One of the real blessings of the van is being able to ‘drop in’ on friends. Adult friendships– particularly the difficulty of seeing one another as frequently as we’d like– became a running joke on the internet for a reason. And while most can clear their calendars for somebody’s big life events– it’s another thing to just roll through on a pretty typical week, and to experience something more akin to their normal life.
It doesn’t hurt if your dear friends are centrally-located in the American Southwest, a hub for van living thanks to its scenic places, and dry winters. With an estimated 300 sunny days per year, it’s a good spot to visit– even when it’s chilly, it’s often blue-sky beautiful, and having seen Santa Fe in almost every season this past year, it’s hard to pick a favorite.
For all of its fame as a tourist destination, Santa Fe still feels more hamlet-than-city to me, and still feels joyously sleepy. It’s no hidden gem, but it is a gem– one that feels small and manageable, but unspools itself more each time one visits.
Should you go the Georgia O’ Keefe Museum, and to Santa Fe Square? Absolutely. Am I going to cover the more touristed areas in this blog post? No, I am not. Since I’ve been to Santa Fe numerous times, I’ll try to give you some less obvious things you might want to check out.
I know my first stop every time I roll into town– Iconik Coffee Roasters. This is the best independent coffee shop in America, if you ask me– and my god, have I been to a billion local coffee shops around this great country. What makes Iconik fantastic is its food, which goes so hard– their Egyptian Dukkah Toast with a poached egg is ridiculously herbaceous and good. They use local ingredients, which means everything tastes fantastically fresh (the pictures do not even do the food justice).
They have one of the best community events boards I’ve seen, so if you stop into town– be sure to check out their bulletin board for everything from notices of great practitioners for healing or massage, art events or shows in the area, and other services you might need when in-town (e.g. dog walking, haircuts, etc.). Iconik has a few locations, but I am partial to the one on Guadalupe.
Another gem is Santa Fe Brewing– there are breweries closer to the Railyard, the touristed part of town– but Santa Fe Brewing is slightly away from that, and unassuming enough to pull mostly locals. It’s rare to sit out on the patio and not get engaged in conversation with someone, even if you’re by yourself. An absolutely sick food truck is typically parked outside– and their beers are pretty world-class. The Freestyle Pilsner is my favorite– crisp, light, good to drink on warm spring afternoon. (Mac did not sample the beers, but they do always have dog treats– so I give this place ‘extra credit’ accordingly).
The hiking in Santa Fe is pretty exposed– at least most of the routes I have done in Santa Fe are, so hiking in the morning is best– the sun can be strong in all seasons.
Santa Fe National Forest has a few good hikes. The arid-but-somehow-verdant landscape gets enough snowpack to stay surprisingly green. This particular hike left behind Museum Hill, and while my buddy and I were used to the kinds of huge trail gains in the Pacific Northwest– being not quite used to the 14,000+ altitude DID cause me to breathe heavy on a couple rises.
Mac had a heck of a time finding shade along the route– but he found his relief spots. Being at high altitude, the sunshine can provide a real scorch any time of the year– especially on cloudless days.
The Nambe Badlands hike is not far from the city (about 30 minutes), but is one that contains some beautiful rock formations– hiking in the desert can be rather featureless, if you’re used to hiking elsewhere. But these badlands have plenty of large rock formations reminiscent of Utah.
The hike has a really manageable gain, but a highly-decent payoff in some eroded formations. There’s definitely some parts of the trail that go through wash, so please– check the weather before you go. I say that because… we did not. And there was a huge, huge storm brewing on the horizon.
There’s a Golden Girls episode when they are talking about an incoming hurricane, and everyone keeps saying the storm is “a-brewin'” — and that was exactly what was going on in the sky as we rounded the bend of the loop trail to turn for home.
We high-tailed it out of the desert as fast as we could carry ourselves.
Back in town on a different day, I remembered The International Museum of Folk Art was featured on Antiques Roadshow, and since I’m a PBS nerd– I asked my friends in the arts if the museum was worth the hype. They replied back very quickly: it very much was. I decided to check it out.
It was a strange museum format– when entering, you might be discombobulated as a first-time visitor. There is a thick, spiral-bound pamphlet you could miss easily, but this is the key to understanding what is in front of you. There’s very few signs or indicators on the walls– just numbers that correspond to these essential books.
Started by eccentric rich folks (a theme in museums, I find)– such as Alexander Girard and his wife, who traveled the world and procured folk art as they traveled, making up most of the exhibits in the Girard wing. Their pursuits were serious, but also so unguided, as to create some strange stories– such as the couple seeing a child approaching with an armload of dolls, and offering to buy them on-the-spot from her.
The collection spans an impressive number of cultures and countries, and many (if not most) of the artists are unknown– with very few of them being professionals, their identities did not always get retained. I found myself wanting to stay longer, to admire the intricate details of the pieces– but with so much to see, there was so little time to devote to each.
It is, after all, the world’s largest collection of folk art.
Back to that bit about visiting friends in the van, and getting to participate more in their lives. My friends in Santa Fe are both in the arts– one as an accomplished writer, lecturer, and podcaster, and the other is a master printer. They worked furiously this year to create the inaugural Print Santa Fe event, bringing artists to display their work and bring it straight to the people– with no gallery middleman. This festival — which I might not have thought to FLY in for– was a resounding success.
And it was amazing to see my friends be the successful humans they are. It (in the words of Dr. Seuss) made my heart grow about ten sizes. Covered by the local papers, the event drove huge crowds and made plenty of those individuals into buyers.
One of the headline events of the Print Santa Fe was Dennis WOLFBAT McNett’s procession of masks and puppets — Dennis had volunteers decked out in masks they created themselves, and these towering figures were imposing, yet beautiful, to see in-person. The group paraded them around the grounds of a nearby gallery, playing drums and occasionally chanting, before ending the procession in a series of poetic speeches.
The evening light cast a haunting warmth on the figures, and brought the successful event to a close with an absolute bang.
I don’t need to tell you that Santa Fe is a worthy place to visit– but I can remind you that if you’ve been once, you haven’t really scratched the surface. The understated pueblo buildings hold multitudes, and the spirit of Santa Fe is made of much more than just galleries and great green chile sauce– digging deeper than the typical spots (e.g. Santa Fe Square) will provide a huge payoff.
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