We drove the Hyundai Santa Fe straight into Santa Fe last night. No, we will not be changing cars every in every major city we hit this just a coincidence (I hope).  Santa Fe means "holy faith" and is home of the oldest church and oldest home in the U.S.  We headed out to see a few of the old relics as well as take in a visit to the state capitol which is here in Santa Fe. The capitol is a simple looking building from the outside but inside it holds about $5.2 million worth of art on its walls. The governor, Bill Richardson, happened to be in today. We didn't get a chance to meet him because he had a news conference. So, we talked to the receptionist and asked her to let him know if he could just clear up his little corruption misunderstanding, he could take a job in Washington and we would be happy to send down a replacement governor from Illinois.  I feel pretty confident she will relay the message.

The city is loaded with beautiful artwork...an art market second only to New York in sales. Any of you looking to purchase art we would recommend purchasing a Ford F150 to drive down and make your purchase as many of the pieces we saw were grand in size. 

The town is also loaded with gastrointestinal gems. Great breakfast in the hotel, followed by lunch at the famous Pasquels, a big fat nap (hey, unemployed people get tired, too) then off with dinner at El Farol (www.elfarolsf.com). El Farol is situated on Canyon Road in the art district and is the oldest bar in Santa Fe. Canyon Road was the main trail between the mountains and town and one day some brilliant man realized it was a long haul between these two spots and the cowboys needed a place to get a drink. He also decided Mondays would be 40% off food and bottles of wine (oh wait, maybe that's the current owner). Anyway, the place was loaded with the SF locals and lucky for us they were holding auditions for musicians tonight. The acts come in and play and the patrons decide who gets a permanent gig. Faith was the first act.  She was probably mid 50's and her act was a bit dated.  Her story (according to us) was they cut the music program at school this year and teaching piano lessons alone isn't paying the bills so she really needs the gig.  She is a keyboard player and bi-lingual singer so her set went anywhere from Leroy Brown to The Maccarena. Before we left, the manager told us Faith won't be playing in the front room because her style isn't quite in-line with the clients. They do, however,  have a backyard where they need entertainers so he would find a spot for her there. Perhaps the marquee will read "There's Faith in the Backyard"...fitting for this area. 

A couple other things in Santa Fe...the hair is long on both men and women. Much of it is shoe-polish black but, if you aren't blessed to have that color your whole life, you just let it grow out. We actually haven't seen a hair salon in town so it may be against the law to cut or color your hair in Santa Fe. This is a good fact to know as Lisa and I have already discussed we will probably be driving back to Chicago with hats on because of our out-growth...or we just stay here because nobody will notice. 

We're in a lovely hotel, Inn of the Governors (www.innofthegovernors.com). Very New Mexico, quaint, and after checking in noticed a guy with firewood and he said his room included a fireplace. Of course, our one-day advance on-line, double coupon, AAA discount booking didn't include one. But after an 8.5 hour drive through Oklahoma and Texas, we had fireplace envy and thought we deserved the upgrade. We'll both get jobs eventually so we splurged and I think we've made 16 tee-pee fires and gone through 2 cords of wood since we arrived. 

Now, I just have to remember to call the unemployment office tomorrow so I get my check.