Santa Fe is a pretty neat place. I checked in at my motel and drove downtown to see St. Francis of Assisi's Basilica. It's a beautiful little cathedral, but mass was going on, so I didn't get to go inside. St. Francis is probably my favorite American saint. I've always enjoyed his prayer, and I have a lot of respect for the Franciscan Order. I think some day I hope to go to a Franciscan monastery.
I wish I had more time to stay in Santa Fe, because it's got a really cool downtown area, focused almost entirely on art galleries. It would be nice to walk through the galleries, discussing the art with someone, but alas, I'm alone on this trip. I'll make a note to come back once someone wants to join me.
I headed over to Los Alamos to check out the place they built the first A-bomb. I toured the Bradbury museum and was just fascinated by the endeavor and intelligence involved in the invention of such a complex weapon. I think some day I would like to read the biography of Oppenheimer, because he just seems like a really interesting guy.
I scooted down to my er...hotel? in Truth or Consequences, which is just a weird place. I think it's just lost all touch with the world as a consequence (doh ho ho!) of never wanting to encounter reality. Every building is some hideous shade of ugly. My er.. "spa" motel (a place with a few big bathtubs) was bright pink. Not a good start, T or C. My GPS had no clue what was going on because I'm assuming it's just not worth mapping a place like T or C. End of rant.
The only reason I stayed in Truth or Consequences is because I wanted to go to the Hatch Chile Festival (yes, they spell them "chiles"), which was about 40 miles away, but had absolutely no motels. As soon as I checked in at my "room" I drove down to Hatch. I had trouble believing I was going the right direction, but lo and behold, as I was thinking that thought, a sign on the side of the road said "Keep going! You're going the right way!" I parked at a place that was supposedly the Hatch airport and wandered around the fairgrounds trying samples of some of the most amazing salsa I've had in my life. I blew a ton of money in Hatch buying salsa, and other chile commodities. Most amazingly, I found, is that there was no actual chili at the festival, just salsa, sauce, and even chile-scented candles, but no chili. Good news, though! I bought some chiles and will soon experiment with their tasty, tasty goodness in chili. Now I'm driving around with a Ristra of chiles hanging from the coat hangar in my car, which made a park ranger girl laugh uncontrollably when I got to the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest in Arizona...but that's a story for another day.
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