Tent Rocks monument, Georgia O'Keeffe and lots more(Part 2)....

Continuing from Part1, after the museum visit, we went to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi which is an 1800's era cathedral. The cathedral looks beautiful with stained glass and bronze door. We were in for just a few minutes and I didn't take any pictures of the interior for it being a place of worship. We then visited the Loretto Chapel and on the way we passed through a Native American market on the sidewalk near the plaza. There were many beautiful items like jewelry, textiles, carvings, baskets on sale. The turquoise jewelry looked amazing. There are also a lot of shops, restaurants and galleries around the plaza. They all looked pretty expensive! Moving on, the Loretto Chapel is a former Roman Catholic church known for its spiral staircase that is now used as a museum and a wedding chapel. The chapel is very beautiful on the inside and there is a $3 charge per person. The unique staircase rises to 20 feet to the choir loft making two full turns without the support of a newel or a central pole. Made mostly of wood, it is held together by wooden pegs and glue.

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

The huge bronze door at the Cathedral

Loretto Chapel

The interior of the Loretto Chapel

It was now almost time for the little one to have her dinner and we thought of getting a grilled cheese sandwich for her. The closest place we could find was Del Charro. We took a to-go grilled cheese sandwich, called for the shuttle and we were back to the hotel in no time.  The sandwich was pretty good, crusty outside and all gooey inside, and came with some french fries (which became a snack for us than the kiddo).

Pueblo architecture found everywhere in Santa Fe

We had to try two more restaurants before bidding adieu to Santa Fe and now we had to choose because unfortunately we didn't know that most of the restaurants in Santa Fe are closed on Sunday! So make sure to remember about the restaurants being closed on Sunday when you plan a trip to Santa Fe. The two restaurants were Sabor Peruano and La Choza. I wanted to try the Peruvian cuisine because of two reasons, first it was a new cuisine to me that I wanted to try after seeing an episode of Chef's Table and second was the menu which looked simple but very appetizing. La Choza restaurant has been famous in Santa Fe for its New Mexican food but mainly for Pozole which is a traditional soup from Mexico that is made of hominy and meat served with red or green or Christmas chili and this was one of the few only restaurants in Santa Fe that served it in a vegetarian version as well! Difficult choice but we went with the La Choza restaurant.
We took the hotel shuttle to La Choza and found out that the wait time was approximately 45 mins. We decided not to wait and order to-go. So we took pozole that came with chili(peppers) & sopapilla and a tamale that came with refried beans, chili and sopapilla. Santa Fe is known for its chilies and the way chili is served in Santa Fe is different. There are three kinds of chili peppers - red, green and Christmas. The Christmas style chili is a mixture of red & green chilies and is super hot! The sopapilla is a Mexican flatbread that is deep fried. The New Mexican sopapillas are pillow shaped fried pastry dough and they were so delicious I could have had a meal just of the sopapillas! The chili, sopapillas and pozole are a must try in my opinion. The tamales were made of beans and cheese wrapped in masa and steamed in a banana leaf. It was my birthday and this was one delicious birthday celebration that I can never forget!
We ended one exciting day and were waiting for another exciting skiing day to begin!

Tent Rocks monument, Georgia O'Keeffe and lots more(Part1)....

It was the second day in the city of different, Santa Fe, and the plan was to make an early trip to the Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, be back by lunch and explore the city. Located about 40 miles southwest of Santa Fe near Cochiti Pueblo, Kasha Katuwe means 'white cliffs'. The layers at the monument were formed because of volcanic eruptions spewing gas, broken rock, lava and ash skyward. At times this mixture would be so dense that it would rush down the sides of the volcanoes in a flow of hot chaos, obliterating everything in its path (pyroclastic flow). In between volcanic eruptions, wind and water moved the debris downslope. As layer upon layer was deposited, the material hardened to form the rock type called tuff. In the last million years, uplifting, faulting and weathering has revealed the tuff and its layers. A fracture may have initially weakened the area of the slot canyon, but water excavated and sculpted its walls. Water is also the primary carver of the tent formations.

