Our flight to Seattle was the standard shuttle and was completed without incident. Within an hour we boarded our flight to Albuquerque. Two and 15 minutes later we arrived, after two on-board medical emergencies in route. A 39-year old man one row in front of us lost consciousness. The drink service was disrupted while the flight attendants began scurrying around. The help from 2 doctors on board was solicited. The patient was checked over, food to be okay and we landed as scheduled. Alaska Airline has a mobile communication system that allows them to relay information to a ground medical center which the flight attendants fired up. The doctors asked a bunch of questions, and took vital signs. Everything seemed normal and they returned to their seats. The other medical emergency was somewhere near the front of the plane and we were not informed as to what it was.
We arrived in Albuquerque, picked up a rental car ("bypassing the counter" - thanks to Internet check-in) and drove about an hour north to Santa Fe. We could see dark clouds over the mountains which turned into snow by the time we arrived. With help from GPS we found the rental home, meeting up with Paul (brother who we are celebrating his 70th birthday), Elaine (sister from Virginia) and Barabra (Paul's ex-wife who lives in Colorado Springs). They had driven down together from Colorado Springs, arriving about a half hour before us.
We went for dinner at the Blue Corn Cafe and Brewery. We each had local or New Mexican-style Mexico dishes. We walked around some before and after dinner enjoying the golden, evening light, before retiring.
Saturday, April 2, Sightseeing in Santa Fe - Today was spent walking around Santa Fe seeing the sights. Our first destination was the downtown Visitor Center in order to pick up Volkswalk route maps. Our next stop was the State Capital (a flat-roof, round building only marginally taller than other buildings in the area). It was not opened, so we walked around one "side" toward the train station/park.
A Saturday market is held here and it is where we had breakfast. We then walked back toward the Plaza, picking up a Volkswalk route.
Our first stop was the Chapel of Loretto with the "miraculous staircase." It is small chapel which was in need of a circular staircase to get up to the choir loft, during the chapel's original construction because space was limited. The staircase circles twice around and has no center support, hence why it is called miraculous. It was built by an itinerant carpenter who worked on it for 6 months and then disappeared without ever being paid.
Betsy and I diverted from the others and walked the rest of the Volkswalk route from there. Two notable points along the route were the Fort Marcy site with a zigzagging path downhill marked with plaques presenting historical moments of Santa Fe, and Canyon Drive which is where many expensive art galleries are located. Part way up Canyon Drive, we broke for drinks and a rest. We finished the route with one more stop in a sculpture garden with rock pillar water fountains and whirly gigs.
We had dinner at the house after unsuccessfully trying to secure a reservation at a tapas restaurant. We have reservations for tomorrow night instead. Betsy and I went to Albertsons for some breakfast supplies and picked up pizzas for dinner. We watched most of the two Final Four basketball games with the volume muted. Strangely, we didn't miss a thing without the commentary.
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