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Santa Fe Trip
posted by David on February 24, 2002 at 10:14 PM

Over the President’s weekend, Ruth and I took a trip to Santa Fe to have a first look at what it might mean to live there. We met with some friends, ate good New Mexican/Mexican food, and looked at several houses. It was a useful time—it sharpened questions for us for consideration in the coming months.

We left Louisville early on Saturday morning, headed for Dallas/Fort Worth and a transfer to Albuquerque. We had expected to lunch in Santa Fe; however, the plane was late leaving D/FW, and we arrived in Abq at lunch time—in fact, just in time to eat at the excellent Mexican restaurant in the airport. Ruth had not been there before, though I had. It was good to get that cuisine starting to flow in our systems.

We picked up our rental car and headed north. We met our friend, Laura, early in the afternoon, and took off for a couple of developments. We learned to tell the difference between Northern New Mexican, Adobe, and Territorial styles of houses. Santa Fe keeps a tight control on the architectural standards, and these are the three main styles. We discovered that the costs were just below our upper limits, and so affordable. Of course, Santa Fe being the popular place it is, central city costs are very high, and we would have to decide to live out a bit. And even that is relative. In Louisville we live 10 miles from downtown, and are in the city all the way. Ten miles from downtown in Santa Fe means you are in the country, and it seems like greater distances.

We also noticed the sizes of the houses—at least the ones we could afford—were comfortable, though smaller than our present place. That means, probably, even more pruning of books and stuff than we anticipated.

After some of this looking around, Laura took us to her home for a glass of wine and to meet her husband, Alden. They retired to Santa Fe three or four years ago, and have a comfortable home on an acre of land. It was during a tour of their home that I found one of the more exotic arrangements—a fireplace at the head of the bathtub! Laura flicked a switch and the the gas logs flamed! When we looked at houses after that, Ruth kept looking for the size and arrangement of the kitchens, and I kept plotting how to include a fireplace in the bathroom!

Sunday we were on our own and started out at the church where a good friend is pastor. She was one of the first women to be a solo pastor when she was in Wisconsin. The Santa Fe First Presby. Church was in a pulpit exchange with the Roman Catholic cathedral. Sheila had preached there on February 10, and had been well received. We had the good fortune of hearing The Very Rev. Jerome Martinez y Alire, Rector of the Cathedral Church of St Francis of Assisi. He was a good preacher. The most dramatic event of the morning, however, was when he received communion from Sheila. To see an official of the Cathedral receive the elements from a woman protestant pastor was very moving. We have several friends formerly of Louisville who attend that church, and they were as moved as we.

We looked at some “gently used” housing, and some solar-efficient homes. For dinner we were treated to some good New Mexican food by Rob Craig, Director of Ghost Ranch, and Sharon, his wife. They are a warm and generous couple, and we enjoyed the conversation.

We left mid-morning on Monday, and took the Turquoise Trail back to Abq. We had a few extra minutes before leaving, and stopped at the new REI store. We arrived back in Lvl well satisfied that the three days had been well spent. We now have a clearer idea of what it will take to find something suitable for the next stage of our life. Will it be in New Mexico? Perhaps. It is a beautiful land, and we appreciate the richness of life there. Unfortunately, it is far from the ocean (though it does have a fireplace in the bathroom)! We will be thinking and planning a lot in the coming months.

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Comments

You know we're looking forward to a cheap mountain vacation home . . .

Who said Santa Fe was a) cheap and b) a mountain home?

Thanks for calling our attention to your home page. Just before leaving on our 25-day Western trip, I took a quick look and was duly impressed. Now, I'm REALLY dazzled. Particularly resonated with the account of your Santa Fe trip. You know that we were in Green Valley, AZ, Feb. 1-4 - looked at rentals for next year but our sales person threw in a bunch of homes for sale as well. Intriquing We plan to go back next year, mid-Jan to mid-Feb, and to the same spot we had this year - on the south side of the valley with wide-open desert spaces, mountains & only 5 minutes from stores, library, etc. as well as just 20 minutes south of Tucson. We both had much less arthritis during the 10 days in AZ. The exploration is fun, isn't it?!

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