A rustic grey wooden door set in a warm orange adobe-style wall, with green vines growing over the top right corner, set against a backdrop of partly cloudy sky and tall trees.

Green Chili, Rez Dogs, and the Doors of Santa Fe

My visit to Santa Fe was an art immersion trip. The very air is filled with creativity and it’s such a beautiful place.

I am Camp Green Chili. I love the red too, but if forced to choose, I’m going green.

I loved the adobe architecture, the museums fromMeowWolf which BLEW MY MIND to the Georgia O’Keeffe which inspired me, to the contemporary art along Canyon Road.

I loved the clouds, which are somehow so full of drama, the excellent margaritas (mix? I don't know her), and the mysterious (and slightly creepy) history of the Loretto staircase and the crazy gift shop it spawned.

I loved the doors and the hand-forged hardware that is ubiquitous all around Santa Fe.

I loved Love Apple in Taos, a restaurant in a beautiful old adobe and courtyard, formerly a church, with locally sourced food.

I also loved the breakfast burritos with green chili, especially when consumed while people-watching and eavesdropping. I loved the slow-start days and the wandering around without an agenda, absorbing the vibe of Santa Fe. More trips like this please!

The Rez Dogs of Taos Pueblo

Taos Pueblo is many things. It’s a World Heritage site and a National Historic Landmark. It’s one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the United States. It is a place with a complicated history with the Catholic Church, the Spanish, and the US government.

My favorite thing about the Taos Pueblo was the church. There is an older church in ruins, crumbling amongst old wooden crosses marking graves. The church still standing is a striking example of Pueblo architecture, and it is easy to see why so many artists, including Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keeffe, have been drawn to it. It has blue-stained-glass windows, which, when inside, give the place a beautiful light. No photographs are allowed inside, but that’s okay; it’s the outside that's spectacular. The courtyard and its entrance frame the Taos Mountains, which had just a bit of snow when I was there.

While visiting the Pueblo, I hoped to sample some food that may have been typical of the Tiwa diet. Instead, I was introduced to the Rez Dog, which was the only thing on offer the day I was there. I entered the low, small, dimly lit room with a dog lying outside, and encountered a very modern ice chest and a little curtain, behind which a mysterious female chef was at work. I tried to engage her with questions about the Rez dog. She was not conversational, so all I learned is that we got the last two. We took the Rez dogs, fry bread, and a little plastic cup of mustard and went looking for a place to sit. I am a person not in the habit of eating hot dogs, or fried hot dogs on a fried piece of dough. I sat down with my white paper plate, which was growing a round, translucent grease stain. Like a genie, an actual Rez dog appeared, with his snout very close to my plate. I considered that it would be the healthier choice, for me, to give my dog to the dog. I picked up the mustard and, shocking my travel mate, ate that delicious Rez dog, hoping that it would not rebel against me since there was no indoor plumbing, electricity, or running water inside the Pueblo and I had more exploring to do.

A dog resting in the shade of a building with a clear blue sky and trees in the background.

Rez dog nap time, with the old Taos church ruins in the background.

A woman sitting on a wooden bench outdoors near a river, holding a plate with a, and mustard. She is wearing a white outfit, sunglasses, and a blue hat, smiling at the camera. There is a water bottle on the bench in front of her, and a second plate of the same food on the bench. Trees and adobe-style buildings are visible in the background.

Rez dogs taste better than they look.

Later that day I had a very different kind of meal, in the courtyard of an old adobe church that is now a restaurant called Love Apple. The meal was lovely, made from locally sourced, in-season produce and game; the menu incorporated local chilies in some creative ways. No dogs of any variety were present. Two Taos meals in one day, low and high, with some spectacular scenery between them. I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience both.

Outdoor patio with three white benches, a small black table with a white top and a pink flower in a small vase, backdrop of trees and a cream curtain.

The welcoming courtyard of Love Apple

Santa Fe Doors

I loved being able to walk around Santa Fe and look at the architecture. I learned that much of what looks like adobe is stucco, and feels very different. Adobe is soft, almost velvety. So yes, I walked around feeling up the walls. I was enchanted by all the doors and the color palette of rose, pink, orange, brilliant blue, turquoise and natural aspen wood, punctuated by the deep red of the chili ristras hanging all over. I took a lot of photos of doors.

Open weathered wooden double doors with teal paint, set within a rustic fence and garden, under a blue sky with clouds.

New Mexico Funky

Not everything in New Mexico is polished, pink and arty. There is some grit, some junk, some alien (meaning outer space alien, not human alien) culture, and one of the most wildly creative museums I’ve ever set foot in. And there is the Rio Grande too, where you can go rafting. There is a whole area of earthships, and there are caves where the Penitencias hid from persecution. There are some amazing murals on buildings in towns that look abandoned. There are signs that say “Bad shit will happen to you if you park here.”

This last image is, for some reason I can't quite articulate, one of my favorite photographs from my trip.

A bus parked on a dirt road in a rocky, hilly area with sparse trees under cloudy skies.

I went for the art. I stayed for the rez dogs, the doors, and the margaritas. I'll be back.