The Getaway- And Everything Else

Hope everyone's week is shaping up well! As for myself I'm recovering from getting my wisdom teeth removed on Thursday. Booooooo. But I thought I would take a little time and do a quick post on the rest of our road trip pics from July. Just looking through these pictures makes me want to go back on vacation!


This is Kateri, the first Native American to be beatified by the Catholic Church. The statue stands in front of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi which is located near the plaza.

The doors of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi tell the history of all of the churches that stood where the modern day basilica exists today.

The stained glass windows of the church were striking!

The Sanctuary of the basilica. Just a few hours before, a couple was exchanging vows here! What a beautiful place for a wedding!

The ceilings were as gorgeous as everything else inside of the church.

Such a great reminder! :)

These flowers were on our table when we grabbed a bite to eat at La Plazuela inside of La Fonda on the Plaza. Jason and I highly recommend eating here if you're visiting the plaza and you're hungry. Great food, service, ambiance!

This was my chosen meal at La Plazuela. Jason thought it looked like it was covered in blood, I thought it looked delicious, and it was! Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the meal, but it had chicken in it and it tasted great!

On Jason's birthday we stopped in to a little French Patisserie just off the plaza for a little lunch. This was desert, yum!

I thought this van had flair!

Window decorations for, what else? A candy store!

Jason walking to the Pecos National monument, and old pueblo ruin about 30 minutes from Santa Fe.

Climbing down into a kiva.

Interior of the kiva pictured above.

Mission Church ruins at Pecos.

Sky at Pecos, such pretty lighting!

We had the opportunity to visit Chimayo, a small church with lots of history located on the High Road from Santa Fe to Taos.

Native American ceremonial dancers performing after their Sunday service in Chimayo.

The End! Such a great trip!

Our Would-be Wedding Venue

 Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 

When planning our wedding last year, Jason and I went through a lot of possible locations for our impending nuptials. One of our first ideas was to get married at the Loretto Chapel located in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico. I had visited the chapel with my family a few years ago and fell in love with it's charm. They also do a lot of destination weddings and have many packages available to suit a variety of needs, which makes wedding planning from a distance VERY easy! In the end, and after MUCH consideration, we decided to get married back where I'm from in southern Louisiana surrounded by family and friends. But even though we didn't get married there, we resolved to go on a road trip to visit the Santa Fe and this beautiful church!

Right at the entrance to the chapel is what I called  "The Rosary Tree":

The inside of Loretto is modeled after a cathedral in Paris called Sainte-Chapelle:

 And the famous miraculous staircase, not the best picture (there were a ton of people vying for the spot I was in to get a shot of the staircase, I literally only had a few seconds before I was booted out, haha!)but sooooo beautiful in person:

The Getaway- Rancho de Taos and the Miraculous Painting

A couple of week's before we left on our birthday weekend, I was researching places to visit while in the Santa Fe area. After pouring over my New Mexico travel book for awhile, I read a little blurb about a place called Rancho de Taos. While the quaint, little town's history was interesting, what really caught my eye were two words: "miraculous painting". What!? A miracle painting??? Heck yes! Sign us up!
Apparently a painter named Henri Ault created the Shadow of the Cross artwork in 1896. In the daylight it is an image of Christ standing serenely in front of a sea. In the dark, however, the background glows a pale green around the outline of Christ. Behind Him is a shadow of the cross, and some people even see a halo above His head and the bow of a boat in the sea.

The mysterious painting is now displayed at the San Francisco de Assis Mission Church located in the plaza of Rancho de Taos.Once we arrived, I realized the church was enough in and of itself to merit a trip to the area. Built between 1772 and 1815, this adobe Catholic church is dedicated to St. Francis. It has been painted numerous times by Georgia O'Keeffe and photographed by Ansel Adams. Every year in the springtime the residents of Rancho de Taos take a day to re-mud the adobe of the church, what a neat tradition!

The church adopted this stray pitbull, she was so sweet! And I think she liked Jason!

Photography was not allowed inside of the sanctuary, but the grounds of the church were gorgeous.

After strolling around the church it was time to see the painting! Yay! They keep it separated in another building where we watched a 15 minute movie on the history of the church and how the painting came to be located there. After the video is over they turn the lights off so you can see the painting in all of its glowy-awesomeness. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. But sure enough, a few seconds after the lights went off the painting started to emanate light, and brightly at that! Photos were not allowed of the painting, so I pulled these from the internet. Here you see the painting in the light:

http://www.visionsofjesuschrist.com/weeping80.htm

And here it is in the dark:

http://www.globaltrekkers.ca/index.php/30/the-land-of-enchantment/

I think the above photo is actually a picture of a post card,  so it just gives you a vague idea of what it looks like, you definitely have to see it in person to get the full effect. It is pretty amazing! Scientists have even tested it for radium and other materials that would cause it to glow and have come up empty handed. This intrigued Jason, and for the rest of the day he ran through tons of theories of how they would be able to get the glow effect. 

After leaving the painting we walked around the area for awhile taking in the plaza. I love the buildings in New Mexico, they have so much character!

I highly recommend visiting Rancho de Taos if you are in the Santa Fe or Taos areas, it was definitely worth a stop on our road trip!