How to Get Away from Santa Fe

HOW TO GET AWAY FROM SANTA FE

 You’re getting away to Santa Fe this summer. Perhaps you’re in the City Different for the annual Indian Market this August. You do some wheeling and dealing and purchase an incredible piece of Native American art directly from one of the hundreds of vendors lining the ancient plaza. You then go up the adobe lined Canyon Road, past more art galleries per square mile than anywhere else in the world and find something more modern. Unfortunately, this feels more like work than play and it isn’t so different from your daily life. You need to get away from your Santa Fe get away.

Buffalo Thunder resort is only twelve miles north as the buffalo roams, and is a great place to stay near Santa Fe without being stuck in the city. (Buffalothunderresort.com). It is a world class resort complete with a casino, a golf course and the famed Red Sage restaurant created by the owner of the Coyote Cafe. By the time you read this, the resort might already be booked so you might want to check out the nearby Santa Claran casino (santaclaran.org), a seven story hotel in the old New Mexican town of Espanola. Santa Fe can feel like Disneyland, but Espanola is the real New Mexico.

To clear your head the ancient spa of Ojo Caliente, (ojospa.com) in the small village with the same name, about an hour north of Santa Fe.  You can wash away your troubles in several public and private pools filled with healing mineral waters. The arsenic tub is a local favorite. Private tubs are available for couples who don’t necessarily want to mingle. This is one of the oldest spas in America, but its adobe walls have recently been renovated. The resort is a bit rustic, with lodging for the night and the Artesian restaurant is a superb place for lunch or dinner. After a few hours of soaking, you might want to start with the prickly pear lemonade before sampling the local and international selections from the wine bar.

You probably already know that Santa Fe has the world’s largest collection of Georgia O’Keeffe paintings at the Georgia O’Keeffe museum (okeefemuseum.org).  Why not take the hour drive north to the source of much of O’Keeffe’s inspiration?  O’Keeffe did some of her best work at Ghost Ranch an artist colony, just north of the town of Abiquiu.  It is open to the public. (Ghostranch.org). You can spend the night in one of the cabins in the midst of a spiritual retreat for artists and church groups . There are O’Keeffe tours, but you can explore on your own in a landscape out of an O’Keeffe painting. Check out the popular Chimney Rock trail.

Who knows, perhaps you will be inspired to do create some art of your own . . .  Santa Fe Indian Market runs August 12-18, so book your Santa Fe getaway now. Santafe.org.