Non-Consumer Photo Essay -- Santa Fe

My husband and I dedicated the Monday of our New Mexico trip to driving up to Santa Fe for the day. Why Monday? Because we wanted to tour the state capitol building's art instead of paying admission to one of the museums. Mind you, I'm fully aware that the museums are fantastic, but I'll always choose the free option when it's available.

We drove the Turquoise Trail national scenic byway and it did not disappoint. This is how we always drove up to Santa Fe when we were students in the 1990s.

Blue skies + rock formations = worth the drive!

I experimented with taking photos through my polarized Red Cross sunglasses for some extra photographic intensity. I'm now artsy!

The New Mexico State Capitol building, known at the "Roundhouse" is open to the public and has over 300 pieces of artwork on display. It also offers free parking and nice clean bathrooms.

Here are a few of the pieces that spoke to me. This painting that combined Native American imagery with pop art aesthetic. Titled "Spirit Pony of The Canyon." and created by the artist "Tavlos."

I didn't get the artist name for this piece, but this mixed media buffalo is created from film strip, newspaper, plastic spoons, (the eyes) paint brushes and so many other items. It was huge!

My photo does not do justice to this spectacular textile, as the deep pigments simply didn't translate to my crappy phone. Stunning weaving.

This tryptic absolutely glowed from within and I could've spent an hour examining the details.

This photo collage from the artist Patrick Nagatani was especially fun to come across, as he was one of my husband's favorite photography professors back in the day. I met him a number of times and was always a bit intimidated.

Even the handles into the building were created with an artistic eye, with imbedded torquoise.

It reminded me of how the Nebraska state capitol building had numerous corn-centric elements throughout the building, including the handles on this spectacular set of doors.

My husband and took a selfie under the stained glass dome. Unflattering, but does that really matter?

I wanted to reference when we did the same thing under the Nebraska dome in 2023.

Our plan had been to explore the plaza area and then treat ourselves to Frito pies, which were invented at Santa Fe's long gone Woolworth's. I'd read that they were still sold at the "Five & Dime" store. Unfortunately, they'd closed the snack bar down for the day, which left us without a meal plan.

Funny story -- when we lived in Albuquerque, our friends used to reminisce about how amazing it would be when they'd serve "Frito pie" for school lunch. I was so confused about this, as I kept hearing it as "food-o-pie!" It took me awhile to realize what it was they were actually saying.

I decided that our failed plans were the perfect opportunity to hit up a Blake's Lotaburger, which is a New Mexico fast food staple. Home of the New Mexico style burger, which is enormous and loaded with hatch green chile! Priced at a bit over $9, this was a bargain, as it's easy to spend a bundle in Santa Fe! We didn't add fries or drinks, as we had our reusable water bottles.

I love their branding, this guy is just the cutest! Is he Blake?

Lastly we drove around the historic Eastside neighborhood, but didn't actually get out of the car as the sidewalks were either dangerously narrow or simply nonexistent.

We chose the straightforward highway back to Albuquerque, which took around an hour. This deposited us back at the hotel in time for their free "evening reception," which added some much needed fruit and vegetables to our burger dinner.

Santa Fe is always such a satisfying day trip! It would be easy to turn it into something expensive, but with a bit of planning it can be very budget worthy!

Katy Wolk-Stanley 

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.
Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.