New Mexico Trip Part 2--Ridin' the Rails to Santa Fe!

Once we arrived in Albuquerque and took a day or so to recuperate from the drive, it was time to get out and have some fun! A couple of years ago, Albuquerque unveiled their new commuter rail, "The Rail Runner"! It's a double decker commuter train that runs from Belen up to Santa Fe. So we decided to take a day trip up to the capitol city and take the train! The kids were so excited as they have never been on a train before. I was shocked at how amazingly affordable it was. Kids under 12 ride free and when we ordered the tickets online they were $5 each ROUND TRIP! So for way less than gas and cost of parking we were delivered right next to the downtown plaza! Sweet!

The kids were waiting oh so patiently...

"MOOOOOOMM! Is that it? Is that the train? It's almost HERE!!!!!" Sadly it was the southbound train, we had to wait a little longer!

And then if finally arrives and my children are overjoyed!

We hopped aboard, found a nice seat on the second level with a table and enjoyed a leisurely ride up to Santa Fe. The Monkey Man was pretty disappointed, he had it in his head that we were on a speeding locomotive that would get us to Santa Fe in 10 minutes. But alas, we were on commuter train that had to make stops and it took us about an hour to get there. Now I will admit, Santa Fe is about an hour and a half from Albuquerque, so technically the train didn't save us time, but the luxury of just sitting back and letting someone else do the driving and not having to deal with parking in Santa Fe was worth every minute to me!

Once we arrived, we were STARVING! So my mom suggested The Atomic Grill. She recommended the Frito Pie. I opted for the green chile cheeseburger, cuz, you eat green chile when you're in New Mexico, besides... Frito Pie? Who the hell eats Frito Pie anymore? BIG mistake. The green chile cheeseburger was a disappointment especially when the Frito Pie looked like this
Sigh.

So I have to admit, my food and the kids' food was only passable, therefore I normally wouldn't recommend this place, but that Frito Pie was INSANE and that alone would make this place worth visiting if you're ever down at The Plaza!

After re-energizing ourselves with lunch, we headed over to enjoy the park in The Plaza. For those of you that don't know what The Plaza is, it's the city square, the heart of the historic district. There is shopping, museums, old cathedrals, art galleries and many areas where you can buy authentic Native American jewelry and pottery. There happened to be an amazing harpist performing that afternoon. We sat down on one of the benches to enjoy when all of a sudden my view went from this...

to this...

How rude!

After the kids played and we got our fill of harp music we decided to see what else the historic district had to offer. There was an art festival happening next to one of the chapels, so we headed over to see this and to enjoy some of the beautiful fall color.

I'm obviously not Catholic, but Santa Fe boasts some of the most amazing cathedrals. They are absolutely gorgeous. And we just happened to be passing by the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi just as a wedding was coming out. So we were able to see the beautiful bride and listen to the mariachis! Very cool.



And the great thing about Santa Fe is amidst all of the cathedrals and shops and galleries, there are just little things that make you smile, like a beautiful wall of morning glories!
I really felt I couldn't take the kids to Santa Fe and not take them to see the famous spiral staircase at Loretto Chapel. The Monkey Man thought it was cool, but he was mesmerized by the beautiful stained-glass windows.



All in all, it was a beautiful fall day! We couldn't have asked for nicer weather, the train was great and we enjoyed all the culture, history, art and architecture that Santa Fe has to offer (well, at least as much as we could cram into one afternoon!) And although I'm aware that Santa Fe is a funky, eclectic place, this one caught me off guard!
I would have to say I'm pleased to see the post office has a sense of humor, however... all it took was this ONE thing to wipe the kids' brains clean of all the amazing sights we had seen that day. If you ask either one of them what they saw in Santa Fe, they will tell you, "THE R2D2 MAILBOX!"