.

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