Steve and I were so excited to be revisiting Santa Fe to Albuquerque New Mexico, and a few of the other places that we had been to 5 years ago.

This cool cowboy was pointing the way for our drive to Albuquerque

Beautiful scenery along our route to Albuquerque

For my hubby’s birthday 5 years ago we went to the Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Scottsdale and Sedona. We knew that December was far too cold a month to return to the Grand Canyon. It was 29º F and extremely windy in October, when we went. I felt like I could be blown off the cliffs’ rims. We will certainly return one day, but not in 2020. And since we were working our way to California we chose Albuquerque and Santa Fe for a return visit.

Discovered this fabulous metal agave sculpture on the highway on our way to Santa Fe

Our choice to stay at the Route 66 RV Park in Edgewood NM was a good one. There was easy access to downtown Albuquerque, shopping, Santa Fe and the Turquoise Trail. And we were lucky enough to have sunny, warmish days. But the nights were quite chilly. To our dismay, we discovered that our furnace wasn’t working properly and burned quite a bit of propane. It was great that one of the park amenities was that they sold propane. It was also fortunate that we had a couple of electric ceramic heaters to keep us warm so we didn’t freeze to death.

Plaza Café in Santa Fe NM

An inside view of Plaza Café

Love the colorful banquette and hubcap art!!!

We drove the Jeep up to Santa Fe to have lunch and to see what had changed since we had been there. We chose the Plaza Café for our lunch because they offered outdoor seating. The patio setting was pretty and the weather perfect for al fresco dining. But OMG. The restaurant dining room was so cool. It had a real 50s vibe with lots of neon and brightly colored vinyl seating and bar stools. It was so disappointing that we had to use our imagination to picture the large bar and dining room abuzz with conviviality.

The original Plaza Café circa 1947

According to their website “The Plaza Cafe, Santa Fe’s oldest restaurant, has been serving highly acclaimed, authentic traditional dishes since 1905. In 1947, Dan Razatos, a Greek immigrant with an American dream, took over the Plaza Cafe and his family has been feeding Santa Fe ever since.  Dan married a local girl named Beneranda and together they ran the Plaza and raised six children.  As their children grew they all worked at the Plaza and helped to create what the restaurant is today.

Just part of Steve’s Plaza Breakfast

That’s my yummy Hatch Green Chile Cheeseburger

See how juicy that burger looks? And that’s Steve’s fluffy pancakes behind my plate.

The menu at Plaza Café was large and quite varied. Steve was in a breakfast kind of mood. And I remembered how good green chile burgers tasted. We were each able to quench our cravings. Looking for a bit of variety, Steve ordered the Plaza Breakfast which included two small hotcakes, two eggs sunny side up, thick cut sugar cured bacon and hash browns along with a toasted bagel. My Hatch Green Chile Cheeseburger was scrumptious! The 8-ounce burger was made from a proprietary blend of New Mexico grass fed beef that was topped with melted sharp cheddar cheese and Hatch Green chiles on a brioche bun. And that big juicy burger was accompanied by some uber delicious fries.

These fantastic animal sculptures caught our eye on Canyon Road

Children just want to have fun in this wonderful bronze sculpture at the Sage Gallery in Santa Fe

More bright, cheery and colorful art along Canyon Road in Santa Fe NM

With very full bellies we took a drive to Canyon Road. This is a street that is dedicated to the country’s finest art. Along this road we were able to see fine art from artists throughout the United States and the world, all in one place. With a selection featuring everything from traditional to abstract contemporary, collectors have the benefit of finding incredible and noteworthy original work. But that art comes with very expensive prices. Plus we have no room in our Ladybug for anymore art. So we opted for a slow drive along Canyon Road that gave us an awesome view of stunning sculptures from the comfort of our car’s seats.

The New Mexico State Capitol building in Santa Fe

Our first sighting of the white stuff!

From Canyon Road we went to visit the Roundhouse. The New Mexico State Capitol building is the only round state capitol in the United States. How’s that for an obscure bit of New Mexico trivia?

The Turquoise Trail is the scenic route from Santa Fe to Albuquerque New Mexico

Garden of the Gods on the Turquoise Trail

The gateway to the Box Studio

A metal origami sculpture at the Box Studio Sculpture Garden

Because we knew we wanted to take the scenic 54 mile Turquoise Trail from Santa Fe to Albuquerque New Mexico, we thought we better get to it while we still had plenty of daylight. The last time we took the trail we only made one stop along the route. I had spied some really great metal sculptures on a property and Steve had made a quick u-turn so we could visit the sculpture garden at Box Studio. This time we put the address for Box Studio in our GPS so we wouldn’t miss it. As luck would have it the gallery and garden was closed due to Covid. We were very disappointed. But at least we could see some new additions from the entry gate.

From Box Studio we continued our drive to the tiny town of Madrid. It took us about 5 minutes to see everything in Madrid! So we continued on to the town of Cerrillos. This quaint little hamlet felt unchanged from days of yore.

At one time Cerrillos (little hills) was considered as the capitol of New Mexico. It’s mining district is one of the oldest and most marked of the old Spanish mineral developments in the territory. There were 21 saloons, 4 hotels and 2 churches that were busy there in the booming 1880s and 1890s. Tiny Cerrillos was host to many famous people including Theodore Rosevelt, Lew Wallace, Thomas A. Edison, Fray Angélico Chávez and Walt Disney. Disney filmed The Nine Lives of El Fego Baca in Cerrillos in 1958 and Young Guns was filmed there in 1988. Many millions in gold was mined in the area along with tons of turquoise.

The Cerrillos Petting Zoo with unusual chickens

Just love the fluff that crowns these chickens’ heads!

And the Cerrillos Petting Zoo also had this lovable llama!

The Cerrillos Mercantile is a hidden gem on the Turquoise Trail

On our visit we found a lovely little petting zoo which was not open. But fortunately we could see the wonderful animals even if we couldn’t actually pet them. But it was the cute Cerrillos Station mercantile that drew us in. After all we needed a magnet for our collection!

Home in time to light the second candle of Hanukah this December 2020

The evening brought a blanket of pristine white snow to Albuquerque

After our stop in Cerrillos we continued back to Ladybug in time to light the second candle of Hanukah, have some dinner and watch as mother nature blanketed the ground with a cover of pure white snow. Wait. What? SNOW!!!

Hershi didn’t know what to make of the cold white stuff. After all, he grew up in Florida!