It's a Monday in Santa Fe

Monday is the day that we have all to ourselves.  Aaron and Shay both have to work and our plan is to meet up at their apartment tonight and Aaron is going to cook us dinner.  Nice.

We spent Sunday night and will spend Monday night at a hotel in Santa Fe.  Aaron does not have air conditioning in his apartment.  It's August.  I'm still a menopausal woman and can't stand heat.  We got a hotel.  Actually, this made it more comfortable for all of us.  And besides......they were going to have to get up at 3:30 and 5:30 respectively.  Too damn early for us.

So we found a lovely AWESOME and unique hotel that was only a couple of minutes down the street from their apartment.  It was hard to find due to it being off the road a little.....but what a gem to find.  It also fits our criteria of trying to stay in places that are just a little bit different from the cookie cutter hotels.

Here is the Guadalupe Inn:

This was the office area and the private residence of the people that ran the place

 

All the rooms were upstairs and the parking was below the building

 

We had the top room in the right corner.  Oh and if you look closely, you can see the bellhop coming to get our bags from our vehicle......lol

The room was quaint, cozy, unique, and made us feel like we were staying in a guest room of someone's house.  Even though it was not cold enough......I still had to turn on the fireplace just to enjoy the ambiance.

Even the door to our room was unique.  That's it on the right hand side of the picture.  It was an all wooden door that opened outwards.......the room felt totally Santa Fe.

The bathroom had French doors off of the bedroom and had this magnificent tub.  I'm just sad that I never had the opportunity to use it......boo!

After a good night sleep......a Pizza Zone catastrophe (of course).....we headed downstairs for breakfast.  They had homemade green chile muffins (that were so delicious) and the best orange juice ever.  We sat and made our plans for the day.

First stop was to Sherwin Williams and check in with Aaron.  Next stop was some fancy feed store that was brand new......they had a giant cage of tubs with baby chicks in them.  Oh they were so cute!

We leisurely strolled through that store and then continued on our journey.  We found a couple of other stores in the area and then realized we were starving and it was time for lunch.

Even though we had not liked Aaron's choice the night before for a meal.....we went with another one of his suggestions:

I ordered Green Chile Mac-N-Cheese......oh my goodness......the BEST MAC-N-CHEESE I have ever had in my life.  It came with a giant Caesar Salad and Texas Toast.  Holy crap.  It was so delicious.  So while I pigged out.....we plotted the rest of our day.

The decision was made to make the 30 minute drive to Madrid, New Mexico.  We had no idea what we would find there.....we only knew that lots of people liked to go there.

One thing we did find there.....was the funniest sign in the world.

Madrid is actually a tiny little town that is filled with artisan shops of different and unique stuff.  We had a great time checking out all the stuff.  I ended up buying a pair of turquoise and coral earrings to match the necklace I had bought the day before.

 

 

 

We enjoyed just strolling along and spending time together.

We found a little park that had lots of these great picture taking opportunities.....however, the husband wouldn't give in and have his picture taken......so I did.

 

The other thing that Madrid, New Mexico is famous for is the saloon there.  This is where a scene in the movie Wild Hogs was shot.

A little further down the road is the town of Cerillos.  This was our next destination.  Seriously....if you blink you'll miss everything in this town.  We found the biggest attraction advertised and that was the Trading Post, Mining Museum and the Petting Zoo.  All 3 located in one easy place.

We passed on the petting zoo and the mining museum.....but we did take a stroll around the trading post looking for something that we didn't need.

 

On our way out of town we found Main Street which was pretty much non-existent any longer.  However, this famous street was once a movie location for Young Guns.  I loved the old-time feel to the street and this quiet sleepy town.  Notice that it's even still a dirt road and not paved.  In fact, the whole entire town was pretty much dirt roads.

 

Of course, the churches in these tiny old towns are so beautiful to look at.  Love it!

It was time for us to head back to Aaron's apartment.....but we made one more pit stop on the way to one of my favorite shops to pick up some souvenirs.  It had been kind of a cloudy and somewhat stormy in places day, which led to it being a little chilly.  Aaron built us a nice fire in his fireplace and we enjoyed scalloped potatoes, grilled steaks and grilled corn for dinner.

What a glorious and relaxing way to end Day 3 in New Mexico.......but we're not done yet.  We still have one more full day to enjoy!

And the saga continues.......(New Mexico Day 2- Part 4)

Here we go.....again.   This was our view as we were leaving Osier.

 It was such a gorgeous day.....look at that sky!

 

 

Our bellies are full, we're comfortably sitting in our seats with our eyes glued to the windows,

and we are enjoying the beautiful scenery. 

 

Well some of us were....................

 

Wake up Paul......you're missing it!

Nope.....guess he's not ready yet.  We'll just let him nap a little!

 

 

What a view!

 

 

Paul finally did wake up again and took a selfie with Shay

 

The lamps on the back of the train.  I thought it might make a cool picture.  It does.

We took another inside picture of our train car.  It was so gorgeous and comfortable in there.

Out the back door of the train car.

This water spout was used in one of the Indiana Jones movies. 

Do you remember seeing it?  I do.

 

Our journey finally came to an end.  We pulled into the train yard and took a couple of last minute pictures of our Parlor Car and the train station in Chama.

