Santa Fe...lots of art and clean air!

On Saturday, we drove into Santa Fe, NM, and set up camp at the Santa Fe Skies RV Park, a great campground with lots of open space. We headed into downtown to see some of the tourist spots, and found thousands of our closest friends doing the same thing. Though the pedestrian and vehicular traffic were a bit thick, we managed to see quite a bit.

Santa Fe considers itself the most artistic city in the U.S. and it's easy to see why. There are art sculptures all over and lots of artists and artists' galleries in the area.

Windmills at Wiford Gallery

Gallery on Canyon Road

We started with a walk down Canyon Road, an area choked with charming artists' galleries, colorful studios and little inviting outdoor cafes.

We perused some local art, and chatted with an artist at the Wiford Gallery, with a beautiful display of windmills out front. Next, we walked farther up Canyon Road and saw one after another interesting sculptures, some quite large, most of animals like bears, pigs, antelope and a buffalo.

Tree Stump Angel

Cathedral of St Francis of Assisi

We continued walking toward the downtown area and along a little creek where we found five or six tree stumps that had been carved and painted to look like angels. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the sky was a perfect shade of blue...no haze at all. Santa Fe is also proud of its clean air, and for good reason.

Our walk took us toward the central Plaza where we saw the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (built between 1869 and 1887) decked out for the Easter holiday. We walked around aimlessly, window shopping and admiring the old architecture.

Sena Plaza

At one point, we happened upon a great little courtyard, named Sena Plaza, in the middle of a building. The Sena name is in Ken's family, so we had to stop and check it out. It was full of plants and flowers and a pretty arbor with shops around the sides and a restaurant in one corner. So pretty!

Oldest House in the U.S.

San Miguel Mission...
notice the pigeon on the cross!

We also saw what is described as the Oldest House in the U.S., built around 1612, next to the San Miguel Mission, the country's oldest church. Portions of the church are parts of an abandoned Pueblo, dating to 1100, incorporated into the construction of the church, built between 1600 and 1646.

What a neat day!