Honeymoon: Keepsakes

Today is my last post about our honeymoon in Santa Fe!  You can read the other posts about our trip here, here, here and here!

Today, I'm talking about our honeymoon keepsakes so that we'll always have some things to remember!

Now, when I talk about souvenirs (I don't even like that word for this reason), I think most people automatically think about shot glasses with the name of the place, or other novelties with the name of the place stamped all over it.  I have bought a few of these random things in my past, and have come to realize that I really don't like things that are basically screaming to the world, "I WENT TO FILL IN BLANK PLACE!!!!"  I've found that souvenirs that are actually useful that tell a good story are much better.  People ALWAYS ask me where I got scarves that I bought when I went to Wales, which always leads to a great story...and the best part - it doesn't say Wales on it anywhere.

So with that, here are the things we chose to buy to remember our honeymoon.

One of my favorite things we came back with was this bowl made out of onyx from "Mama's Minerals" near the historic plaza.  That store was probably Tyler's favorite place there - he's quite the rock fanatic.  But this bowl was my pick.

The day before we bought this bowl, we had gone hiking and of course picked up some neat rocks on our own.  I wanted something to display the rocks in, and this bowl turned out to be perfect.  Now we have a really neat display to always remind of our honeymoon!

The bowl with our hiking rocks.

We also picked up rock of Tyler's choice, one that was originally from China.  It is called a Chinese Painted Rock.

I normally pick up a scarf in every place that I visit, but as every scarf I found was $50 or more, I decided to pass it up and get a vase instead.  It is cute, and reminds us of the Native American pottery styles - I felt we were cheating ourselves since our rock bowl was actually from Pakistan and the other rock was actually from China...so I wanted one more thing that was actually made in New Mexico.

What are your favorite souvenirs from vacations, trips, or honeymoons?

Honeymoon: Destination Home

The last day of our Honeymoon was...well, driving home.  It was short, sweet, adventurous and fun!  We packed our bags, cleaned up the casita, and headed to town to purchase some last minute souvenirs.  It was sad to leave so quickly, but with such a long drive ahead of us and Tyler started his new job the next day we knew we had to get back to Oklahoma.

Our last picture at the Casita!  Bye bye!

Texas was actually somewhat interesting with clouds.  All I can say about Texas from our trip to Santa Fe was that the tumble weeds and dust devils were humorous, but otherwise it was dry.  Nevermind the pun.

Handsome driving...

What should you do if you're going to be stuck in a car for 9 hours?  Write Thank You notes!

Just try imagining this without clouds, and then think about being forced to imagine it for like 5 hours.

There was a storm blowing through, and this was the dust as a result.  That was actually kind of cool.

Dust in the wind...
Maybe Kansas visited Texas when they wrote that song.

Car picture!

Tyler singing!

We dropped by El Reno on our way in to Oklahoma to eat at Tyler's favorite burger place, Robert's Grill.

There was an amazing sunset when we got back.  

Oklahoma's "Welcome Home"

 We loved our honeymoon, but are excited to be back in Oklahoma!

If you missed my other honeymoon posts, you can read them here, here, and here.

Honeymoon: Day 3

On the third day of our Santa Fe honeymoon, we decided to hit up some hiking trails at a nearby state park.  We headed out for some traditional New Mexican breakfast around...well, we ate breakfast around lunch time (its okay to be lazy on your honeymoon).  The restaurant was called Tecolote Cafe, and I got the Huevos Rancheros.  It was really yummy, came with a huge basket of different types of breads, and had hashbrowns on the side.  Wouldn't have changed that order for the world.  And we've only been back in Oklahoma for two weeks, but I'm already pining for blue corn tortillas and green chili.

Back to our day on day 3 in pictures!

The beginning of our hike!

My sister-in-law gave me a handy dandy camel pack as my bachelorette party gift for the honeymoon!  It was super nice, because I'm out of shape!

One of the horny toads (or as Tyler says "horned lizard"...which is not nearly as cool sounding) that we saw!  So cute!

Tyler chasing the horny toad.

<3

A mountainesque view!

Another horny toad!

Look how fat it is!

Tyler climbing the "water falls" that didn't have any water.

Me deciding that I had gone high enough and didn't want to deal with climbing down the steep rocks. 

Tyler climbed all the way to the other side of the "water falls."

Oh look, there's the water for the "water fall!" 

And there you have it, a "water fall."

After a full day of hiking, we took showers and headed in to town for  our last Santa Fe dinner!

We walked so we wouldn't have to pay for parking and saw some cool buildings!

Day of the Dead Walking Sign?

Dinner was at the Marble Brewery and Tap Room and Rooftop Pizzeria (the two businesses seemed to join forces) on the historic plaza.  They had excellent drinks, and we ate the Smoked Duck Pizza that came with Green Pepper Corns, Spinach, Basil, Roast Garlic Spread, and Four Cheeses on Artisan Crust!

Honeymoon: Day 2 Adventures

On the second day of our honeymoon, we set out to visit the historic sites near the Santa Fe plaza.  We visited a few churches, saw the famous miraculous staircase, had lunch at the Shed, visited more shops in the area, and headed back because of the parking meter!  It was a busy afternoon, but the evening was relaxing with coffee and movies!

If you missed my other honeymoon post, check it out here!

The daytime view from our Casita.

The Casita from the side.

Inside the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Stained glass window in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Exterior of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

The historic plaza in Santa Fe.

The sidewalk market at the historic plaza in Santa Fe.

The Loretto Chapel miraculous staircase.

Me waiting on Tyler to fix the GPS in the car.

I was really bored.

I found a new camera setting and took pictures of our wedding rings.

The sunset from our Casita on the second night of our honeymoon overlooking Santa Fe!

The same sunset, just later!  They were so vivid!