New Mexico

I think I saw my new homeland when I saw New Mexico. I have always felt a strong connection to Georgia O’Keeffe, and saw why she spent the rest of her life there after traveling to New Mexico.

New Mexico also marked my first attempt at traveling with a walker.

We flew into Albuquerque and rented a car. We drove north to Santa Fe for a night. We stayed in a lovely hotel, Hotel St. Francis near the plaza and shopping downtown. Unfortunately, the hotel wasn’t very accessible. It was built in 1880. There was a half-flight of stairs from the lobby to the elevator. Other than that, the rooms were decorated in themes, nicely appointed. Ours was a garden theme. The room appears to be one on their website. The hotel restaurant was good. The area was loaded with shopping without a lot of walking distance. There was a Georgia O’Keeffe museum just a few blocks away. Great gift shop.

After a leisurely morning in Santa Fe, we headed north to our friend’s house. She lives outside Cebolla, NM. The scenery along the way made us stop for photo ops a lot! Unbelievably beautiful rocks. It was September, but there had been rains, so we saw flowers aplenty.

We were only in New Mexico for 4 days, but it was so memorable and packed with new adventures.

We spent one day driving west to ruins at Aztec. There were numerous sites within driving range for us. I research online trying to find the one I thought was most accessible. This was the winner.

Another day, we went east to Taos. We drove it as a loop, heading south first on 84, 68, then back on 64. The entire route was beautiful. Along 64, we saw a large collection of earth-bermed homes that were unique.

We also went south to the Ghost Ranch, which was where Georgia O’Keeffe lived. They had a small museum dedicated to dinosaurs of the area and her artwork. We also paused at Abiquiu, an artist type colony. Apparently celebrities have discovered it so the prices are outrageous. But fun to look at.

When I went to Albuquerque a few years ago, I noticed they don’t seem to have the espresso stands you see EVERYWHERE in the Pacific Northwest. It got me thinking about starting a drive through down there. Then when we returned on this trip 5 years later, all they seem to have are a few Starbucks in city centers. That’s my big secret- -move to New Mexico and start selling espresso!

We plan to return to visit again, there is so much to do that we have tons of new ideas to keep us busy. The walker made many things possible and gave me hope for more traveling.

One of my favorite things was going to places Georgia O'Keeffe may have gone to paint. I took photos and they compare to the paintings amazingly well. Here is a sample: