The annual Girls Trip took us to Santa Fe (New Mexico’s capital) and Albuquerque (the state’s largest city) this year. I won’t tell you how many times I’ve had to look up the spelling of Albuquerque.
This trip there were four of us and it worked out great for when we didn’t all want to do the same things. For example, some folks didn’t want to get up at 4:30 a.m. to see the sunrise balloon launch in Albuquerque.
But let’s start at the beginning, Santa Fe. We stayed in an authentic adobe home through Airbnb which was beautiful and close to downtown. The spiritual highlights of Santa Fe included the Loretto Chapel and the Cathedral Basilica. Below is a photo of the mysterious staircase in the Loretto Chapel built without nails or any visible support.
Santa Fe is an artist mecca and two highlights were the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (the gift shop rivaled the gallery), and Meow Wolf. Meow Wolf is hard to explain so here’s an excerpt from their website: “It is an interactive museum with a house inside…that has dissolved the nature of time and space. Venture through the house…and discover secret passageways into fantastic dimensions…through 20,000 SF walking, climbing, and crawling through an imaginative multiverse of unexpected environments.” Below is a washing machine that I climbed into and several passageways I saw along the way. It was a blast!
Two other must do’s were the Ten Thousand Waves Spa and the Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks. The Japanese-styled spa was a relaxing and beautiful bargain. For twenty eight dollars, you could spend the day in their various hot tubs and saunas. The Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks were a relatively easy climb, but we were too late to make it to the top. Pictured below are: (1) a view up the one of the cone-shaped tent rocks and (2) some strong lady flexing her muscles in a slot canyon.
Our last two days were in Albuquerque and we weren’t disappointed. With over 500 balloons and almost a million visitors, the International Balloon Fiesta is quite spectacular. We went to the twilight glow one evening. Before the great fireworks show, several sky divers shot off fireworks as they were descending – something I’d never seen before. Below is a photo of the twilight glow and of Jesus rising the next morning.
(Photo credits also to BB and NK)