On the way to the Tent Rocks monument

A view on entering the slot canyon

The trail to the view point passes through a slot canyon which means as the day progresses and the crowd increases, it takes longer to complete the trail. We wanted to finish this by noon so that we could explore around Santa Fe for the rest of the day. We started from the hotel by around 8 am and were at the monument trail by 9 am. The park opens at 8 am and there is a charge per vehicle. Also depending on the season visiting it would be wise to carry a few bottles of water and some nuts. The length of the trail was 1.5 miles one way. The trail passes through an amazing slot canyon and then you see a cluster of the tent rocks! You slowly pass the tent rocks and reach to a view point where you can see all of the surrounding area. The view was absolutely gorgeous! We were back at the trail start by around 11:30 am and reached the hotel by 12:30 pm.

A narrow pathway in the slot canyon

One of the beautiful views that one can get from a slot canyon

Words fall short picture

The beautiful tent rocks on the way to the top of the trail

Tent rocks from the top of the trail

Slot canyon trail view from the top of the trail

Once at the hotel, we took the hotel shuttle to a vegan food truck called Root 66. A lot of blogs had mentioned about Root 66 and we wanted to try it out because this would have been our first ever food truck visit in the USA! They are available at the parking of the Santa Fe Brewing Co.'s Brakeroom location which is off the Galisteo Street and also it would be wise to check their status on Facebook since they close in the winter. Coming back to the food truck experience, we tried Impossible Mushroom Cheeseburger, Eggplant Marinara Panini and Tempeh Crabcake Sandwich all with a side of potato salad. The food was really good, I loved the crabcake sandwich and the best part was it was all 100% vegan! They also made up a dish of rice, eggplant and marinara for my daughter and didn't even charge for it! If you are a vegan/vegetarian wondering what to eat in Santa Fe, just head to this food truck and your taste buds will thank you for it!
After a hearty meal, we took a walk to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum. Georgia O'Keeffe was an American artist also known as the 'Mother of American modernism'. Her paintings reflect flowers, New York skyscrapers, bones against the stark desert sky and New Mexican landscapes. The museum has many of her paintings and two videos featuring Georgia herself.

A painting from the Georgia O'Keeffe museum

Continued here....

The journey to Santa Fe

Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico state, is a city with Pueblo architecture and known for creative arts. The city has a lot of galleries and also the New Mexican cuisine that is found no where else. The city also has outdoor activities like skiing, white water rafting and horse-back riding. There are also spas that have hot tubs similar to the Japanese onsens. With so much on offer, we decided to travel to Santa Fe on a vacation.

The main reason for us to visit Santa Fe was the Pueblo architecture and skiing. Staying in Dallas, we do not get snow here, its just sleet! And nor do we get to see snow in Bangalore. And this being the last winter in the USA, we wanted to experience the snow! 

The distance of Santa Fe from Dallas is approximately 640 miles and it took us 11 hours with a few fuel breaks and lunch-breakfast breaks. Amarillo is almost mid way and we expected to reach Amarillo by lunch since there are no good options for vegetarian food either before Amarillo or after. We left Dallas around 5:45 am and we reached Amarillo by 12:00 pm. Schlotzsky's is my new found love because of their sourdough bread and that is where we had lunch and its right off the I-40. They have kids menu as well which made it easy for us to feed our almost 2 year old!

Hello, New Mexico!

Right after lunch we were on the historic 'Route-66' all the way till we reached the diversion to Santa Fe! That was a dream drive! Now Route-66 is the Mother Road or the Main Street of America. It was established in 1926 and ran through Chicago, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, ending in Santa Monica, California with a total of 2448 miles. After being removed from the U.S. Highway System, it has been replaced in its entirety by the Interstate Highway system and the one we were on was the I-40. 

When you enter New Mexico, you start seeing boards of "TUCUMCARI TONITE!" that invite the motorists to stay the night in one of the Tucumcari's motels. Tucumcari, the largest city on the highway between Amarillo, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been a popular stop for cross-country travellers on I-40. And as we passed Tucumcari, the land was covered in snow in bits here and there! I have to admit that it was my first time seeing snow and i had a child like excitement whenever i saw it or touched it!

Snow, snow, snow!!!

