Santa Fe, New Mexico

November 21, 2013

We drove the 70 or so miles from Albuquerque to Santa Fe yesterday.  It was chilly and rainy, but we still managed to take in the sights of Santa Fe.  The first stop was Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi. It was built between 1869 and 1886.

St Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of the animals

details on the door

a bit bummed he couldn't go in to see his Patron Saint

Walking up the road, lining the Governors Building facing the Santa Fe Plaza are licensed, local Indian jewelry vendors. Many of the vendors are also the artists that make the jewelry. Many of the artists take great pride in the turquoise they use and the other materials they use. The vendors must be licensed and the inspectors make sure that the products or authentic.  We spent some time talking with the natives and we all bought some sterling silver and turquoise jewelry.

Santa Fe!  Hurray!  We’re going downtown.  I think we are going to buy some things from the natives.  After we were done, my Dad got a journey of life necklace, my Mom got a turquoise ring and earrings, and we also got some bracelets.  We also had to go to a chapel with the Miracle Staircase.  It was a spiral staircase that no one could walk up.  My Mom of course took a bunch pictures.  I was tired and bored like Tyler, so I was glad when we headed back.  Off to the RV Park!

~Jack

I bought this ring for $25

Scott's necklace. It symbolizes the Journey of Life.

Kids didn't want to leave empty handed so we picked up these small bracelets which I have since inherited.

By now, we are getting quite chilly so next stop was the French Pastry Shop & Creperie.  A couple of hot coffees and a few treats back in the RV and we were warmed up enough to go see one last site…

The Loretto Chapel with their miraculous staircase. Here is a write up about it.

Two mysteries surround the spiral staircase in the Loretto Chapel: the identity of its builder and the physics of its construction.

When the Loretto Chapel was completed in 1878, there was no way to access the choir loft twenty-two feet above. Carpenters were called in to address the problem, but they all concluded access to the loft would have to be via ladder as a staircase would interfere with the interior space of the small Chapel.

Legend says that to find a solution to the seating problem, the Sisters of the Chapel made a novena to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. On the ninth and final day of prayer, a man appeared at the Chapel with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work. Months later, the elegant circular staircase was completed, and the carpenter disappeared without pay or thanks. After searching for the man (an ad even ran in the local newspaper) and finding no trace of him, some concluded that he was St. Joseph himself, having come in answer to the sisters' prayers.

The stairway's carpenter, whoever he was, built a magnificent structure. The design was innovative for the time and some of the design considerations still perplex experts today.

The staircase has two 360 degree turns and no visible means of support. Also, it is said that the staircase was built without nails—only wooden pegs. Questions also surround the number of stair risers relative to the height of the choir loft and about the types of wood and other materials used in the stairway's construction.

Over the years many have flocked to the Loretto Chapel to see the Miraculous Staircase. The staircase has been the subject of many articles, TV specials, and movies including "Unsolved Mysteries" and the television movie titled "The Staircase.”

And to end another day, tonight’s family game was Beat the Parents! and they did! Boy, do they love playing games...definitely something we are going to continue to do nightly because we have so many uninterrupted laughs together!

We were told that 6 inches of snow was coming overnight and this is what I woke up to! Glad the weatherman was wrong!

~Linda