The road to Santa Fe

Going south to escape the piles of snow that dumped on Northern Colorado wasn’t the original plan for the trip, but it was a bonus once we got closer. Heading south the piles of snow started getting lower and lower. By the time we neared the Colorado and New Mexico border, the ground was dry.

New Mexico has seen very little rain for the whole winter and a lot of the state is under extreme drought conditions. Hopefully, there will be a wetter Spring

The backdrop on the drive down was nice. Lots of grasslands gave way to more and more Pinon pines and higher mountains.

Santa Fe is known for a few things. One is all the adobe buildings. I’m a fan of architecture. What really interests me is how different regions and cultures use the materials at hand to create living spaces. Down here in the Southwest there isn’t the large hardwood or even large softwood pines. So making living spaces out of clay soil and shorter Pinon pines becomes the standard. It gives large parts to the US Southwest its character.

Adobe translates from Spanish as mudbrick. One of the great things about it is the insulating properties, which in a hot climate, keeps the inside cool. Combined with the traditionally smaller windows, it’s a natural style of building design that makes sense in the hot summer sun.

Santa Fe is a lot bigger than you think. But in the old part of town the homes get a lot smaller and the streets narrower. Galleries, lots the galleries. The old town is a nice place to wander about.