Probably better than actual Mexico

We miscalculated the time zones again, and thought we woke up at 8 (actually 7). It didn't matter because we'd already decided we would have a quiet day and not push it too much. So after a nice dip in the campground pool we headed the three miles to Old Santa Fe town.

After leaving Winston in the stewardship of a nice local parking attendant (we've decided New Mexico gets the prize for friendliest state so far) we wandered into the Plaza. New Mexico has been ruled by the Spanish, the Mexicans and now the Americans. The Palace of the Governors (a large low-lying adobe in the middle of town) has housed them all and is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the US (Santa Fe has lots of these very qualified "mosts" - "probably the oldest stone public building in New Mexico", "probably the oldest church structure in the US"). We brunched on the Plaza - Mark went Mexican and had an enchillada while reading the New Mexican. It's primary day (for Governor, Lt Governor, Sheriff, Assessor, etc) in NM today - and the paper recommended who everyone should vote for!

While Mark was reading the paper, I'd gone through the local guides and established a walking tour of Santa Fe that would get us to the main sites before our parking money ran out. So we set off - around the Plaza, past the Governors' Palace, the local Courthouse, City Hall, the Georgia O'Keeffe museum (visits by appointment only, so didn't get to go in). It was so pretty all the way - and we had a chat with a curious Mississipian who wanted to know where we were from (Americans seem really straight-up to us - if they want to know something, they just ask. We're yet to meet an American who is anything other than personable). He was pleased to know we were heading to his state and told us that his home town is just about to get overtaken by the oil spill. Then to the Sanctuario de Guadalupe (there's a new statute of "Our Lady" there...we didn't really like it) and to the railyards, which Mark loved.

Past the Capitol and to San Miguel's mission (the aforementioned "oldest church structure in the US... probably") where we were allowed to ring the bell inside. The oldest house in the US (probably) is next door.

Back on the road - we'd decided to go to Santa Rosa, about 90 miles from Santa Fe, but it didn't seem like that much of a drive, so we continued on to Tucumcari, NM to make tomorrow easier. Tucumcari is on Route 66, so Mark improvised a turn-off to have a better look and we got a bit lost, but it did mean a lovely diversion at Ken's ice cream bar for ice-cream sundaes. A lot of the old Route 66 towns are pretty ghostly looking and ramshackle - their glory days are clearly over. Tucumcari (or the part of it on old 66, anyway) is no exception. A huge array of motels with big neon arrows pointing at empty parking lots or half collapsed buildings, and a similar set of diners across the street.

Finally got to our campground at 5:30pm - our earliest arrival and it's been great. We set up and had a swim in the pool (we're sunburnt - it probably got into the 30s today), and now we're enjoying a beer while we blog. Too full for real dinner.