In the historic Don Gaspar Inn breakfast is served from 8:00 to 9:30. Since we arrived late, we got up late, but we didn’t miss breakfast although all of the other guests had left for the day. We enjoyed our breakfast sitting in a sunny garden patio, sipping coffee on a gorgeous sunny morning.
It was a short walk to the historic town plaza, and there was so much to see on the way. We walked through the State Capital sculpture garden, went inside the San Miguel Church (oldest church structure in USA c.1610) and the Oldest House Museum. The highlight of the walk was visiting the Loretto Chapel and seeing the Miraculous Staircase.
“Needing a way to get up to the choir loft the nuns prayed for St. Joseph's intercession for nine straight days. On the day after their novena ended a shabby-looking stranger appeared at their door. He told the nuns he would build them a staircase but that he needed total privacy and locked himself in the chapel for three months. He used a small number of primitive tools including a square, a saw and some warm water and constructed a spiral staircase entirely of non-native wood. The identity of the carpenter is not known for as soon as the staircase was finally finished he was gone. Many witnesses, upon seeing the staircase, feel it was constructed by St. Joseph himself, as a miraculous occurrence.”
The staircase is quite beautiful and the craftsmanship is amazing. There are no nails and no center support. It is like the stairs just float up a ribbon of wood.
The center of town is the The Plaza. Local musicians and artists fill the plaza selling pottery, paintings, sculpture and other crafts. On the north side a covered walkway is filled with Native American artists, each with a small blanket covered with silver, turquoise and stone jewelry. Each artist engraved their initials into the piece to insure authenticity. We chatted with the artists who were happy to explain what was involved in creating their unique crafts. Gina had to be dragged away before she squandered the entire souvenir budget.
We escaped to The Shed for an authentic Santa Fe lunch of chicken enchiladas “Christmas Style” (with both red and green chile) made with blue corn tortillas, served with pinto beans and posole (a pueblo stew of Nixtamal corn, lean pork, coarse red Chile, garlic & oregano). The heat of the red and green chile accumulated during the meal to a subdued inferno. We liked it so much we bought a jar to bring home. The meal was better than any Mexican food we have had in San Jose.
After a little more exploring downtown and shopping we made our way back home. We were so full from lunch we skipped dinner and went to bed early.
Trip Stats:
Today: 0 miles 0 kWh . 0 Wh/mi
TOTAL: 1339 miles 432.5 kWh 323 Wh/mi
