A Great Southwest Road Trip: Santa Fe

Santa Fe, NM

May 5-6

Trip notes: the name "Santa Fe" evokes romantic images of artists nestled in cozy canyons, surrounded by cactuses, continuously howling purple coyotes, and eccentric new-age decorations.

It is a bit different when you get here. In a nutshell, Santa Fe is a city--not a pueblo, not a town, a city--and it has the traffic to prove it. And the coyotes are howling, all right. At the prices.

New Mexico had been so friendly, so lovely, and then we arrived in Santa Fe. The first person we met was a lady walking her bicycle, who, when asked for directions, decided that Mother and I were infected with some sort of deadly bacteria. I asked this donkey what he thought of her and he said she was a nasty little thing.

After that we tried the Georgia O'Keefe museum, and found it wantingly small. Nice, but small. There were less than twenty or so of the 400 paintings in the museum's collection on display, and many of them were not examples of O'Keefe's best work. We got through the museum, introductory video, and gift shop inside half an hour. There were nice flowers out back, though:

For art galleries, Santa Fe has one or two excellent galleries near the plaza. But most of the good galleries on are on Canyon Road. That's where the really snooty types hang out:

Actually, I'm an art snob myself. See, there are two different types of art snobs. The kind that are snobby about the quality of the art, and the kind that are snobby about the price tag (bigger being better). I got the feeling that some gallery staff were more interested in the latter. Some got downright snippy when we turned around to leave, as if there was some actual expectation that a random tourist walking in off the street would pay 50,000 for a painting. I think they should all just suck down some prozac.

I would recommend one gallery, with an artist named Hahn, on Canyon Road, who does excellent rodent paintings. Superb portrayals of mice and rats defeating feline enemies. I can't remember the name of the gallery, but it has this big-ass rabbit out front:

There's interesting sculptures all over the place in Santa Fe, if you look carefully:

The museums are all quite small. The Indian Arts museum was the most interesting to me, but we also stopped at a couple of others. I can't remember which one this was, but the best thing about the entire museum was the beautiful courtyard, with a water feature and brilliantly colored murals:

After two nights, we packed up our little casita (lovely casitas near downtown are a bargain compared to the overpriced hotels, and you can save money by making your own dinner), and trolled up the road for a scenic drive. We stopped in Las Vegas along the way.

No, not THAT Las Vegas. THIS Las Vegas:

You can tell the difference because the one in New Mexico looks like small town America in the twilight zone. We ordered tea and soda at a local cafe and the staff looked at us like we were aliens. Apparently in Las Vegas, New Mexico, nobody EVER orders a drink in a diner without purchasing a meal. We aren't sure, but we think we may be permanently banished from Las Vegas for this indescretion. The other Las Vegas, as you know, never banishes you for anything.

We're already at our next destination. Check back in a couple of days to find out what it is. But I'll tell you this--I'm in a 100+ year-old hotel with hi-speed internet access, listening to a lonely biker endlessly circle around front, revving his engine.