Field Report No. 01
Santa Fe New Mexico, USA
Our home base, in every sense. Jamey's grandparents lived here and we've been back hundreds of times — this is the one we know cold.
Field Report
No. 01
Santa Fe New Mexico, USA
Worth the flight.
- Coordinates
- 35.6870° N, 105.9378° W
- Traveled
- Every season
- Kid-readiness
- Built for it. Meow Wolf, pottery painting, private hot tubs, and waterfall hikes the little legs can finish.
- Where we stayed
- Our own place — Casa de Ice or Casa de Camino, just off Old Las Vegas Hwy.
- The non-negotiable
- A private hot-tub session at Ten Thousand Waves after a mountain hike, then karaage at Izanami. A family tradition.
- What we'd skip
- Nothing in town is a trap. But the Loretto Chapel staircase is a 15-minute stop, not an afternoon.
- Best season
- Fall, when the aspens turn gold at the top of the ski basin. We go year-round, snow included.
- Points & hacking
- Fly into Santa Fe (SAF), or Albuquerque (ABQ, ~50 min south) and pair it with the Sandia Peak tram.
35.6870° N, 105.9378° W
Santa Fe is the trip we’ve taken more than any other, and the one we’d still book tomorrow. Jamey’s grandparents, Lee and Noel Ice, moved here from Fort Worth in 1988 and stayed thirty years — he grew up on Christmas Eves on Canyon Road and his grandmother’s green chili stew. We’ve been back hundreds of times across every season. This isn’t a postcard read. It’s the place we know cold.
This isn’t a postcard read. It’s the place we know cold.
We anchor the days around the mountains and the food. Breakfast at Café Pasqual’s on the Plaza (wait it out, it’s worth it), a morning hike up Alamo Vista — our favorite, gold with aspens in fall — or the cave ladders at Tsankawi, then the thing we never skip: a private hot tub at Ten Thousand Waves with our own cold plunge and sauna, sushi at Izanami after. The Teahouse on Canyon Road is our favorite lunch; The Shed and Sazón are dinner; El Parasol does the best tacos in town. Fifty-some galleries down Canyon Road, and Meow Wolf when the girls need to be turned loose.
35.6870° N, 105.9378° WIt’s not a checklist city. It runs slow on purpose — adobe and dirt roads and a sky that turns peach at seven. That’s exactly why it works with kids, and why we keep coming home to it.
Stay with us
We host here, too.
Casa de Ice and Casa de Camino are our two homes off Old Las Vegas Hwy — the same Santa Fe we just walked you through, with a key waiting.
See the houses
More places, scored the same way.
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