Train Trip to Santa Fe

June 12, 2010.

We woke to slightly cooler temperatures today. It was a beautiful morning. We planned a trip to Sante Fe on a train. However, I was a bit under the weather with a nagging back and shoulder ache.

We left the gravel parking lot (Fam Camp) at 10:30 and I drove us all towards downtown Albuquerque to catch the New Mexico Rail Runner Express.

The hour and half ride from Albuquerque to Santa Fe only cost $8 per person round trip. Our train left downtown Albuquerque at 11:30.

Our train was a modern comfortable double deck passenger coach with forward and aft facing seats. 

The train made several stops in route picking up and dropping off passengers.

We arrived at the end of the rail at the Santa Fe Depot at 1:00.  The Depot is surrounded by shops. However, we did the total tourist thing and got on the free shuttle ride to "The Plaza" in down town Sante Fe's tourist shopping district. We walked the rows of Native Amerians peddling their beautiful silver, turquoise and copper jewelry on the covered walkways of state buildings.

All the jewelry and trinkets were beautiful. Of course the pieces that Joyce and I liked were close to $1K each. Too rich for our budget! The plaza is full of nice shoppes featuring jewelry and souvenir junkets. There's also a few churches and restaurants.

We ate lunch at the Sleeping Dog Tavern. Before long it was time to take a shuttle back to the Sante Fe Train Depot. The shuttles run every 15 minutes. There was a large crowd building to take the 4:30 train south. However, we got on without incident! I'm not much into the shopping and tourist thing, however, I enjoyed the train ride. I would have enjoyed it much more if my back and shoulder weren't throbbing all day!

We got back to Albuquerque at 6:08 and back home by about 6:30. It was time to walk the dogs and call it a day!