We quickly discovered that Old Town Santa Fe is full of art galleries. While we avoided actually entering the galleries (thus, avoiding a "you break it, you buy it" scenario), the outside of the galleries were fun to see. Jack and Hadley particularly liked this gallery with a giant silver dragon perched on the roof.
While everyone enjoyed it, the length was a little much for several of the kids. Jack fell asleep about 30 minutes into Act I. I think the time change from Eastern Time Zone had a little to do with it. At the end of Act II, the lead female had about a 20 minute aria alone on the stage. It was so beautiful, but we agreed that none of us wanted to memorize that much music! Jack woke up during the Curtain Call, so we were able to get a group picture on the way out of the Opera House.
We headed toward Santa Fe Plaza, which was the termination point of the Santa Fe Trail, which ran from Missouri to Santa Fe. I expected a large display commemorating the trail, including a covered wagon sculpture or something similar. We couldn't find anything like that. There is a large monument in the middle of the Plaza to another event, so we took a picture with that.
Then, we headed to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.
It was the perfect-sized art museum for a quick but meaningful visit. It was not overwhelming to the kids, which was a plus. They really enjoyed the artwork, and the biographical film was very interesting. The museum provided sketchpads and pencils to the kids, so that they could sketch some of Mrs. O'Keeffe's artwork. What a neat idea! All 4 kids really enjoyed it. Lyndon learned about Georgia O'Keeffe in school last year, so it was a great connection for her to see the artwork in person.
We headed to a delicious French bistro for lunch, Clafoutis, which was only a few blocks from the Museum. Then, we walked a different route back through Old Town Santa Fe to our hotel. We discovered Burro Alley, so named for the burros that frequented the road, carrying bundles of wood to all of the gambling halls in the 1800s. They do have a commemorative sculpture of a burro.
Jack and Hadley also pretended to be burros under a beautiful mural in the alley. I am refraining from posting the picture of Jack on all fours with Hadley pretending to ride on his "burro" back.
We let the kids swim at the pool for a bit, which is still the highlight of every hotel stay to them, even though they swim every day at home. Then, we ate a delicious tapas dinner at La Boca, before driving to the opera. The Santa Fe Opera is an open-air opera house. We lucked into the proper timing of being able to attend a performance of the Strauss opera, Capriccio. It was the kids' first opera. The setting couldn't have been any more beautiful. Here is the view from the parking lot.
The Opera House and set were unique and the production was lovely.
While everyone enjoyed it, the length was a little much for several of the kids. Jack fell asleep about 30 minutes into Act I. I think the time change from Eastern Time Zone had a little to do with it. At the end of Act II, the lead female had about a 20 minute aria alone on the stage. It was so beautiful, but we agreed that none of us wanted to memorize that much music! Jack woke up during the Curtain Call, so we were able to get a group picture on the way out of the Opera House.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a gas station. The kids and I saw a man wearing a very unique style of t-shirt. It was similar to a tuxedo t-shirt, except that it was designed to look like he was wearing a Mariachi band suit, complete with frilly collar and flower in the lapel. After seeing a man walking a dog that was wearing a baseball cap after dinner (the cap had holes cut out for the dog's ears), we determined that Santa Fe makes for some great people watching. Tomorrow, we head to Colorado!
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