Oct 1 Touring the streets of Santa Fe

When we awoke this morning we were amazed at the excellent television coverage of the balloon fiesta which started today in nearby Albuquerque. We had to literally tear ourselves away from the coverage to travel the 8 miles to downtown Santa Fe for some sight seeing.

We had checked it out at the visitors info bureau the day before and located a highly recommended open air "trolley tour" of Santa Fe. The starting point was in the heart of downtown Santa Fe in front of the Loretto Chapel, a historical old church built in 1882. When we arrived, the local street merchants were already setting up along the walkways. Colorful flags adorned the passageways and blew in the gentle morning breeze. We ventured inside the mall adjacent to the chapel and relaxed over coffee and muffins while we waited for our tour to begin.

Our tour guide was the typical Santa Fe local with long, grey streaked hair tied back under his cowboy hat. He had a definite "gift for gab" and a story to tell around every corner. We learned that Santa Fe has a very strict building code and want everything to have the same adobe style architecture.

Adobe is a mixture of sand, soil, straw and water which the ancient Indians used to build their villages. Spanish settlers knew the material from their homeland and readily adopted it here. It was ideal for building in an area that had few large hardwood trees for lumber. The Spanish added refinements - making the adobe into bricks, and creating the distinctive curved corner fireplaces that can heat an entire room. Many of Santa Fe's 400 year old adobe structures still stand...which is considering a miracle as it is subjected to winter snow and summer rain.

A select few old Victorian buildings in Santa Fe were "grandfathered in" and remain in their original style. The rest of the old structures were covered in adobe complete with the stylistic rounded corners. Any new construction can use whatever building materials they wish as long as they "top it off" with adobe and maintain the visual style and a tone of brown to blend in with everyone else. It fits in within the downtown plaza area to have a uniform look but it is indeed strange to see even in the outlying areas a Burger King, Dairy Queen, Walgreens, Old Navy, etc. all in adobe brown.

Art is a very important part of Santa Fe. It is estimated that one in six residents is employed by the art industry...painters, sculptors, photographers, framers, curators, foundry workers, and more. Our tour guide took us through the concentrated district of art museums, galleries and workshops. There were awe inspiring outdoor statuary...the type that you don't even ask how much but just enjoy the view. Many street corners through out the city are adorned with similar local works of statuary. It definitely adds to the experience.

Much of our tour was out of "lifestyles of the rich and famous" as we viewed large sprawling estates owned by movie stars and other celebrities. My favorite was a 12,000 sq ft home with lots of windows on a hillside. Carol Burnett had it built for herself ten years ago. Once it was done she decided it was too large and cold so she put it on the market...and there it sits unsold 10 years later. To date the only occupant has been a caretaker. It is told that asking price is currently $6 million.

We ended our perfect day of touring with a visit to the oldest house in Santa Fe. However the vintage of the house is not what attracted us...we went there for a sample of "Upper Crust Pizza". Ah yes, sampling Southwestern cuisine !

For some people the altitude (7000 feet...1500 feet higher than the mile high city of Denver) decreases their appetite, we may have the high altitude head aches but it has not kept us from indulging in a little pizza.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's trip to nearby Los Alamos.