It was around 4 pm when we reached the hotel, Villas de Santa Fe. Its an apartment kind of hotel that is very close to the downtown and they offer shuttle service to the downtown and nearby areas. When it was dinner time, we thought of giving the shuttle service a try and it was very useful for all the times we had to go to downtown. Dinner was at Bumblebee's Baja Grill. Santa Fe is known for New Mexican food and there are a lot of restaurants to try if you eat meat. But since we are vegetarians, i had selected a few must try restaurants and the first one to try out was Bumblebee's. The restaurant has some good vegetarian and vegan food. We had the veggie especial burrito, veggie tortilla soup and veggie tacos. The tacos came with pinto beans and rice. The highlight of the meal was the tortilla soup made from vegetable broth. It had everything needed on a cold winter evening. They had a kids menu as well which was useful to us.

Bumblebee's Baja Grill

After dinner, we took a short walk to the plaza. Most of the shops were closed but all the eateries were open. The plaza was all lit up and with snow everywhere it was picture perfect. We were greeted by a Santa Claus which made the kiddo happy! We took a few pictures and then we were back at the hotel.

Santa Fe Plaza

It was a good day that ended well with getting to see snow, eating delicious food and a warm cosy bed to snuggle in!

Feeding a 1 year old while traveling..

Gone are the days when having a baby meant house arrest until the baby was old enough to travel! Traveling with a baby now is easier than it ever was. My first trip with my baby was to the United States when she was 5 months old. I did have some doubts on whether I could actually look after everything during the travel since it was a 24 hour journey with a 2 and a half hour layover.
It all started with the flight from Bangalore to Dubai which was a night flight. The night flights are a little easier if you are traveling with a baby as they can coincide with the sleep time of the baby. I did have a baby carrier which meant I could have my hands free. A stroller can also be useful since the baby can sleep in it during the layover and you can also use it as a temporary high chair. Since my baby was on formula, that did make things a little trickier. I had to have boiled water, formula powder, a transparent container in case the security didn’t let me through with the formula carton, sterilized bottles, a sterilizer. Bottle liners can also be used but I preferred to use the Milton solo travel steriliser with Milton sterilizing tablets. This steriliser could be used both with hot and cold water, hot sterilizing in a microwave and cold water sterilizing with the tablets. Also in flight once you clean the bottles, you can ask the stewardess to fill up the bottles with hot water. You can then close the bottles and keep them for half an hour as the steam from the hot water sterilizes the bottle. But do make sure the bottles are clean of all the formula residue before filling them with hot water. I also filled a thermos flask with hot water to make the formula. There are no restrictions on the quantity of baby products and also formula cartons pass the security check.
Next comes the solid food part. If your baby is on solids, do pack something your baby likes in case of delays or non availability on the flight. Some extra set of clothes, socks since the temperature can get cold at times, a small blanket (I prefer to use my own blanket even though some airlines do provide them) or a sweater, lots of diapers, some small toys, baby lotion. Also request for a seat with bassinet. This will give you some free time when the baby is asleep or you can use it for the baby when you need to use the restroom. Also the bassinet seats come with good legroom and large overhead bin space which is very useful when traveling alone with a baby. You might need some additional clothes for yourself as well.
Also I had read of how it’s important for the baby to suck on something during landing and take off but I didn’t see any discomfort in my baby. In fact, she was sound asleep for all the landings and take offs. In case this part of the journey concerns you, offer some milk which should do the trick of sucking. Some medicines for fever, upset stomach, thermometer, electrolyte solution specifically made for babies and any other medications the baby needs. I had her evaluated by the pediatrician and also asked him for a list of general medications needed during travel. Ask for an electrolyte solution that’s made for babies since there are some chances of dehydration in case the baby is extremely fussy in travel. I have heard of people giving Benadryl to make kids feel sleepy but I personally don’t prefer it since it can interfere in case of an emergency or otherwise. If possible pack a diaper bag that has all the baby stuff and a different bag for your things. I thought it was handy to have a small sling bag to keep my phone, some money and our passports.
These are the things that I used while traveling with my baby till she was 12 months old. I still use some of the things when traveling with her since she’s a toddler now. It’s a basic list that helps you modify it as and when the kids grow.