Santa Fe was pretty awesome. There is so much to do, you really need at least a week, maybe more if you throw in the surrounding area like Taos. There are something, like nine museums, and more historical buildings than you can count.
We went to the first church in the country. It dates from 1610 and was built on an even earlier structure. There was something very spiritual about being in there. Don't give me the eye roll, I know it was a church, but we go to a lot of historical churches, this one was different. I can't put my finger on why it was though. They still do masses in Latin every Sunday, as their primary mass; that may have been part of it.
We also went to the Loretto Chapel, which is famous for its mysterious stairway. In a nut shell, in the 1800's (I think) this church needed a stairway to the choir room. The nuns began praying for some divine intervention, because they could not afford to pay for stairs to be built. Out of no where, a mysterious stranger comes into town, and offers his services to the nuns, he's a carpenter, and builds them stairs. 
The thing about these stairs is that they are such a masterpiece of carpentry that there is no way to explain how he was able to create them, even now. It makes over two complete 360-degree turns, stands 20’ tall and has no center support. The risers of the 33 steps are all of the same height. It's made from an unknown wood species and was constructed with only square wooden pegs (ie- no glue or nails).Over the past couple hundred years they have added handrails and reinforced the sides to insure that nothing happens to the stairs.Santa Fe was also a shopping mecca. We actually got chinks in our necks from looking down so much, I swear, even Dugger. He was very patient, we looked at all kinds of fabulous clothes. The catch to Santa Fe, is that unless you have a cajillion dollars, you can't really afford to buy anything there. More than clothes though, is jewelry. OMG, they have some amazing pieces of jewelry, and really not too expensive.
We went to this one really fun store called Jackalope. Apparently they have multiple locations, including one in LA, for you west coasters. They have everything funky, handmade, imported, and local you can think of all under four or five roofs. They also bring artisans in from other
countries and have them make their wares right in the shop. The sell furniture, rugs, statues, antiques, .... I can't even list everything they have. Dugger found this in the shop, and I was not paying attention, shopping for a little something for his mom, and he just stands right behind me waiting for me to turn around, and then I do....needless to say he scared me to tears, literally.We decided that we were going to have to make another trip to Santa Fe because there was really just too much to see and do.
Next stop, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Dugger's Dad and his family live there, and have for about 20 years.
Eureka Springs is another town that has been around for hundreds of years. People settled here when they heard about the healing powers of the natural springs that bubbled up everywhere in the town. It has slowly changed into an artist colony though. There were alot of free thinkers and "open minded" type people that lived here over the years. This is a picture of one of the old hotels in town ( look close). It is still a great town to walk around in and shop.Dugger's Dad is doing well, feeling better.The most recent scan says zero live cancer cells! Linda was out of town, unfortunately, so we did not get to spend any time with her. Dugger's sister, Amanda, is in Taiwan for a few months, so we missed her too. Hopefully we can catch up with everyone in the fall.
We are now in Townsend, Tennessee. As I type, I am sitting on my deck, coffee next to me, overlooking the Little River. I expect to be tubing down that, this afternoon. We are going to go to Dollywood, again, I love Dollywood. We are going spend some time in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, and then home. I have a feeling we will be pulling in the driveway about the same time I will have to be pulling out to go to work Monday morning.
I miss you all and we will see you soon.
From Tennessee,
We are the Traveling Dugger's
Victoria and John
