Relatives AND Relics

We left Ojo this morning wishing we could have stayed a week. There's just something so lovely about that place, and the water, and the birds and cliffs and the smoke from the kiva fireplaces at night; not to mention how nice it is to have a fresh towel handed to you every time you cross the lobby in your robe (you have to do that to get from the old hotel to the pools.)  But we were on to Santa Fe to meet John's nephew, so we had a little time in the pools and then we got on the road.

We met up with Charlie downtown and drove out to Harry's Roadhouse for lunch, a place I'd internetted up because it had pretty gardens, a funky feel, and offered something besides Mexican food.  We ate and John and Charlie caught up on family stuff, then we headed back into Santa Fe to visit the beautiful Loretto Chapel.

I think it's worth noting that the beauty of the chapel is tempered by its implied arrogance, in a way - the setting down of a European cathedral, modeled after one in France, in the middle of a pueblo?

Charlie had to get back on the road, so we said our goodbyes and John and I walked a few blocks to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe Sanctuary, where they display the Diocese of Santa Fe's collection of santos.  We got there a few minutes before four by John's watch, but they had already closed, so that will have to wait for another trip.

We're staying at a Days Inn on the outskirts of Santa Fe, and I am reserving judgment so far. The bathroom light didn't work, and they finally came out to fix it after three requests; the air conditioner keeps shutting itself off, and then turning itself back on when they come out to check it. (They finally decided it was a problem with the batteries on the motion detector, and now they have changed them out, and come back to check to make sure it was all right.)  So they're trying, but we'll see.  The AC WILL turn back on if you open and close the door of the room, so John and I may take shifts throughout the night, getting up and running over to open and shut the door to turn the AC back on.

Tomorrow is a lonng driving day up to Farmington.  Farmington, which was 100 degrees today and supposed to be much the same tomorrow. And the next day, where we are planning to hike the desert...so we'll see!