new mexico

Coffee at Betterday in Santa Fe and then a trip to Albuquerque

Phil February 7, 2016

I had only one chance to get coffee the morning we left Santa Fe.   I narrowed my choices to The Betterday Coffee Shop or Iconik and opted to go with Betterday.

Interestingly, according to yelp, their rating has been dropping since 2014, sadly.  I wonder what happened?  Digging through the reviews, it seems that more people have been unhappy with their customer service.  It had a neighborhood vibe when I was there, and I didn’t have any problems.  But this was back in June, 2014.

The decor at Betterday was a mix of wood and old rustic highway signs:

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.. with a couple of bicycle frames hanging from the wall.

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They do indeed serve Stumptown, and my espresso was fine.

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We didn’t stay too long, because the rest of the day’s itinerary required us to stop in Albuquerque, Petrified Forest, and then end in Flagstaff.

It was really hot that day in Albuquerque.  We didn’t explore as much as I’d like since it was such a short stop, but we checked out the historic old town plaza and its shops.  We saw some really neat images in one of the photo galleries, which seemed to be run sort of as a co-op.  I stopped in the San Felipe de Neri Parish for a moment to see the interior:

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and then ended up eating a quick lunch at the Albuquerque Museum.

Then we drove for a while along the train tracks and ended up taking a break in Gallup, NM.  It was a fun stop. My dad really really wanted to stop on Route 66.  We checked out the Rex Museum and talked at length to the guy working there, who wore a bright neon orange shirt, striped tie, black vest, and cowboy hat.  It was full of items from Gallup’s history, including these city directories dating back to about 1923.

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we didn’t stay too long though, because we still needed to visit the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park and then make it to Flagstaff at a decent hour.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Phil February 6, 2016

Santa Fe with my Dad – we arrived in the afternoon but luckily it was the time of the year when the days were long.  Our hotel was a little south of downtown, so we drove a few miles north and found parking near Santa Fe Plaza.   We didn’t have anywhere specific to go, so we just wandered around.  We walked by plenty of little shops and art galleries, and poked our heads into some of them.

We walked by the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi:

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and a whole bunch of other art galleries.  We walked by the (closed) Georgia O’Keefe museum and my dad admired the adobe architecture.

I didn’t get any coffee partly because it was getting later in the day, and partly because Holy Spirit was closed:

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We wandered down to the State Capitol building.  It was impressive and round.

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And eventually made our way to Santa Fe Railyard Park to see some greenery.

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There was a Railyard Piano project installation, and we checked out a few of the pianos.  I tried playing one, but it was in pretty bad shape.  Nicely colored, though.

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For dinner, we got some Green Chile at Tomasita’s, as recommended by a friend.  My dad’s first time.  He said it was “fine”.

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