Santa Fe is cool - really cool. I think one of the coolest things about it is how old it is. It has the oldest functioning government building in the country as well as one of the oldest houses in the country. To me, this makes it fascinating. Growing up in the west, old is usually 100 years - I mean, that's an old city to a Californian. For example, I grew up in one of California's first gold mining towns, founded in 1849 - to me that is really old. I went to California's oldest university, Santa Clara University, founded in 1851 - to me this is also very old.



However, the Palace of the Governor's in Santa Fe was built in 1610! To give you a little context of how old that is, in 1610:

1. Galileo was first observing the moons around Jupiter
2. Henry Hudson was just beginning to explore what would become Hudson Bay in New England
3. Louis XIII of France was crowned king
4. The first Dutch settlers arrived to colonize Manhattan

The point is - people were inhabiting Santa Fe in a civilized manor when New England was in its infancy. Take that, East Coast!


 Aside from it's age, Santa Fe is truly amazing for both its architecture and food - both very unique and deeply tied to a long and rich history. Adobe architecture is truly unusual as well as timeless. It has this odd way of looking modern, but was created so much before "modern design" was ever even conceptualized.


Food wise, the best meal we had was at Santa Luna Restaurant - the food was incredibly traditional Mexican food. I had the mole.  Then I died and went to heaven. D - i - v - i - n - e. There are no other words. If you are ever in Santa Fe you MUST go there. It was on a side street and a bit run down but it really just added to the appeal of the food being homemade.

Santa Fe is lovely - do visit...soon.