Easter in Santa Fe

So our 3rd trip to Durango was another great time. Here is a final sunset before we left town...



On Thursday we headed down to Santa Fe. It was windy and snowy...very windy at times





Fortunately it's a (relatively) short drive of just over 200 miles, so after unpacking we had lots of time to head into town so I could buy local ghost story books. Our house is a little less than 15 minutes North of downtown Santa Fe and the drive is unique

These shots along US-84 / US-285 are walkers along the shoulder - making the annual Holy Thursday / Good Friday pilgrimage to El Santuario de Chimayó. We'll make the trip next week, as there is a chapel and clay with mystical healing powers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Santuario_de_Chimayo

Ironically, the town of Chimayó supposedly is a bad drug place

Regardless, the faithful walk a variety of distances. These folks have a good 25 miles to go and it was cold and snowy. Hard to see but one of the guys in the 2nd pic is carrying a wooden cross







A few exits up from our place is the Santa Fe Opera Theatre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe_Opera)



Also along this short stretch 7-mile stretch is fun art, apparently native designed and painted (http://www.highplainstraveler.info/pages/84-freeway.htm)







And finally we approach Santa Fe...



One of the fun things we passed by Thursday and went back to Friday was The Ghost Ranch. I guess it is run by the Presbyterian Church and the one not in Santa Fe is where Georgia O'Keeffe spent a lot of time. The one in Santa Fe is a B&B, amongst other things, and has some fun sculptures (http://www.ghostranch.org/lodging/ghost-ranch-in-santa-fe.html)









Walking around historic Santa Fe, there is fun art everywhere. Here are two examples:





There are also plenty of cool Catholic icons and architecture. Hopefully tomorrow we'll swing by The Loretto Chapel and it's amazing staircase (also with healing powers)



Today - Good Friday - was a strange day. Lots of dark clouds, snow and then sun. This kept repeating itself all day. Here is Maureen getting covered in light snow



And here is a shot from our house at 3pm. Hard to see but a bit of a white-out. I remember when I was growing up a good Catholic boy it always seemed to storm at 3pm - the time Jesus died. I guess I'd be pissed too...



We are here for at least another 9 nights...and it should be sunny and over 60 the next 3 days, including 67 on Monday