June 10: SW Road Trip Day 32: All the Way to Santa Fe

The Plaza is a very cool hotel. We stay in a standard room, but outside the suites, there are plaques commemorating the famous people who have stayed here, all during films shot in the area. The Coen Brothers stayed in one. Edward James Olmos was also a guest here, as was Tommie Lee Jones, during the filming of No Country for Old Men. There are also numerous historical photographs. Very entertaining.

After morning coffee, we consider our options. We will hold off on eating until lunch. There are three great, historic hotels in the area. We are staying in the Plaza, another is the Castaneda Hotel, near the train station. The third is Montezuma’s Castle, an old and grand building about 6 or 7 miles out of town. We decide to check them all out. Also, we will drive to the Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge, a few miles east of town.

Our first stop, the Castaneda Hotel, is disappointing. I am sure that it was once a great place, but the hotel is now a derelict. It is uninhabitable and surrounded by a chain link fence. I understand that there are plans to renovate, but they are still just plans. We don’t even bother with a picture.

The second stop is in the next town to the north, Montezuma. The Castle now houses the United World College – USA. The College Campus is “closed”, so we can only see the building from afar:

Montezuma’s Castle

There is a structure that we can enter, the Dwan Light Sanctuary. It is just off-campus from UWC-USA. The building uses prisms in its windows to cast rainbows on the floor and walls of the interior. It is quite a meditation center.

Interior of the Meditation Center

Look at what is at the end of my rainbow!

Prisms in the Windows

The final stop for this area is the Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge. We drive the 15 or so miles and find gently rolling hills just east of the river. It is Saturday, so the Visitor Center is closed. We decide to take the county road loop around the refuge. We see a lot of birds and a few cows. This is a peaceful place and it would be nice to get out of the car and walk around, but we decide not to take any of the nature trails because no one else is around.

It is time to drive to Santa Fe.

Driving to Santa Fe

We arrive too early to check in. We park the car and walk a few blocks to the Plaza. We try out the Burrito Company for lunch. It’s going to be a little spicy eating for the next couple of days. After lunch, we head back to the Plaza and walk around. There is an Art Fair in full swing. We see some nice pieces. We will have to take a closer look later!

Art Fair

We have passed the requisite time, so we head back to the car and drive the few blocks to our B&B and check in. This is a lovely little place. After we park the car, we will not get back into it for more than two days.

Moving into our Room

For dinner tonight, we return to one of our favorites of the last visit to Santa Fe, the Coyote Café. It is just as good. We share the Burrata Salad. Amy has the Patagonian Seabass and I have the Tellicherry Peppered Elk Tenderloin. Very satisfied, we slowly walk back to the Inn as the sun sets.