I wanted to love it

I was ready for love at first sight.

I mean, seriously, how can you not love someplace bold enough to call itself 

"The Land of Enchantment"?

Besides sounding like a themed area at Disneyland, 

it conjures up visions of spells, magic and inexplicable happenings,

doesn't it?

Frankly, it would take that, in spades,  

for me to fall in love with anything at first sight.

I'm just not that kind of gal - not any more.

It was my first time in Santa Fe.

I needed to go.

I needed to see where my oldest son landed after leaving Northern CA.

I needed to put him in a geography,

a specific locale,

so that when he spoke of his job, his apartment, 

his excursions out of town,

I could place him, in my mind,
within a whole environment

and not just dangling

 like a solo felt figure
on an empty flannel board.

I grew up in the 50's; 

I've seen plenty of western films;

seen tumbleweeds blowing across the deserts;

seen empty, barren miles of crusted sand

as far as the eye can see -

before bumping up against a cliff 

that looks suspiciously like one of the 'dribble' castles

we'd make on the beach at the Jersey Shore.

I just didn't realize that such places still existed.

Santa Fe is the most un-American looking American city I've ever visited.

The uniformity of the buildings

(one level, flat roofed, varying shades of adobe beige;

each one surrounded, almost obscured, by mud walls or coyote fencing)

serves to blend the man made features 

almost seamlessly into the surrounding land -

also beige, also flat, except for the mountains which seem to be on all sides.

To be honest, for someone used to varying colors, sizes and styles of housing stock,

it was more than slightly disorienting.

Don't get me wrong,

it is one of the most perfect examples 

of civilization blending into locale 

that I've ever seen.

It was just 'other worldy'

and I felt totally out of my element -

which isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Santa Fe is an easily explored,
charming city 

with fabulous museums, restaurants and shops.

(I'll be posting about some favorites in all categories for the next few days.)

Santa Fe is however basically a combination of indoor/outdoor shopping mall, 

albeit with better, more upscale art and home furnishings than Home Goods.

There was a time when 'acquisition' was more appealing to me than it is now;

truth is, I'm just not a shopper any more.

It was the area outside of the city itself that held the most appeal -

Ghost Ranch, where Georgia O'Keeffe painted some of her best work;

Bandelier Monument, a National Park,

 where you can see cliff dwellings 

and fantasize about ancestors who sought refuge high above the forest floor

and El Santuario De Chamiyo, 

one of New Mexicos most sacred places.

I loved each one of these places.

This is simply a post to say, I'm back.

I'll say more as the days go on and, of course,

I have fabulous pictures (if I do say so myself!)

And, 

if it wasn't love at first sight with my total Sante Fe experience,

it was, at least, a good first date;

I'm open to seeing where this new relationship goes.

The added plus?

My oldest 'felt' figure now has a geography

and a backdrop in which he belongs - 

and he's happy.

 That's really all I needed to see.