Day 2 in Santa Fe, NM

Spending the afternoon at 10,000 Waves Spa in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) mountains above Santa Fe.  For $23.45 you get unlimited use of the public hot baths and sauna. It's a unique mountain spa that feels like a Japanese hot spring resort.

ahttp://www.tenthousandwaves.com/t

Started the day off with coffee at the historic La Fonda hotel which makes you think of the Old Santa Fe trail.  This old hotel has been providing rest for weary travelers since 1922, but the location dates back to when Santa Fe was founded in 1607. Records show that an inn on this location was one of the first businesses established in the new settlement. According to local lore, court was held in the original adobe hotel...as well as executions, when guilty offenders were hanged in the lobby! The guy serving me mentioned some resident ghosts. There is a judge who walks the hallways and a ghost of a distraught salesman who jumped into the hotel well after losing all of his company's money. The hotel's dining room is directly over the old well and guests and staff have reported the sight of a ghostly figure in the dining room.

La Fonda hotel lobby

Then I visited the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (below) which has a small adobe chapel dedicated to Our Lady of La Conquistadora. Brought from Spain in 1625, the statue is the oldest representation of the Virgin Mary in the United States. More info at Wikipedia link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_Basilica_of_St._Francis_of_Assisi

St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral, Santa Fe

Also visited the mysterious Loretto Chapel at the end of the Old Santa Fe Trail.  Inside the Gothic structure is a staircase (photo below) referred to as "miraculous". The stairway confounds architects, engineers and master craftsmen. It makes over two 360 degree turns, stands 20 ft tall and has no central support. It rests solely on its base and against the choir loft.  The 33 steps are all of the same height and it was constructed with only square wooden pegs, without glue or nails.  The Loretto Chapel began when Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy was appointed by the Church to the New Mexico Territory in 1850. He sought to spread the faith and bring education to the new territory and he wrote a plea to priests and nuns to help him preach and teach. The first acceptance of his plea was from the Sisters of St. Loretto.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretto_Chapel

Loretto Chapel staircase