The High Life

At the beginning of our vacation, Hulin picked me up in Albuquerque and then we drove to Santa Fe for the first night. He wanted to eat breakfast at La Fonda Hotel, a hotel in the Old Santa Fe area,  so we drove several miles into the historic part of town to do so. Little did I know that he also had a reservation for the hotel for the next to last night of our vacation.

We checked in mid-afternoon and got to our room just before a huge thunderstorm. But the weather had cleared by the time we had our dinner in the restaurant. The hotel and restaurant had lots to see and was attached to a few stores, while advertising other stores with samples of their wares, all along the hall. It was definitely a few steps up from my usual motel. It even had banks of small windows filled with miniatures that were three-dimensional advertisements for other stores. 

We also splurged on our suppers.  Hulin got the line-caught coho salmon and I got the tortellini with roasted squash and pumpkin seeds. And we shared an appetizer of fried squash blossoms stuffed with goat cheese. Everything was totally delicious.   

I took this picture of the front of La Fonda the next morning

The way in from the parking garage

An amazing leather face purse

Another window of wares -loved these shoes

Dining room from hall above it - ours was the empty table by the pool.

Hulin eating bread

The marvelous squash blossoms

There was a wall of these painted windows in the restaurant plus in other places in the hotel

Hulin's  Salmon

My tortellini2ith butternut squash, broccoli, and pumpkin seeds

Fireplace just outside the restaurant

A little seating area we walked through on the way to or from our room

One of many little arrangements behind a window - used to advertise other stores

Even the public bathroom was very stylish

After supper, we had a drink in the bell tower of the hotel

And saw our second rainbow in a week

For breakfast the next morning, we ate at the pastry shop behind this fireplace. They make all their food on site, and it was a delicious and beautiful breakfast.

We walked past this vignette on the way to register

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon walking around and enjoying the art of Santa Fe. Definitely different from our usual hiking or driving through wild areas.