Santa Fe, New Mexico

While we weren't photographing hot air balloons during the Fiesta, a few of us took the Rail Runner train to Santa Fe to explore for the day. The train stopped at a few local areas and we were so happy not driving for a change. And it's always fun to have a train ride.

While we were wandering around town, we found a farmers' market with lot of colorful fruits and vegetables, as well as flowers and freshly made bread. This area is famous for the chiles you can see in the photo below. They spell it "chile".



When we found the central plaza, we visited numerous stores and had lunch on a balcony overlooking the plaza. That's the first time ever that I've had a pulled pork sandwich that had hot BBQ sauce!

 

 

Loretto Chapel in town that has a free-standing circular staircase made from wood and does not contain any nails or screws.  During the late 1800s, a craftsman built the entire thing by himself using dowels and wood plugs, with primitive tools and non native wood.  Even today, the identity of the carpenter is still unknown. The stairway was originally built without a railing, but one was added years later.



As we started walking back to the train station, we got a little lost, but found this painted wall.