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Our first breakfast at Rancho de San Juan consisted of creamed chicken and pastry.
Delicious. After breakfast we tried to make dinner reservations for Sunday night
in Taos, but my cell phone didn't get any reception because of the mesa. I was
able to make the call after we went into the city.
We drove into Santa Fe to spend the day. Our first stop was the Santa Fe farmer's
market. Here we found the usual assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables including
some asparagus we bought. We also saw lots of stands selling dried peppers. Jean bought
some tomato plants. While everyone milled about, at least three different sets
of musicians entertained.
Musicians at the farmer's market
Santa Fe farmer's market
After the farmer's market we drove into the downtown area. Jean was a bit
disappointed to find out that it's pretty commercial. Very touristy. We walked
around, stopping in the Chuck Jones gallery. He has three galleries -- one in
Los Angeles, one in San Diego, and one in Santa Fe. We looked at various artwork
of the Road Runner, Tweety, and other Warner Bros. cartoons, along with other artists
including Simpsons artwork, Peanuts characters, etc. Pretty entertaining stuff --
stop in if you get a chance.
We found a small store selling beaded artwork. There were elaborate masks and
figurines covered with brightly colored beads. We would later find a large beaded
tiger next to the dining area at Rancho de San Juan that night. These are all
original pieces of art selling for hundreds of dollars.
It was lunch time, and we stepped into
Coyote Cafe. We had this great corn chowder soup. I had a tasty chicken sandwich.
I'd definitely come back here again if given the chance. After lunch we
drove to Bandelier National Monument to hike the Tsankawi trail.
Originally I'd wanted to also do the Ceremonial Cave hike, but I estimated we
wouldn't have time to do so and get back for our 8pm dinner reservation. So
we started the drive back to our suite. As it turned out, we arrived at our
suite with enough time for me to go off on a
solo hike at Rancho de San Juan.
After the hike I took a quick shower and then took sunset pictures until we had to
go to dinner. Dinner was a prix fixe affair, with an appetizer, shrimp or lamb entree
(I chose shrimp; Jean chose the lamb), salad, and bananas foster for dessert.
Everything was pretty good, but it didn't live up to the expectation of being
"the best restaurant in New Mexico," as one critic had described it. It was also
quite a long dinner, taking 2 1/2 hours.
Sunset from Rancho de San Juan
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