New Mexico Capitol Building | Loretto Chapel

Friday - 7 June 2002: Santa Fe, New Mexico - Another wonderful day in New Mexico. We only had a 60 mile trek to get up to Santa Fe, so we took our time this morning. And, of course, there is a huge super freeway straight up to Santa Fe, but that would be boring for my readers, so we took the "alternative route"... a trip through time... and chose Highway 14, The Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway. The Turquoise Trail begins about 16 miles east of downtown Albuquerque and winds 46 miles to Santa Fe along the east side of the Sandia Mountains. It passes through three ghost towns... one of which is no longer a ghost town. Madrid (MAH-drid) is the center town along the route and I can tell you - macramé is alive and well in Madrid. The other two "towns", Golden and Cerrillos, are still pretty-much ghost towns, though a few living people occupy some of the shacks. These towns were once prosperous gold, silver, coal and turquoise mining towns. Madrid only "shut-down" in the fifties - before then they had produced coal for the railroads and had a great thing going until the railroads switched to diesel. It was a beautiful drive - especially once we left the smoky skies of Albuquerque - cholla cactus and sage brush with beautiful rock outcroppings. The West is on fire and a lot of the smoke is going to Albuquerque.

DT and I keep getting comments from all sorts of people - "If you are from Oregon, why didn't you bring us some of your rain?" DT keeps telling them, "Be careful what you wish for."

We checked into our RV park, the Los Campos RV Resort - not a bad place actually. We are paying extra for 50 amp service, but we can't reach the 50 amp plug, so are using 30!

We set-up camp and I put a pot of soup into my mini-crockpot. We needed a healthy home-cooked meal after our gut-busters in Albuquerque! Then we headed out to The Roundhouse. The Roundhouse is the State Capitol Building of New Mexico. It is the only round capitol building in America. It is a very new building, constructed in 1966, designed in the shape of a Zia Pueblo emblem - the sun sign - and also the state symbol. DT and I couldn't figure out if it was a government building or an art museum. The art displayed in the building - The Governors Gallery - is extraordinary!

The Roundhouse


Inside the rotunda

I must say, The Roundhouse is the most unpretentious of State Capitol buildings - no security. Come on in - check us out. Obviously the Governor was not around and the House was not in session, or I assume things would not have been so casual. Santa Fe is famous for art, and the Capitol building is a perfect place to display the skill of your citizens. It is rather a small building, considering its function.

The Seal of the Great State of New Mexico


New Mexican art on display inside The Round House

The great seal of New Mexico has changed little since the Territorial seal of 1851. The American bald eagle shielding the smaller Mexican eagle within its wings symbolizes New Mexico's change of sovereignty in 1846. The bald eagle, which represents bravery, skill and strength, clasps three arrows in its talons. The smaller Mexican brown eagle grasps a snake in its beak and cactus in its talons. (This portion of the seal is still the official symbol of Mexico; it illustrates the ancient myth in which the gods ordered the Aztecs to settle where they saw an eagle perched on a cactus devouring a serpent.) The scroll below the eagles contains the motto, translated to "It Grows As It Goes". Is that more than you needed to know about the state seal of New Mexico? New Mexico claims the newest and oldest Capitol Buildings in the United States. The Palace of the Governors in downtown Santa Fe, built in 1609, was the seat of Spanish, Mexican and American governments. Today it is the New Mexico State History Museum.

Somebody stop me. I'm crazy for those Capitol Buildings, eh?

What's a girl to do after learning so much about the State Capitol of New Mexico? Go to church, of course! Our next stop was the Loretto Chapel. This chapel was built in 1873 and modeled after the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. The Loretto Chapel is famous for its remarkable spiral staircase. It makes two complete 360-degree turns with no central - or other - support! The staircase is steeped in legend. The staircase designed for the chapel would not fit. The sisters prayed and a mysterious carpenter appeared - astride a donkey, no less - and offered to build the staircase. Armed with only a saw, hammer and a T-square, the man soaked slats of wood in tubs of water to curve them and held them together with wooden pegs. He left before he was paid for his work. Now, you have to pay $2.50 to see the staircase. (I saw it 6 years ago, and paid again today... the carpenter was also obviously a marketing genius.) The Loretto Chapel now is administered by a trust and holds no regular services. It can be rented for weddings, etc. It is a beautiful little church.

 
Loretto Chapel - staircase and the altar

After all this culture, we walked towards the main plaza and strolled under the breezeway at The Palace of the Governors to look at the Navajo crafts for sale (we will tour the museum tomorrow). There was a car show today around the plaza - all sorts of old Mustangs - hubby was in heaven - and other funny cars, like a 60's VW van cut in thirds and put back together, with the center portion missing - like a mini-van... ha ha ha. We found a wonderful shop, with EVERYTHING, and shopped to our hearts content in the air conditioning. It is hot in Santa Fe.

Tonight we are staying home, enjoying a home-cooked meal - salad, chicken noodle soup and Challah. DT is switching back and forth between the NBA and the Mariners. It is cooling down and we will explore Santa Fe tomorrow.

RV Park: Los Campos RV Resort