The City Different.

I found this little note beside my bed - it basically says that it's illegal in Santa Fe to change the sheets on a hotel bed every night unless there's a new guest in the room.  Yes, the sheets in my bed were clean. 

There was a distinct lack of concern for energy efficiency or insulation about most of the buildings I saw and the answer they have to that is to put more and more electric heaters in till it's comfortably warm, but saving water is a good idea.  Having the National Laboratory down the road, there probably isn't much in the way of a shortage of electricity to go around.

Before checking out of the motel I went for a little walk around the surrounding area.

Right outside my room was a gate on to this little park.

That's the Motel across the street.

I love the tactile feel of old switches and dials, this is the air conditioner in my room.

Should have taken a photo before I slept in it.  The desk was from Chipboard & Wobbly Furniture Supplies Ltd. but that's really all there was to complain about.

 Motel has a pool.   It's closed from November to May or something but I was quite surprised it wasn't frozen into a kidney shaped block of chlorine-ice.

 

 Motel car park.

The city has a park on part of the old Santa Fe rail yard.

Featuring this giant dog poised and ready to slobber in your Thermos and steal your sandwiches.  Down boy!

It was a pretty awesome park, I'd have loved to run amok in it when I was little.  I rather enjoyed walking around it as a grown-up too.

I heard a rumble and turned to see what it was to be confronted by another of these things.  It's about the length of a long wheelbase Mercedes Sprinter.

Next to my Motel was a sandal-brandishing, save the planet, low-carbon Whole Foods supermarket.  There was some nice stuff on offer, like beer from Belgium, honey from Vermont and fish like Spanish Mackerel and a choice of Atlantic or Pacific Salmon.  I bought some water from Colorado (which is actually very much like water out the tap at Mummy & Daddy Payne's house) and some freshly made Sushi to eat on the road, to save me from Subway or Wendy's.

At this I bid a fond farewell to Santa Fe with a promise to myself to come back one day.