Santa Fe, New Mexico

Driving into Santa Fe was so magical.  The landscape looked so different than I expected, hilly and dotted with green scrubs that looked like cotton balls (only green).   The city was so cool.  Thankfully that’s in two different ways.  The temperature dropped from 102 degrees to 73 degrees.  There was also a fabulous feel to all the structures.  Artistic attention was involved in the design of everything from the gas stations to the churches to the iron gates and all the little details.

We got to spend time traveling on the “Turquoise Trail” on the way to Madrid, a little artist’s town 20 miles outside of Santa Fe.  The coolest thing there was a little artist’ s enclave at the entrance to the city.  I found a really great wooden sculpture of a woman and the blue car in the photos.  In spite of my real interests, I did a lot of shopping in Santa Fe.  A little jewelry and something you’ll see later.

One special occurance happened on Friday night.  Debrah and I decided to go to services at one of the local synagogues.  It was a neat service with great guitar accompaniment to the prayers and songs that reminded me of my days at summer camp.  But the real surprise came at the end of the service when the rabbi asked any visitors to introduce themselves.  When the service ended a man came up to us and asked if we might know his mother and sister who live in Tampa.   Well here’s to Sara Scher and Roberta Golding… we got to meet your brother and son Paul Golding.

One other incredible aspect to Santa Fe was the B & B I found called the Pueblo Benito Inn.  We had a charming bungalow in a historic building once belonging to the New Mexico Attorney General.  It was added onto and our cottage was a two bedroom Southwestern gem.  The lady in front of the painting of a Native American woman is on staff at the B & B.  She was telling us that she walked from Santa Fe to California to promote awareness of the harm still being done by our government to the lands of the Native Americans.  I drive cross-country and she walked.  Very Impressive.

Prior to leaving Santa Fe for our trip to Sedona, Arizona Debrah mentioned that she would like to learn how to play Texas Hold’em.  So I found a way for us to play in the car.  Debrah dealed a hand for herself, her husband, me, my sister Risa and her partner Peggy.  We played for five hours all the way to Sedona.