Early on Sunday (Day 9 of our trip) we went to church in Santa Fe at a beautiful historic church, The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, that had a very traditional service (hard for me to follow!) and half the service was in Spanish (extra hard for me to follow). Most of the galleries we wanted to visit in Santa Fe were closed on Sundays so we decided to head to Albuquerque to relive some of my childhood memories.
Loretto Chapel & The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, downtown Santa Fe, NM
My dad lived in Albuquerque from 1990 to 2000 and I spent my summers there as well as 2nd grade. It was weird having memories in a city that I have not been too in almost 15 years. The last time I was Albuquerque I was not even a teenager and was still two years away from falling in love with clay (and later becoming a ceramic artist).
My memories of Albuquerque are faint and the things I remember are sort of random. My dad helped me turn my faint memories in to actual places that we were able to visit and I was able to see them as an adult. First we went to Frontier Restaurant because I remember going there with my dad to buy tortillas. Sure enough when we walked in the had an entire corner dedicated to making fresh tortillas and we bought 2 dozen. We chowed down on a few fresh tortillas as soon as we walked out the door. The tortillas were so fresh they were still warm (delicious)!!
The Frontier Restaurant was across the street from the University of New Mexico so next we walked around campus. We found the art building but it was locked. We did however see they had a very nice soda kiln from the outside of the building. After UNM we went to a local coop grocery store. My memories from the coop were walking through a really long tunnel to get to the store and getting to select a Blue Sky soda. The tunnel was more of a very short covered walk way (not the giant tunnel I remembered). We stocked up on lots of healthy road trip food and I did get a Blue Sky root beer! Following the coop we drove past the UNM hospital to view the helicopter on the roof. My dad used to drive me past the hospital just so I could see the helicopter and I would throw a fit if it wasn't there; during our visit the helicopter was not there :( but I did not throw a fit. Afterwards we drove past my dad's old house and cruised the old neighborhood. Due to the rain and my feeling uncomfortable that people were home I was unable to photograph the backyard, which was the heart and soul of the house where my dad grew tasty vegetables and I would play often. After Albuquerque we drove back to our host's house at camp Glorieta.
Today (Monday, day 10) we explored Santa Fe. We started the morning at Santa Fe Clay. We were very impressed with Santa Fe Clay. It was large, organized, and fully equipped. Santa Fe Clay has a lot to offer; clay and tool supply store, gallery, and community studios. The current exhibition that was in their gallery was The ABC's of Dinnerware. I especially enjoyed the show because last semester at LSU our visiting artist, Mark Cole, talked about his involved in the show and we focusd the workshop around the letter L. In Mark Cole style we made a lobster tray during the workshop and a fully finished and improved lobster tray was featured at Santa Fe Clay. 
After Santa Fe Clay we ate a delicious brunch at Tune-up Cafe. I ordered (in New Mexico fashion) huevos racheros with local organic eggs topped with green and red chili. After lunch we walked around the Plaza and explored a few galleries that featured Pueblo Pottery. It was fascinating to see pottery from different Pueblos and the differences in style (form, color, drawings, and firing techniques).
We of course visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. I was familiar with her paintings and enjoyed viewing them. To my surprise I was more interested in Georgia's lifestyle. She was very health conscious and into organic gardening. Her goal was to grow all her own vegetables and to can and preserve food for the winter months. Its no wonder that she lived to be 99 years old!
After the Museum we drove around Santa Fe and enjoyed the sights. Thats all for now, see you on the next post!
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