New Mexico

This was my first visit to New Mexico.  I had to add it to my "Places to Visit" list after hearing Vicki talk about it with such fondness.  We went to Santa Fe and Albuquerque on this trip. . . Santa Fe was my favorite part.  It's quite a charming town.  

 

Our first stop was the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.  Silly me, I expected there to be a lot of her works there. . . There were only a few, along with a bunch of other stuff from this exhibit.  

After the museum, we headed out to explore the town.  Joan thoroughly explored the shopping possibilities while I checked out the local geocaches.  Linda went for the well-rounded approach and did a little of both.  Later, we met up to see the San Miguel Chapel . . . the oldest still-used church in the U.S.  It was built around 1610.

 The chaplain was giving a tour to a group of soldiers while we were there.

Down the street was a building that is supposed to be the oldest house in the U.S.  I think the folks in Mesa Verde would disagree since they built theirs about 800 years earlier.

We also visited the nearby Loretto Chapel.  The story there says that when the monks moved out and the nuns moved in, they didn't want to use a ladder to get to the second floor but there wasn't enough room to build a staircase.  They prayed for a solution and were visited by a carpenter who built this miracle staircase for them with no nails or other supports then disappeared.  They think it was St. Joseph.

The last stop was Albuquerque where we rode the world's longest tram (2.7 miles) to Sandia Peak and took in some great views.