We took a family trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, over Spring Break. Both teens are busy these days and it is not easy to get away. But we decided to drop everything and do it anyway.
Santa Fe felt like the perfect spot for us this year. It is about a 10 hour drive from our doorstep to the rental cottage. It has a nearby ski area. There’s plenty of interesting things to see. And it is in the southwest.
We spent one day looking around the plaza area of Santa Fe. I’d found this First Time Guide to Santa Fe by Simply Wonder and we covered a lot of her suggestions. Santa Fe is the second oldest city in the US and the plaza’s history dates back to the 1600s and before. Canyon Road, an easy walk from the plaza, is full of really great art and sculptures.
We spent another day visiting Bandelier National Monument. I honestly did not know about Bandelier until I started researching things to do around Santa Fe. We love national parks and monuments. I’m not quite sure how I didn’t have this one on my list ages ago. It is amazing! We lucked out on a snow storm the day we had scheduled to visit since we ran into other travelers who had been turned away due to overcrowding a couple of days before. The roads weren’t great but with the combination of our all-wheel drive and the calm husband, the drive was manageable. The snow was super wet so it didn’t take long to get soggy and cold. I definitely want to get back to this spot again in different weather.
We squeezed in two hikes – Atalaya Trail near Museum Hill in Santa Fe and the Chamisa Trail about halfway up the mountain to Ski Santa Fe.
We had a lot of fun souvenirs and food on this trip. My absolute favorite was the chocolate chili elixir from Kakawa Chocolate House near the plaza. I definitely want to get back to Santa Fe sometime!
I’m so glad we made this trip work. We all know that family trips will get trickier when the older teen goes to college in the fall.
