Redmore Reunion in Santa Fe

Playing at the Railyard

Ok... time for a real family vacation!  The four of us hopped in our car and drove (~7hrs) south to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The CA Redmores were driving in from San Jose and would be there the same day.  The Shaddays would arrive from Texas the following day.

We arrived in Santa Fe Wednesday evening, ready to stay at the Marriot for the first night.  The four of us went out to a great dinner at The Pantry.   Thick ceramic plates, friendly service that felt like family and some great live music... oh, and amazing Mexican food!

The following day we went downtown to let the boys run around the only playground we knew of:  The Railyard.  They were having a blast and we were checkin' the whole place out when we heard fast footsteps approaching behind us.  Mildly freaked out, we whipped around to see Seth and Vassu running toward us!  They had been out for some morning exercise and saw us.  I love running into familiar faces!!  We chatted about our journeys and decided we'd meet up at our rental house shortly.

Casa Martita

We had rented Casa Martita again.  This is the same house we had stayed in with my family a few years back.  It was such a great place - I knew it'd be perfect for this family as well... and I was right!  We all had plenty of space to ourselves, an amazing kitchen and a great outdoor space.  They all loved it so much we didn't really do anything the day of arrival but find our spaces, stock the kitchen, eat, drink and catch up with each other.  It was glorious.

Our first day out was Friday and Vassu, Shannon, Seth and I headed to Ten Thousand Waves Spa.  We'd booked appointments weeks ago, and were super stoked to spend the day being pampered.  The girls and I had a private soaking tub for the first hour, complete with cold plunge (invigorating!).  Afterwards we separated and went to our individual treatments.  There was a full body massage, herbal wrap and a salt body scrub - all of it was just magical.  It was more luxurious than anything I'd ever experienced at a spa before!   It was a shame to have to leave and go back to the real world.

But the "real world" wasn't going to be a big concern that evening.  Once we were all united again we headed to The Shed for one of the best dinners in town.  Blue corn tortillas, bright, pink, prickly pear margs, and green chili as far as the eye can see.  It was delicious!  I actually couldn't finish my plate.  I really wanted to, but just couldn't manage it.

Meow Wolf

After dinner we all had a bit of the food coma setting in but down town was closing up so we took our journey to Meow Wolf.  Now... this one is hard to explain beyond saying it's an interactive art experience.  We were greeted by giant sculptures in the parking lot and a few food trucks (please, no more food).  Inside the lights turned neon, the music came up and reality went out the window!  We started our journey by entering what looked like a normal home, but quickly became very weird and surreal.  Secret passages lead to "another dimension" that changed as you walked through or depending on which passage you took.

Everything was meant to be touched, climbed on, sat on or played with.  The boys were in heaven!  I think I said, "This is so cool!" a thousand times.  The whole group split up and the place was so big we didn't see some of our party all night!  We met up an hour or two later (I really don't know how long we were in there) and everyone was all smiles and describing their experiences and interpretations.  It all made me so happy.  Art doesn't always have to hang on a wall, but it should evoke emotion... and Meow Wolf really hit a home run here.  My kids talked about it for days and kept asking to go back.

Saturday morning everyone but Shannon, Kyle and I headed to Los Alamos for a little Redmore

Santa Fe, NM

history.  This is where Gary & Lu met and where Seth was born!  The Shaddays and I went to down town Santa Fe for a little "adulting"... which is code for picher of drinks and a non-kid friendly lunch followed by galleries and shopping.  It was lovely.  The others joined us in town later that afternoon and we enjoyed the day around the town square.

The girls and I found a chocolate statue of Oppenhiemer, Seth inquired after some beautiful gem stone globes, Kyle appeased his love of Day of the Dead knick-knacks and the boys all got new novelty socks.

Sunday Josh left us... early.  He had to hop a plane and head to Liverpool for work.  The rest of us lounged, chatted and had coffee until almost noon, then headed to town to visit the Georgia O'Keefe Museum.  The last time we were here the boys were really uninterested, but this time the ladies at the ticket counter gave us a little scavenger hunt to do, large drawing tablets and pencils.  We worked our way through the hunt, taking time along the way to see the other works, pick our favorites in each gallery and the boys drew their interpretations of Georgia's work.  Both Van and Wes really liked what they saw!  Van preferred the abstractions while Wes liked her urban works from her time in NYC.

Georgia O'Keefe Museum

Lunch at Cafe Pasqual's was as good as the hype. Van and Wes each had a chicken quesadilla with a cilantro pesto - loved it!  I had a green chile blt which just blew me away.  I'd heard a lot about this place and was anxious to try it, and it totally delivered!

We wandered town a bit more but spent some good time at the house that day.  It was nice to hang out on the back patio with a beverage and talk.

Monday morning the boys and I got up and at 'em early.  We had a long drive ahead of us, and I wanted to get on it.  By 8:30 we were packed and ready to go.  After lots of good bye hugs we headed north.  It was sad to leave all our awesome family - it'd been a really wonderful weekend - but it was time to depart.