So, yesterday was a pretty long day because we had to drive from Alamogordo to Santa Fe...but not before heading over to White Sands one more time! We woke up late and missed free breakfast, so we headed to a local cafe (because, really, good coffee is the most important part of any road trip), The Olive Branch, for some really good coffee and breakfast sandwiches. From there, we drove the 20 miles or so to White Sands. We went into the Visitor's Center to "rent" our used flying saucer sled (you can purchase new or used sleds and the return them when you're done for a partial refund), so we could sleigh ride down the dunes. We drove out about 8 miles into the park, with the intention of doing a bit of the 4.6 mile hike. About .3 miles in, we were like, yeah, right...not happening...it was hot, sunny and very windy, so we headed straight to some dunes to try sledding. Turns out, sand sledding is tough in the off-season because it's so windy and the lack of other visitors means the sand isn't packed down at all...like trying to sled in fresh snow. We did get going after a little while and it was pretty fun...and there wasn't another soul in sight. The challenge is trudging back up the dune after you slide down to the bottom...no chair lift. Unfortunately, the wind just wouldn't give up, so we headed out after about 45 minutes...but it was definitely amazing and worth the trip.
On our way to Santa Fe, we were again reminded of the beauty of a road trip. While reading our road tripping book, we discovered Truth or Consequences, NM, home of Riverbend Hot Springs Lodge, supposedly the only location where you can hot spring on the bank of the Rio Grande. So, while waiting for our first oil change at Jiffy Lube, we called up Riverbend and made a 3:00 PM reservation at one of their hot spring baths. Awesome. Riverbend is actually pretty much a hostel with a bunch of hot spring pools and it fits in perfectly with this small artist colony town. Naturally, 4:00 PM arrived quite quickly, so we said goodbye to our relaxing detour and headed onward and northward. Along the way, we realized we were on old Route 66.
We arrived in Santa Fe around 6:30 and checked into our LQ. We were starving because all we had was our delicious breakfast at The Olive Tree. We read about Maria's, home of the best margaritas in Santa Fe, so, of course, we headed there for dinner. The food was delicious...tacos and blue corn enchiladas...you can even watch their homemade tortillas being made. They offer probably 100 different margaritas (one that costs $75) and over 100 types of tequila...somehow we wound up with the same one, but it was amazing...and incredibly strong.
This morning we woke up and got ready for our short time in downtown Santa Fe. The town is full of beautiful adobe buildings and more jewelry and pottery shops than you can imagine. We headed to Loretto Chapel, home of the Miraculous Staircase. Neither of us had heard of this before, but the story goes that Loretto was built without a staircase up to the choir chamber. The Sisters of Loretto prayed for an answer to this problem and finally a mysterious carpenter showed up, built the staircase and left without accepting payment. Besides the obvious miracle of the last-minute savior, the structure of the staircase itself has baffled experts to this day. It's a pretty interesting story and more on the stairs can be found here - http://www.lorettochapel.com/staircase.html.
After some shopping and a quick stop at a very tiny, yet delicious, coffee stand, we got back on the road towards Denver.
We arrived in Denver around 6:00 PM and, after checking in, we found a nearby brewery. Luckily, Denver brews plenty of beer that goes above and beyond Coors. We are staying pretty close to the Rockies stadium, so we found Breckenridge Brewery, right across the street, and walked over from our hotel. Not too shabby...and they have samplers, so we will be visiting again tomorrow for some more. We tried to purchase tickets for a pub crawl for tomorrow, but they were sold out, so we're planning our own. Should be fun, even though the temperatures are a bit lower than we've been used to (it's about 45 degrees here now...brrr.)
Just saying hi, looks like you are having a great time!
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