^ I’m a sucker for a great doorway!

Santa Fe surprised us in many ways. 1. The elevation was over 7200 ft high, I had my first nose bleed while I was sleeping one night. 2. It was a real artists colony.  We walked around an area called Canyon Road where there were a plethora of art galleries, more than we have ever seen before. You will not find cheesy local art being sold, Santa Fe is a place where legitimate artists live and sell their work. Famous artists like Georgia O’Keeffe lived here.

I loved the Pueblo style architecture in Santa Fe, they have a strict code for keeping their buildings authentic. You will also see chili peppers hang drying from nearly every roof, reminding you of the heavy Mexican influence here. The downtown area has all of your modern retail stores, museums and local restaurants. There is a market street where natives sell handmade jewelry and turquoise off the floor to passerby’s. Santa Fe more than any city we have traveled to, wins the “most unique” award. It felt like we traveled outside of America.

^  I swear this bird was following  me for miles. Jamie, on the other hand, said there were hundreds of these guys. I disagree, he was trying to give me a message.

We took a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, it was about an hour drive from where we were staying in Boulder. The drive itself was scenic, and to our surprise there were plenty of cute mountain towns along the way, the most popular being Estes Park. We drove up the mountain to nearly 9500 feet while stopping to hike at different trails. One of our favorite areas we hiked was at Bear Lake, it was full of snow and the lake was frozen over. Beautiful.

I wasn’t going to be satisfied leaving this place without seeing wild animals. Luckily, we stumbled upon herds of deer and elk. I ran over to them, like a lunatic, as if they were domesticated animals who would hug me, but Jamie quickly reminded me that I could be trampled on. I unwillingly kept a safe distance. On our way out of the park, we stopped at The Stanley Hotel. It is famous for inspiring the story/movie ‘The Shining’. We went inside hoping to see shadow figures or a full body aparition, but we only encountered real living tourists.