Santa Fe according to AJ ROMBACH

First of all, I want to say: we are behind in the blogging. There has been so much driving of late! To give you an idea, I'm sitting in South Dakota right now. That means the following bases must be covered:

-Santa Fe
-Taos
-Farmington
-the elusive De ZA NiN
-Choco Canyon
-Grand Canyon
-ARCHES national park
-BOULDER "the free zone"
-The Black Hills & Mt. Rushmore & Jewel Cavern
-THE BADLANDS

so, that's a lot. I'll handle this matter by allowing this entry to stay true to its title: "Santa Fe according to AJ ROMBACH." And then, Post by Post, I will concisely and *painlessly* get us all up to speed. Also: Every single post, I promise pretty pictures.

So here we go SANTA FE.

We woke up in the wilderness, atop a white sand dune, and later fell asleep cloaked in pressed sheets, on firm mattresses in the foot hills of Santa Fe. The beds, our first ones since Asheville, NC, were part of The Immaculate Heart of Mary--now a conference center, once a monastery of sorts, and most formerly a Tuberculosis Hospital. I cannot say definitively whether the IHM is haunted but I can say neither Sarah nor myself got through a full night of slumber. The caterers there state rather matter of factly that this place is indeed haunted.

Most of my time in Santa Fe was spent in the throws of mural making. Terri Rodriguez, Santa Fe's director of Youth and Family services, got me involved in a project for the community that consists of at least 125 feet of wall space that runs along the dried riverbed. The section they gave me was about 35 feet long.  I only had 3.5 days in which I could work; needless to say, i left the site on the final day with sun-browned arms, and plenty of new freckles.

When I wasn't working on the mural and Sarah wasn't busy with her photo conference, we hit the downtown. Santa Fe's DT isn't really acclimated to the youth quite yet. There is at least one good, divey bar-- for the most part though, the downtown area is more about displays. They display sapphire gem necklaces and trendy older lady gear. Santa Fe DOES have an extremely densely packed gallery area, which regretfully, I couldn't scope out. 

Some evenings when driving back to ye ole' haunted monastery, I would catch the most wonderfully crimson landscapes due to the sun's exit. 

The last night in Santa Fe, Terrie graciously arranged for us to stay with her friend, Eva- Patricia, who fed us well (pizza and ice cream) and was incredibly kind to us.  Night life or not, I really didn't want to leave... The amazing hospitality we received in Santa Fe, the magnificent vistas, and the completely foreign looking terrain was enough to make me want to stay.  The following day, however, we made our way to the beautiful Taos. 

Until we meet again (which will be very soon,) your faithful messenger, Amanda jean Rombach