Gallup to Santa Fe, NM

Ethan & CC having lunch at The Balcony on the Plaza in Santa Fe.
Ethan at the Frank Howel Gallery.

Having fantastic desserts at The Terrace.

The two boys in a sitting area in La Fonda on the Plaza.

Ethan & Miles showing off outside the Terrace Restaurant, the main dining room at La Fonda.

The altar at Loretto Chapel.

The miraculous staircase at Loretto Chapel.

Back of Loretto Chapel.

New Mexico, 7/19/11 & 7/20/11

Our drive from Gallup was an easy one. We arrived in Santa Fe and found that our hotel that I booked was too far from the Plaza. This is the reason we stopped here. We didn't have time to do much touring so we wanted to get a good feel of the city and this was the area to be.

The staff at the Hilton called LaFonda and booked a suite for us and it was terrific! Ethan loved his small bedroom area.

We hit the Plaza as soon as we checked in and had our luggage delivered. Our first objective was to get some lunch. We found an outside dining area at The Balcony on the Plaza. It was the perfect place for us. Ethan got his quesadillas for lunch and was happy.

After lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon locating a new pair of mocassins with rubber soles for Ethan and in art galleries.

Dinner that night was at The Terrace in LaFonda. Ethan again had a great dinner. He even tried a taste of his PaPere's asparagus. He topped his meal off with two fudge brownies sandwiching a large scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream.

Miles and Ethan had fun before going back to the room searching for flamingos, prickly pair, and saguaro cactus throughout the hotel. That night we rented "Rio" and we all enjoyed it.

Wednesday morning came early. We were still trying to get accustom to the time change. We managed to have a great breakfast, pack up and get the bellman to get our luggage in the car before we hit the Plaza again. Our first mission was to see the Loretto Chapel's mysterious staircase. It was truly a marvelous structure.

The story goes that the Sisters of Loretto had the Chapel built in 1873. But the builder completed the project without a staircase leading to the choir loft. The sisters prayed a novena
to St. Joseph. On the evening of the ninth day a wandering carpenter appeared and offered to build the staircase for them.

The carpenter built the structure supposedly in one night without nails - only wooden pegs. The staircase has two 360 degree turns and no visible means of support. The design was innovative for the time and the design is considered still perplex by experts today.

We enjoyed our morning and ended it with a special turquoise dragonfly. Then headed out for home.

Wichita Falls, TX was the night's destination.

The next night, July21, we stayed in Shreveport. We arrived early enough that we found a little Italian restaurant then ended the evening at the movie theater seeing, "Mr. Popper's Penguins".

We were all looking forward to getting to Birmingham on Friday.