Santa Fe!!

For our one year anniversary I told Shanam to pick where we should go and surprise me :) I told him to do that for our honeymoon, too, and he definitely blew my expectations out of the water! So, when he told me that we were going to spend our anniversary camping, I was fine with it, but I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. I do love camping...just not in celebration of our one year together :) We had been wanting to go to Santa Fe for a while, so at least we were going to a cool, new place. And he did tell me that he had already booked an hour message at a spa for me, so I REALLY couldn't complain! We arrived, after our 6 hour road trip, just in time for my appointment. The spa was gorgeous and located in one of the best hotels in Santa Fe. My masseuse was actually telling me about all the famous people she had given messages to :) And I can't even begin to tell you how amazing the message was!! Shanam told me that he would go get things ready during that time, since it would be almost dark by the time I finished. Well, he did go get things ready...but he wasn't setting up any campsite! He was checking us into that same hotel, confirming our dinner reservations, and planning our trip with the concierge :) When he came back to pick me up, I was so relaxed and happy, that I just put my hand in his and followed his lead, not really understanding or caring that we were't going to the car but instead through the hallways into the restaurant. That was a welcome, happy, delicious surprise, but an even greater moment was when he led me up to our room. He walked me into our cozy suite with a beautifully lit fireplace, a big bouquet of roses, and a huge, fluffy king-size bed with the sheets already turned down. And you know what I did?! I started crying! Well, wouldn't you!!

Isn't that purple car so cute! Hotel Santa Fe is run by an Englishman who decided to bring over a few English taxicabs for the hotel. We never got to ride in it, but we did get a lift into town in the huge purple shuttle bus they called Barney :)

There is a surprising amount of French people and French culture in Santa Fe that I had no clue about, so when Shanam and I went to this highly recommended French Pastry Shop for breakfast the next day and I had one bite of my peach filled crepe, I thought I was literally back in France!! Never have I tasted a crepe like that except for on the streets of Paris! That almost made me cry, too :) The owner and the waitresses were French, so it was so much fun speaking with them and listening to them talk with each other. I didn't want to leave! And we weren't gone for long...after checking out a few city sites, we went back for lunch...French Onion Soup!!! I was in heaven!

One of the places we went to was the New Mexico History Museum where we learned all sorts of interesting facts about NM. Just before heading out, though, I saw these colored squares against a back wall, and for the heck of it, decided to get a closer look. Well, I'm glad I did, because the closer I got the clearer the FACES became! How cool is that! The squares were made out of a sort of hard ceramic and molded on the right edge, so that when the light shown a certain way, the faces would appear! Definitely one of the neatest pieces of art I have ever seen!

On our last day, we wanted to get up into the mountains for a little hike. As you can tell, when we started out, it was fine and by the end, it was like we were caught in a huge snow storm! We were laughing so hard because we could barely see as we headed back to our car! Lots of good memories, and once again, Shanam blew my expectations out of the water, and it wasn't just because he set them so low to begin with :) I. love. that. man. exclamation point.