Enchanted By Santa Fe, NM

Santa Fe is the place we’ve been most excited to visit in the “Land of Enchantment” state. I was probably primed to love Santa Fe by my Grandma. It was one of her favorite places and she even decided to become Catholic while visiting one of the churches as a young adult. Now that we’ve visited several of them, I wish I could ask her more about it.

We spent the second week of October boondocking in the Santa Fe National Forest, a mere 15 minutes from downtown. This free spot seemed almost too good to be true.

Santa Fe is such a beautiful, historic, and multicultural city. Its Pueblo Indian, Spanish, and cowboy heritage is evident in the architecture, food, and art that is so uniquely Santa Fe.

Founded in 1610, it’s the oldest state capital and has the oldest building and oldest church in the US. With a population of only ~90K and no tall buildings, it hardly even feels like a city, yet has the amenities and cultural experiences of one.

We spent most afternoons wandering around the very walkable adobe-lined streets and visiting the many art galleries and churches.

Since the 1920s, artists have been drawn to Santa Fe, and today it’s one of the world’s top art markets. Some galleries are located in historic buildings and gave us a chance to see the inside elements of the architecture.

There are also several art museums that looked interesting and not that expensive. We went to the free art museum located in the Capitol Building. These two sculptures were on display at Museum Hill.

San Miguel is the oldest church in the US, beginning in 1610 according to oral history.

Next, is the Loretto Chapel, home to the “miraculous stairs”. This chapel is currently a tourist attraction (costs $5). The story behind the stairs is that the original builder of the church died before they were finished. The Sisters of Loretto credit St. Joseph for building them because, after several days of prayer, a stranger showed up and built the stairs and then disappeared.

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi is also a must-visit. The part that we enjoyed the most was the incredible life-sized bronze Stations of the Cross in a garden behind the church.

Last, we visited El Santuario de Chimayo, 45 minutes north of Santa Fe. It is located in the pretty foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which we need to explore more. This chapel is known for having holy dirt, which people claim has curative powers. It’s become known as the Lourdes of North America.

I almost titled this post “Art and Churches in Santa Fe” when Michael protested that we went to Kakawa Chocolate House three times. They specialize in Mesoamerican hot chocolate recipes, which we tried several of, plus their ice cream and brownies.

We also went to Santa Fe Brewing.

Last, we went to Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return. Meow Wolf has several locations, but it all started in Santa Fe. This popular attraction is a 70-room interactive art experience created by over 100 local artists. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s part art museum, part playground, and part escape room. Basically, you are exploring a family’s house, searching for clues, and trying to figure out what happened to them. The house has seemingly “normal” rooms but the appliances and closets and fireplaces are portals to whacky, colorful, mesmerizing spaces. It was kind of crowded and expensive, but we spent a very fun 3+ hours there.

We had such a great time in Santa Fe that we completely forgot to check the weather, which resulted in a boondocking fail. We had planned to move, as usual, on Sunday. Well, I woke in the middle of the night to the sound of rain. I think only about 3/4 of an inch but that was enough to turn our campsite entrance into a mud pit. There was no way we could tow our trailer out until Tuesday afternoon when Michael convinced me that we should try.

It took us 2 days of driving after work to get to our next destination, Palo Duro Canyon State Park just south of Amarillo, Texas.