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Miraculous Staircase in Loretto Chapel Santa Fe

Firstly, an apology for an omission from yesterday.
We drove through a county called Deaf Smith and we have now learned that he was a deaf soldier who served in the Texas Revolution and was the first soldier to reach The Alamo after its fall.
Pronunciation of his name is in fact ‘Deef’ but most locals pronounce it ‘Deaf’. Just one more bit of useless information!
Reasonable night’s sleep from 10.30 to 4.00 after which Fred suffered some real sinus and consequent snoring problems. Fortunately, his condition seemed to improve markedly once I had removed the pillow off his head!
Excellent breakfast at the hotel and then it’s off to Santa Fe Downtown ( Santa Fe is, incidentally the oldest capital in the USA, dating from 1610 )
Visit the Chapel/ Mission of San Miguel which is reputed to be the oldest continuously occupied church in the US constructed in 1610.
Coffee break at an Italian coffee shop. The lattes for the 3 Amigos appear fine but I had to fight my way through a very deep layer of white froth to reach a very thin layer of coffee at the bottom.
Someone needs to tell the barista that cappuccino is named after the habits of the Capuchin monks and they weren’t dressed in all white!
Santa Fe has been described as one big gift shop and we see ample evidence of this. We bypass the traditional gift shops and instead check out the roadside stalls set up by authentic American Indians.Moderate success for some of us in buying gifts for family/ friends in Aus.
Before leaving town both F and I find what we’re looking for at Famous Footwear and at prices about 60 per cent lower than in Aus.
Quick snack lunch then set off to the south-west towards Albuquerque.
Not a great deal of note until we reach Bernanillo where we visit the Coronado State Monument overlooking the Rio Grande. the famous Spanish explorer stayed here in 1541/2.
The surprise of the day was a visit to the nearby museum where we had a short but very informative tour of 14 Indian murals, over 500 years old, excavated from the village of Kuaua in 1936.
Arrive in Albuquerque late afternoon and dine at Western Diner about 2 kms from our Days Inn accommodation.
Usual acceptable Mexican/American fare and excellent Negra Modelo beer, apparently the best selling Mexican beer.
D’s driving and M’s navigation for the short trip from Santa Fe exemplary but Doug has gained some unwanted notoriety as a danger to other drivers as he has now been honked at by a truck driver yesterday and by a bus driver when he was jaywalking across a street in Santa Fe today.
We are going to have to keep a very close watch on him for the remaining days of our trip !
Cheers
The Obese Ferret.