Santa Fe and Lubbock

We woke up at Buffalo Thunder and Caleb immediately started asking if he could swim again this morning.  That boy really loves that pool.

A morning swim wasn't on the agenda today, though.  We went downstairs for breakfast and then got on the road.  We have 5 hours of driving today to get to Lubbock.  At this point in the trip, we are mainly just driving back home.  We did manage to fit in a little fun, though.  We stopped for about an hour in Santa Fe to check it out and get a quick flavor of the town.  We stopped in at Loretto Chapel first.

This is a beautiful chapel.  I remember going here on vacation with my parents.  This was the chapel used by a Catholic girls school.  It was the first Gothic building built west of the Mississippi.  It was common to build a choir loft in churches at this time that was only accessible by ladder.  Since most choirs were male choirs at the time the ladders worked just fine, but this chapel was used by a girls school and run by nuns so a staircase was needed for them to reach their choir loft.  The legend goes that the Sisters of Loretto prayed to the patron saint of carpenters to provide them with a special staircase that could fit in a small area of the chapel.  A mysterious man showed up after their prayers and completed the staircase and disappeared without a trace.  He did not use any nails or screws.   He also did not build a railing so that was added later as it was pretty scary to climb the stairs without a rail.

They have an audio recording playing inside the chapel telling all about the chapel's miraculous story.  We sat down in a pew to listen.

We walked around downtown Santa Fe a little.

We walked on the old Santa Fe Trail and ended at the plaza where many people were set up selling jewelry and other treasures.

After an hour of exploring, we were back on the road to Lubbock.  Caleb's top priority at every hotel is swimming so he and Rodney headed down to the pool.

Morgan decided she'd had enough swimming so we stayed in the room and she taught me how to draw Bingo the dog.

It has become our routine to arrive at our hotel, swim, and then take turns showering before dinner.  During this showering time, Rodney and the kids have been watching a show called Impractical Jokers starring 4 lifelong friends who challenge each other to do embarrassing things.  I haven't sat down to watch it with them, but there is always lots of laughing during this show.  We've been lucky that it seems to be on TV almost every day when we need it.

Since we are in Lubbock, we had to at least make an appearance on campus.  We stopped by Hulen Hall - future home of Connor Highfield, Red Raider.

Caleb had learned about the Blarney Stone at school this year so we had to show him the piece of it that is displayed at Texas Tech.  It is said that graduates who kiss the stone will be blessed with eloquent speech.

We walked around a little and then headed to dinner.  It was nice to spend some time in Lubbock at the end of our trip.  We aren't home yet, but we do still feel at home here in Lubbock.

We went to Fazoli's for dinner.  If you can't tell, I love Fazoli's!!!

We ended the night by watching the movie The Great Outdoors in the hotel room.  It was a great way to finish off a great family adventure.  Tomorrow we will be sleeping in our own beds.