An intersection of many roads. Along with being on the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, Santa Fe was also on Route 66...

... and the Santa Fe Trail.

A look down one of the tourist shopping streets

The center park was filled with activity... as well as police officers on bikes keeping an eye on things.

The "Santa Fe Current" was created by Colette Hosmer using 27 granite Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout which were carved in China.

The identical fish heads emerge from finely-crushed gravel.

St. Francis of Assisi is again speaking to the animals...

... but this time it's some kind of smiling groundhog.

SFC Leron A. Petry received the medal of honor for his bravery in Afghanistan in 2008. While clearing a courtyard, he and another Ranger were wounded by automatic weapons from enemy fighters. Still under fire and wounded in both legs, he led the other man to cover. When the enemy began throwing grenades, Petry picked one up to throw it away from his team. It detonated as he was releasing it, amputating his right hand. He was able to wrap his own wrist before calling in support.

The interesting-looking Scottish Rites Masonic Center

Long rows of chilis decorate the veranda of the Hotel Chimayo.

Each art gallery had its own unique style.

Tourist art

Ha ha! You don't need to bring your own ladder to rob this bank. They have one ready for you!

Rooftop rabbits

The start of Canyon Road...

We enjoyed most of the galleries just from the outside.

Mark Twain by John Hair (... and kiwi!)

A kinetic sculpture garden

Um, to me this seems to be defeating the point. Each turn of a prayer wheel is meant to send a prayer (either carved on the outside of the wheel or written on paper inside, or usually both to get maximum benefit) up to the heavens. This is already a cheating way out of having to say each prayer out loud. By at least by doing this manually, you were putting in the effort of your religious beliefs. Now, just turn it on, walk away, and let the heavens work (via solar energy) to get their own darn prayers!

I actually found some of the most beautiful pieces of art to be objects not intended as such.

Ha ha! One guess as to who is who!

I didn't end up buying any art, but found a souvenir anyway.

We walked all the way back to the car, but before leaving, we stopped into Trader Joe's, a lovely store with an amazing array of delicious foods. We got a bottle of wine, smoked Gouda cheese and some sourdough bread all for under $10.

Known as Two Buck Chuck... it did actually used to be only two bucks ($1.99) instead of $3.