Dancing Ground of the Sun
We left Heron Lake the first week in October and headed for Santa Fe. The town is an interesting blend of both the Native American and Mexican cultures. The city was founded in 1610 by Spaniards as the capital of a province of New Spain. It is the highest capital in the US at 6998 feet above sea level. The area was first inhabited by the Tewa people, who called this area the Dancing Ground of the Sun. We set up camp at Rodeo Santa Fe, right in town. The camping space is basically a dirt lot at the rodeo arena. We arrived on a Saturday, so there were quite a few horses, trailers, dogs and people around the lot. The other thing in abundance were goat’s head stickers. These are nasty little balls covered in spines that resemble goats horns. They get stuck in your shoes and torture the dogs by sticking in between their pads. Any place that had some vegetation had to be avoided at the rodeo lot. We stayed here because it was convenient as we wanted to explore Santa Fe.
Museum of Contemporary Native American Arts. October 2025
We like to avoid crowds so we visited the downtown area on Sunday morning. It does payoff in smaller crowds but the downside is not everything is open. Which was the case on this day. We wandered the streets and the Plaza downtown and enjoyed the architecture of the different buildings. The street vendors were setting up their wares for the day. We did get to go in some of the shops and galleries that were open. We grabbed a gluten free pizza across the street from the San Miguel Chapel and ate outside on a bench next door.
Scottish Rite Masonic Center. Doesn’t sound Native or Mexican but it is an interesting building,
San Miguel Chapel is the oldest church in the US. The original structure was built before 1628.
Loreto Chapel
Cool fountain at The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
It wouldn’t be New Mexico without some chili peppers.
We did walk around the capitol building and admired the sculptures on the grounds. We decided to come back in the morning and take the self guided tour of the inside of the capitol. The NM capitol is the only completely round capitol in the US. We arrived before most of the staff and legislators got to work, just after 7:30. We were able to wander all the floors of the building and admire the many the works of art. Since nobody was there we also walked through the legislative chambers from the upper gallery. There was a lot of artwork on display and made for a very impressive gallery that is free to visit and enjoy.
Outside the Capitol building.
The seal under the rotunda.
There was a large display of quilts with many styles.
Very cool bison sculpture made from trash. Enlarge the picture to see the details.
Where the sausage gets made.
This is a hallway with legislator offices directly entering it and used to display more artwork. Everything in this building is round.
We really enjoyed visiting Santa Fe. The city is nice and neat, well laid out and is interesting with it’s southwest feel. The art gallery at the capitol was a surprising treat. We spent longer here than we expected to. We will definitely make a point to visit more state capitols as we travel.