The first surprise for me on this trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, was how small the airport in Santa Fe is. It's so small that there was only one ticket agent, and you claimed your baggage on the sidewalk outside the terminal building. (There's even a resident cat there that sits in the drinking fountain until someone takes the hint and lifts him out, and hold him up there for a drink.)

The temperature was about 85 degrees F, and it was sunny with a sky dotted with cotton candy clouds. A wonderful day to begin a week-long vacation!

ACCOMODATIONS

My Mom had flown into Santa Fe the day before from Michigan, so I met her at the Doubletree Hotel. A brief note about hotels in Santa Fe: We needed a suite, and I wanted to get a room somewhere near the central area called the Plaza, in downtown Santa Fe. However, all of the places located downtown were too pricey for us, so we ended up staying at the Doubletree on Cerrillos, which is where the less expensive hotels/motels are. Most are 1-4 miles away from the Plaza, and you'll need to rent a car, take a taxi or a shuttle into town. This can get quite expensive though.

If you want to be in the center of town, I'd recommend staying at LA FONDA if at all possible. La Fonda is a very nice hotel with a good restaurant and bar which features live music most nights of the week, and is centrally located. Also recommended are: The Loreto Inn, and the Inn at Santa Fe.

For less expensive accomodations, there is a huge variety of hotels/motels on Cerrillos Blvd., including Budget Inn, Doubletree Inn, Quality Inn, etc. For the most part, we were satisfied with the Doubletree , but while my Mom really liked the restaurant, I thought it was just mediocore. We also had several minor problems such as a broken sofabed (which necessitated moving to another room), and were never able to cash a travellers check at the front desk because they had always just run out of cash. On the upside, once we moved to our new room, we were pleased with it. It featured a king bed in a large bedroom with a writing desk, bedside tables, huge comfy chair with ottoman, an armoire with color cable TV, two phones, and full length mirror closet doors. There was a small shared bathroom outside the bedroom with tub/shower combination, and a small wet bar with sink, refrigerator, microwave, and coffee maker. The sitting area was small, but also had color cable TV with the fold-out sofabed. The suite was tastefully decorated in the rustic, Santa Fe style that we soon came to know and love. The Doubletree also offered an indoor, heated rectangular pool, two jacuzzi's and an exercise room.

SHOPPING

Shopping is fantastic in Santa Fe, particularly in the Plaza area downtown. The Plaza encompasses about 10 city blocks of shops, restaurants, and galleries. You will find tons of turqoise jewelry here, along with a wide variety of Native American arts and crafts. The Santa Fe School of Cooking is well worth a visit, especially if you'd like to take some chile ingredients home with you (located upstairs in the Plaza Mercado). They also offer cooking classes which are really fun.

Along the sidewalk outside the Palace of the Governors, you'll find Native American artisans with blankets laid out, selling mostly turquoise and silver jewelry, and some crafts. Definitely worth a gander.

Don't forget to check out the shopping inside the various downtown hotels. La Fonda has some very interesting shops, for example. Even some of the more well-known restaurants even have their own shops. One example is the Coyote Cafe Store, next door to the Coyote Cafe on the Plaza. You'll find a good selection of Santa Fe/southwest cookbooks, dried chiles, salsas, and other foodstuffs. I had to fork out a dollar for one of their clear "Hotlix" tequila suckers, complete with worm in the middle.

Other recommended shopping locations include Jackalope on Cerrillos Blvd, and the Santa Fe Factory Stores, also on Cerrillos, about 4 miles south of downtown. Jackalope is the ultimate Santa Fe store. It's huge, and has just about anything "Santa Fe" that you'd want - all at very reasonable prices. I bought a chile ristra, a lovely iron rockinghorse, a stuffed satin chile ornament, a candle made to look like a little hacienda (complete with tiny chile ristras handing outside!), and a cute Southwestern style backpack with leather trim - all for less than $80.

I was a little wary of the Factory Stores, since I've been to outlet stores before, and haven't been impressed with their prices, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the prices ranging from reasonable to inexpensive. There were only about 12 stores there, but there are plans to add at least 10 more stores. I enjoyed visiting Cole Hann, Jones New York, and the Leather Loft in particular. I got a great deal on a burgundy leather purse at one of the leather shops there.

For high-end paintings, sculpture and other art, you'll want to visit Canyon Road (see below under Sightseeing).

There are also many galleries/shops on the High Road to Taos, including Ortega's, specializing in hand-woven Native American rugs.

SIGHTSEEING

The Plaza Area is a must-see because it includes:

• St. Francis Cathedral
• The staircase at the Inn at Laredo (which has a great story behind it)
• The Indian Museum
• The Palace of the Governors
• The Wyeth Hurd Gallery - a nice collection of paintings by the Wyeth and Hurd families, including a few by Andrew Wyeth, and several by Jamie Wyeth.