The Dorman's Visit NM

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Luke and I spent our Easter weekend entertaining Luke's family in New Mexico. Wes, Amanda, Abigail, and Abigail's friend Caitlyn all made the journey from Savannah this past Wednesday. I gave them the grand tour of Carlsbad on Thursday, and then headed north to Santa Fe for the weekend. Above is a picture of the traditional Santa Fe building. I love the architecture in Santa Fe and could definitely see myself living in this high town. The elevation in Carlsbad is already a high 3,000 ft, but Santa Fe's elevation is 7,000 ft. above sea level.

Here is a picture of the Plaza. You can see some of the mountain backdrop through the trees. The Plaza is the heart of Santa Fe and just a great place to visit. You can find tons of Native Americans lining the Palace of the Governors a 400 year old building selling their beautiful jewelry. I thinks it's important to note that the Native Americans selling in the Plaza are held to standards when it come to their products. They have to be 98% sterling silver, hand crafted, and tons of other restrictions that allow you as the tourist to know you are getting a quality product.

We also toured the New Mexico History Museum that just opened it's doors in 2009. The museum was great and offered everything you need to know about New Mexico's history. A lot of interesting history: the atomic bomb, the Mexican-American war, the Native Americans who originally roamed these lands, and much more.

Below is a picture of the miraculous staircase in Loretta Chapel. This staircase is an amazing site to behold with no center or outer supports. Engineers today still cannot quite figure out how this works and supports itself. When the stairs were originally constructed there was no railing, so it really appeared to float. Another interesting note is the amazing carpenter remains unknown. As legend has it, the nuns needed a staircase built and prayed about it, a man shows up and spends much time laboring and building the stairs, once complete the man disappears without even accepting payment. I always love a good mystery!

Last but not least, turns out Luke has a cousin that lives between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. His cousin is a very distance cousin that he has never met until this weekend. Luke's cousin is a horseman. People bring horses to his house from all over the country and even Canada that need to be broken in. Sunday we visited his home and horses. His daughter is Miss Rodeo New Mexico 2010, so we were excited to dress up in a lot of her fun things. Jean her mom makes these great pieces in her leather shop. The craftsmanship is amazing and makes me want to try out leather working myself. I wish you could see it better, but my chaps say Tough Enough--it's a breast cancer awareness chap that has a matching jacket. As you can see I'm a little bit tall, so my chaps don't hit the ground like Ab's and Caitlyn's pairs.