Day the Fourth

we woke up early and decided to head to santa fe. auntie jan graciously offered to drive and be our tour guide and we accepted. santa fe is the oldest government in the us (originally mexican) and has the oldest house in the country (ad 1200). my parents love the city and from our brief sojourn i can see why. it was super.

had to go see the miraculous stairs at loretto. saw it on unsolved mysteries. story goes something like this: old church with a choir loft that the nuns couldn't get up to because ladders (which were usually used for the mostly all male choirs) would be indecent. prayed to st. joseph (patron saint of carpenters) and a mysterious carpenter arrived (around 1870) and spent six months building the stairs with a saw a hammer and a barrel of water for shaping the wood. there are no nails and no glue. architects still have no idea how it stays up as there is no center or side support. pretty neat, eh?

the staircase is in the famous leaning church of santa fe.

also went to a guitar store and talked to the owner about building guitars, etc. drove home and talked about being teachers and i read a couple chapters of anne of green gables. got back to the ranch and relaxed while jan and emily made stuffed zucchini. i talked about geology with ladd. then we all sat out on the porch.

thought you might all enjoy the view from the upper balcony..
though i think it was better in person.

tomorrow we're just hanging out. but expect a short update, hope you all are well and we look forward to seeing you soon, or hearing from you. but our cell phones don't work out here, so don't try til sunday, and maybe not even then because we'll be headed to the grand canyon.