 

 

We walked through a few souvenir shops that were along the main street near the train station.  We were looking for Chama t-shirts......but we didn't have any luck.  There certainly wasn't a lot happening on Main St. Chama on a Sunday afternoon at 5pm.

We jumped in the car and made the 2.5 hour drive back to Santa Fe.  Aaron and Shay had to work the next day VERY EARLY in the morning.......so we needed to get back. 

We arrived back in Santa Fe around 5pm and after checking in to our hotel (we'll discuss that subject next posting), changing clothes, and hitting the grocery store to buy supplies for dinner the next night....we headed out to dinner.

Aaron and Shay's choice for the evening:

They love the place.  We weren't impressed.  Aaron and I got meatball subs, Paul had a Rueben, and Shay had soup and salad (I think).  It was over priced for what you got (but that's most of Santa Fe).  It was time for us all to head back to our respective places to sleep for the night......because who knew what we would be doing the next day!

Still riding the Choo Choo (Day 2 - Part 3)

As you can see, this day was packed with so much fun.......it takes this many parts to tell the whole story.

So......we're riding the train and we make one stop where we get off:  Osier, Colorado.  There's nothing in Osier except for this building where the two trains meet and they served a buffet lunch (which is included in the price of your ticket). 

The lunch was DELICIOUS!  You could have roasted turkey with all the trimmings and a fresh salad bar or meatloaf with mashed potatoes and all the trimmings.  What makes it all even more incredible is there is no power there.  They run everything on generators and one person lives in a house there.  This person has to get up in the middle of the night and put the turkeys on to start roasting for the buffet the next day.  The food was really, really, really delicious!

We sat outside at a picnic table and enjoyed our lunch.  Our train got there first and there was another train expected within 15 minutes of our arrival.  After eating lunch, we had about 45 minutes to take a look at the other buildings on the property and to check out their gift shop.

I got some great stuff in the gift shops including a beautiful turquoise necklace and a couple of nice jackets for Cris and Aaron.

Our view from our lunch table.  The other train as it pulled into the station.  This is the train we would be taking to go back to Chama.

Watching the train as it pulled in while we ate

What a wonderful sight watching the train come in.....and we had front row seats

Checking out some of the stuff they had there after we ate

A view of both stations and the building where we ate lunch

This must have been a real train station back a long, long time ago. 

It really is out in the middle of nowhere.

The water tank so the engines can take on water

The caretakers house

The lovebirds

 

Leaving Osier, Colorado and heading back to Chama, New Mexico

 

The other train left the same time as we did and this was a picture I got of it as it headed the other direction. 

Okay......we're halfway through our journey.  We just had lunch.  AND.......we still have half a day left.  It's only 1pm!!!!!! 

Guess we'll have to extend this to part 4.

Shhhh....don't tell my husband (Day 2 - Part 2 in New Mexico)

Warning    *    Warning    *    Warning    *    Warning

This post will contain lots of pictures. 

However, they will be awesome pictures that we took along our train ride!

I really should be working on other things.......but I am just not the workaholic type like the husband is.  I just can't make myself what needs to be done right now and want to let some of my creativity loose.  I have the blog to update; the photo books to get set up and printed; the photo albums to gather all the stuff together and make.  There's just too much work all the time and not enough play.

So......I'm going to take a moment and play (probably Paul isn't even looking at this anyways).

We're still on the train riding to Cumbres Pass, Colorado.  The day is gorgeous and we took a million pictures.  So just sit back, relax......and enjoy the train ride along with us.

One of the cars on the train was the observation car.  You might see it in some of the pictures.  It was just an open car and really nice to stand in and get an unobstructed view of the beauty around you.  However, one of the downfalls was that cinders kept blowing back at you from the train's engines and you were constantly picking them out of your hair and off your skin and clothes. 

We went up there for a bit to enjoy the scenery.......I had to have a picture with some of the beautiful scenery (the conductors on the train)!

If you can see the cutout in the mountain on this picture -- this is where the train was headed.  It was a steep climb and we would be making many S curves to be able to get to the higher altitude.  This picture was taken from the Observation Car.

As we sat at the Cumbres Pass Station.....we saw this little critter from the back of the train. 

We also spotted this vehicle that had followed us for awhile. 

The station at Cumbres Pass was being painted.  This was the highest point on the train ride.....10,022 ft.  This was a very old station where the train stopped to get more water for the engine.

This was the spout that filled the engine

Did I mention what a gorgeous day it was and how much I love this guy!

One of the guys painting the old train station

This was an old house at the station that the station master would live in back in the old days

We once again were on our journey.  Still had to do the tradition of waving at all the people waiting along the train line.

Some of the most gorgeous and beautiful scenery I've ever seen!

Every once in awhile the engine had to blow steam out the side of the train to clean out something.  I can't remember what it was......but it was an impressive sight!

It was beautiful!

The pictures off the back of the train are priceless!

These two were totally absorbed in the scenery......or was it each other?

Paul taking pictures of us from the back deck into our window.

We love these guys!

Crossing the trestle bridges was awesome!

Taking a picture of my amazing husband from my seat window.  I love this guy! 

 

Okay.....time to stop here.  (told ya I had lots of pictures).  Next stop will be Osier, Colorado.  This is where the train stops and provides us with an AMAZING lunch.  But.....this post is too long -- will continue next time!