Santa Fe and Houses of the Moon

Our trip north to Santa Fe took us up Hwy 25 North through Sierra County and past the Cibola National Forest and San Mateo Mountains. We noticed on our map that we were approaching the Sevilleta Wildlife Refuge so we decided to take a stop to stretch our legs. It is so great to be able to make spontaneous stops like this to check out things we would normally pass by when travel time is a factor.

The refuge is located in the Chihuahuan desert 20 miles north of Socorro, New Mexico.

The refuge currently hosts the Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, conducted by the University of New Mexico. Our hike took us out the back of the welcome center (pictured) and out into the desert.

There is just something about the sky out here in the desert. It is so BIG and so BLUE!

There is so much life out in this seemingly desolate place. We saw many birds and lots of desert plants that were very happy about the recent rains that have come through.

So, right away I need to mention that IS NOT my ass in this shadow photo! It is my bum bag. Sure, all those tacos, beans, ribs and chicken we have been eating have to go somewhere........that is why we stop in the middle of nowhere to take a hike!
Keep it movin! :o)

After our hike we continued north on Hwy. 25 to Albequerque. There we hopped on Interstate 40 for a short hop to get to scenic route 14 to go north to Santa Fe. This highway is only two lanes. It took us through beautiful back country. Little towns like Golden and Madrid (an artists' town).

 

The moon was out early as we approached Santa Fe. It should be full for us tomorrow night.

Oops! Looks like the aliens are still following us. We turned a corner on the road and saw this alien spaceship cloud ahead of us. Hopefully, we won't have a close encounter of the third kind when we get to the spa. Nano, Nano!

Ten Thousand Waves Japanese Spa and Houses of the Moon
This is very exciting, indeed! We have reserved a few nights at this spa in Santa Fe. Rowan has been working herself to death for the last seven years, so I figured this is exactly what she needs to get rid of those knots in her neck from all of those years of stress and endless hours of work (and I kinda like it too :o) ). Lots of R and R, hot tubs, saunas, massages, salt rubs, Japanese food and of course a nice glass of saki now and then should be just the ticket.

The spa is located in the mountains just above the center of town. This is our room.

Our Townsman room is called Luna, after the ancient Roman goddess personifying the moon.

The room has a wood burning kiva fireplace. It will be in the 20's tonight so the first order of business for me was to get that fire going, for Rowan, checking her email!

The whole Japanese theme with a southwestern twist is done just beautifully throughout the entire room and complex.

Just when we were starting to kick back and relax, Rowan went to use the toilet. There was a sudden, 'what the heck'? coming from the bathroom. I went in there and found Rowan trying to figure out why the toilet seat was warm. Had someone else just gotten up from there, and if so, where the heck were they? To our surprise, the toilet seat was heated. But wait......................

The toilet literally has a life of its own!

I noticed this control panel on the wall next to the toilet. This is when I started losing it.
The toilet is like a car wash. You can rear cleanse - low or high volume - and front cleanse all while oscillating or pulsating and of course blow dry everything when you are done. Naturally, Rowan was HORRIFIED to try any of it. Me, well, if any of you know me.........well, thank god I was sitting on the toilet when I tried all of them (Yes, all of them) because I started laughing so hard I leaked. Thank god our room is not connected to any other because I'm sure the paramedics would have shown up at our door thinking someone was having an attack of some sort! It was absolutely hilarious. Now, of course, I want one at home because it is so fabulous. I started calling the bloody thing Honey!

Rowan found a story on the BBC about the Japanese toilets that is just too funny considering we just had our first experience with one. For your further enjoyment, go here:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38660860 

A few photos from around the grounds of the spa

The waterfall outside the restaurant had been frozen by the snow

Inside the spa grounds there is a big koi pond with gigantic koi

We spent one day kicking around Santa Fe and went to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.
Can't take photos inside, so you just need to go there. It is fantastic and you will learn things about Georgia and see photos of her you have never seen. The photos of her working in her vegetable garden at Ghost Ranch and her very early drawings/watercolors of architecture at the University of Virginia where she began her work as an artist are just outstanding. Go here for more information: https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/collections/okeeffes-art/

Entrance to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Santa Fe is just dripping in art. 

My pet mountain lion. This is an enameled bronze art work that looks so real it needs to be petted.

One side of the New Mexico Museum of Art. There is something about this southwestern architectural style that is so soft and inviting.

FOOD ALERT!

Viewing art makes me just ravenous, so we popped in to a tequila cafe and I had an emergency buffalo burger with mexican cheese, guacamole, chiles and crispy chips. We skipped the tequila since it was only 3pm.

Looks like we will need another hike tomorrow :o)

The sunset was breathtaking on our way back up to the spa.

And, we get a full moon tonight!

We got back to the spa and decided to take a late hot tub so we could enjoy that full moon in a relaxing environment.

Here we are after the tub, all rosie-faced and very relaxed. The spa provides kimonos for their guests who lodge with them. You see folks all over the grounds walking around in these so you really feel like you are in Japan.

The next day we decided to go on a hike to work off that burger from yesterday. There are a series of hiking trails all through these mountains around the spa, called the Dale Ball system (22 miles of interconnected and well signed/maintained trails).

Santa Fe behind us

The desert Yucca plant. Local Indians use the very fibrous Yucca leaves to make rope, baskets, and sandals.You can see the strings curling up on the leaves. Just pull them off the leaves and their strength will amaze you. The things you can learn in the desert!

We found this great example of the yucca strings on our hike.

There was still some snow from the last storm in them thar hills.

Beautiful mossy red rock with fungus (not the view from a plane window of the landscape below!)

We are so lucky to have this brisk, bright and sunny day for our hike.

We finished our hike and got back to the spa for our Ooooo-la-la 3 hour session of hot tubs, massage and salt rubs. Hopefully this will not only get that alien out of us, but will keep us human for some time on down the road.

Rowan continues to be horrified about me bringing the camera everywhere. I pulled it out as we sat down for our pre-treatment hot foot bath and of course she was horrified. "Put it away, put it away" she whispered. OK, FINE!

........until, of course, we got to our private hot tub. I promised no more photos after that. You will just have to come here to experience this place for yourselves to see how wonderful it is.

When we were all finished being pampered, we stumbled back to our place for a glass of saki. Our next task is to attempt to walk over to the spa restaurant Izanami for some Japanese tasty bites.

Next post is all about our dinner at Izanami.
There are courses. Can you say 'Omakase'?