Recapping the Bucket List Trip-Part 1, Santa Fe

Well hello there! It has been awhile!  I just completely lost my blogging mojo there for awhile after my long trip and then going into the office for a few days.  When I got back to working from home, the last thing I wanted to do was blog!

Kevin and his friends are not working currently due to corona (and other factors) so they decided to see the west and go on a long road trip.  I am working from home, so I figured that the times I can just work from my phone, I should join them! I went for two weeks from June 7-20th.  Kevin and his friends left two weeks before I did in his truck and drove all the way to Santa Fe, where I flew to meet up with them. From there we would head to Colorado and explore the beaten path.

This was a long trip with a lot of sights so I am going to break it into parts.This post is on our adventures in Santa Fe before we started camping in tents.  It was my first time, eek! 

How cute is the Santa Fe airport? You just get right off the plane.  Kevin was just beyond the doors waiting for me!

We went straight to about the only place open,  Beer Creek Brewing. It was right near our Airbnb, the Casa Jupiter.  It was such a cute little locally owned gem, with a great outdoor patio.  

  It had great beers!

A beautiful sunset

And delicious pizza!

Then we headed to our Airbnb.  The guys had been tent camping and were happy to get some Missy induced creature comforts.  I had some Zoom meetings and requested a few days of reliable wifi just in case there wasn't cell service.  Thank goodness I did, as there was hardly any service!  The Airbnb was so cute and on a few acres.

The beautiful courtyard

This cute little outdoor area had a lovely fire pit.

The main house

Everything in Santa Fe has the same architectural style.  Since one of my clients is the Historic District and Landmarks Commission in New Orleans, I nerded out so hard on it and even looked up their rules!

The view of the property.

The next day, after work was over for me, we all went on a hike in town.  It was a lovely drive through town to get there, but we noticed, everywhere was closed!

This was the hike we did, it was just enough to start out small.

What views!

You don't see stuff like this everyday!

We made it to the top! Man I missed this guy!

A lovely panoramic view

Pretty High!

We came home and teamwork cooked a lovely dinner.  Since everything was closed, we decided to make a restaurant quality meal.  The guys all brainstormed on Nashville style hot chicken, Gary made his $100 mac and cheese, and I made some citrusy balsamic Brussels sprouts.  Yum yum!

We deep fried the chicken outside and kept it warm on the grill.

I mean, just perfect!

What a delicious, decadent plate!

The next day, we went on another hike after I finished work. We hit up Cerrillos Hills State Park.  It was super dry and kind of desertlike.  My shoes were not grippy enough for the sand and I slipped a lot.  But it was still a lovely hike.

Sometimes you even have to pay to park in nature!

See how desert like?

Even though it is a state park, there were some off-the-gridders living there.  It makes me wonder if they were there before the park and the park built around them, or if they were squatting!

The pics don't do this one justice!

Apparently solicitors frequent this neck of the woods!  I want this sign for my house!

I wish I had a tepee like this in my backyard!

After our hike, we drove into the little town of Madrid for a post hike beer.  Oh my goodness, my first little mountain town and I was hooked. So cute, tiny, friendly and packed with characters!

We got back home just in time to feed the ravens before the sun started to set.  The instructions to the house said if you put eggs out on the stumps in the meditation labyrinth, the ravens would come and eat them.  We decided to do it before cooking dinner.  

As luck would have it, they came so fast, I couldn't get a picture.  But we saw them fly away with eggs!

These sunsets y'all, I just can't!

We had pot pie for dinner.  I seriously can't remember if I've ever had it it's been so long!

We also had a lovely salad.

We enjoyed our last night of civilization with showers, wine and relishing the comfy beds.  It was off to tent camping in the woods!  I was so nervous.  Where would I potty?  Would there be bears?  Was it going to be too cold?  I guess I was about to find out!

Off we go! We hoped it wouldn't rain!

We also did walk around downtown Santa Fe at some point.  I did not get any pics.  It was really pretty, but seriously, NOTHING was open.  I had to use a construction porta potty to pee.  It was really sad to see all the art galleries and restaurants closed.  This portion of the trip was June 7-10 so it was still during Phase 1.  I can't wait to go back to Santa Fe one day and do something other than hike and cook!

It took me forever to cull through photos, edit them and write this. I hope to get another one out soon, but don't hold your breath, lol!  Have you ever been to Santa Fe?  Do you like tent camping?  Have you ever heard of ravens eating eggs?

Happy Cooking!

Missy