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Have Books, Will Travel

I am a born traveler. My very first photo, snapped at the hospital shortly after my birth, became my first passport photo. I boarded my first international flight shortly thereafter, and I have been traveling ever since. To date, I have visited 4 continents, 24 countries outside of the USA, and 31 states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. My very patient husband jokes that I always start planning the next trip on the flight home (sometimes I actually start before that!). I think the planning is half the fun. Some of my favorite travel memories include family trips with my daughter and husband to Aspen, our honeymoon in Rome, Christmas with my parents in London, our little family's favorite beach trip to Puerto Rico, and my first solo adventure to Big Sky, Montana.  I am also an avid reader, reading more than 100 books every year and currently working my way through the Boxall 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list. I come by my love of books naturally. I was raised by a librar...
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A Weekend in Historic Santa Fe

My husband and I first visited Santa Fe about 10 years ago, and we didn’t love all the Southwestern art. I was busy with work at the time and didn’t do my usual research, and we left wondering what all the Santa Fe buzz was about. Fast forward to this winter when we had an opportunity for a two-night getaway, and we chose to give Santa Fe a redo. I am so glad we did because we had a wonderful trip! On this trip we focused on some of the incredible history Santa Fe has to offer.

Where to Stay:

La Fonda on the Plaza is in a fantastic location with easy attached parking, and is walkable to lots of shops, tourist attractions, and restaurants. The hotel also has a nice enclosed courtyard restaurant, a lovely rooftop bar with views, and a lobby bar with music on select nights.

What To Do in and around Santa Fe for the History Buff:

Bandelier National Monument

  • Monroe Gallery of Photography
  • San Miguel Mission, the oldest church in North America
  • Bandelier National Monument (about 45 minutes from Santa Fe)
  • Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos (about 40 minutes from Santa Fe)   

Before checking in to our hotel we drove about 40 minutes outside of town to Los Alamos. We started off at the Los Alamos History Museum which is a skip (unless you are like me and are just popping in to get your National Passport Stamp), and then we made our way to the Bradbury Science Museum down the road (just a few blocks away). The museum exhibits explore the history of the Manhattan Project and culminate with a short film. We really enjoyed this stop and suggest about 45 minutes for the visit. Beware that the exhibits are a bit pro-atomic bomb, which was a bit of a surprise, but if you can shrug that off, this is definitely worth a visit. If you do stop in Los Alamos, I also recommend a stop at El Parasol for amazing chicken tacos. This is an order at the counter set up and not very atmospheric, but the tacos (shredded chicken with lettuce and avocado in a fried corn tortilla) are delicious and worth the stop.

Bandelier National Monument is a short 20-minute drive from Los Alamos. Bandelier protects over 33,000 acres of canyon and mesa country along with the evidence of human presence in the area dating back over 11,000 years. The park includes part of what is the ancestral and traditional lands of more than 20 tribal nations. My husband and I loved climbing up into the cliff dwellings and really using our imaginations to discuss what life must have been like here so many years ago. This was a real highlight of our trip, as it gets high marks for beauty and historic interest. I suggest starting at the visitor center and hiking out from there, and then you can do other hikes around the park if you like.

Visiting San Miguel Mission

Once in Santa Fe proper, everything is centrally located and easy to reach on foot. We really loved the Monroe Gallery of Photography, which had an incredible photojournalism collection. The collection offers an interesting lookback on current events of the last 70 or so years. We also enjoyed visiting San Miguel Mission, which dates back to 1610 and is the oldest church in North America. The Georgia O’Keefe Museum is worth a visit as well.

For Shopping, Check Out:          

  • Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse at 202 Galisteo for a nice selection of books with interesting staff picks and an adjoining coffee shop to sit and people watch while you enjoy your new book
  • Sun Country Traders at 123 E Water for silver jewelry and unique gifts
    Wine Tasting at Gruet Winery
  • Doodlets at 120 Don Gaspar, which may be the cutest gift shop around 

Where to Eat & Drink:

  •         Breakfast at Pasqual’s
  •         Fine dining dinner at Geronimo’s
  •         Gruet Winery Santa Fe Tasting Room for wine flights  

What to Read While You’re There

Santa Fe is a bit of an artist haven, and writers George R.R. Martin, Cormac McCarthy, and Hampton Sides have all made their homes in Santa Fe and the surrounding areas. I read a lot of books set in New Mexico before writing this, and my far and away favorite was Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford. This is the coming-of-age story of Josh Arnold, who moves from Mobile, Alabama with his mother to their summer home in a small fictional New Mexicomountain town during World War II to wait out the war and finish high school while his father is overseas. In his final years of school, Josh does the growing up one expects in this style of novel (minus some of the usual angst) and in an atmosphere that’s made uncertain by the war, struggling to fit in in a new place, and in the care of his mother who is homesick and lonely.   

The classic novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, is beautifully written and will probably appeal to those who grew up devouring pioneer stories. The San Miguel Mission and its history features in the book, so I enjoyed reading about one of the places we visited. It’s a quiet, slow-paced book. I will warn that this book was first published in 1927, so the historic references and racial relationships are fairly dated.  

For something a little different, I also suggest Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. It’s the darkly comedic tale of the search for Dr. Felix Hoenikker, one of the founding fathers of the atomic bomb. This book has absolutely nothing to do with Santa Fe, but where better to read atomic bomb satire than after visiting the cite of the Manhattan Project?

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