I spent Sunday night in Santa Fe, strictly to see the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and the Loretto Chapel with the Miracle Staircase. I got to the chapel at 9 a.m., and the museum at 10 a.m., catching the shuttle to the Albuquerque airport at 11:40. It was a bit rushed, but I managed to take it all in anyway, and loved it! My first time in Santa Fe, and I must admit....the famous Plaza area was a tourist-driven ripoff site while the surrounding streets, not far away, were quite dumpy.
But the museum was great -- a twin show of a Georgia-selection, alongside some Ansel Adams prints. The two were friends and colleagues from 1929 onward, and had a lot in common with their respective art.
The Loretto Chapel boasts the Miracle Staircase. When the nuns needed a staircase constructed in 1878, near the end of the completion of the chapel itself, they ran out of money. So they prayed for a staircase and lo and behold, an unknown carpenter came along and built the staircase for free. The literature says, "The stairway confounds architects, engineers and master craftsmen. It makes over two complete 360-degree turns, stands 20 feet tall and has no center support. It rests solely on its base and against the choir loft. The risers of the 33 steps are all of the same height. Made of a previously unknown wood species, it was constructed with only square wooden pegs and without glue or nails."
Hey, I believe in miracles!
Then it was home to Port Angeles Monday afternoon -- Home Sweet Home, my city as seen from the commuter flight from Seattle.
New Mexico was great, but I was happy to be back.
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