I Fucking Love Santa Fe!! 🎨🚗💖 A Relaxed Holiday Edition

Drove four hours solo from White Sands National Park in southern New Mexico all the way up to Santa Fe. On the way, I listened to some historical and travel videos (highly recommend the YouTube channel View Master Travels!), and decided to skip some of the most popular historical/religious attractions this time and focus on art museums instead. Biggest surprise of the trip: The Museum of International Folk Art. Since it’s not located downtown, it wasn’t crowded at all, and tickets were easy to get. I went briefly in the morning but didn’t have enough time, so after a somewhat underwhelming visit to a pricey modern art gallery downtown, I returned to the folk art museum for a second round in the afternoon. My favorite was the Girard Wing. This artist collected countless little clay figures, porcelain dolls, and folk paintings from all over the world. Unlike typical minimalist museum displays, this exhibition is maximalist to the extreme—from ceiling to floor, every inch is filled with delightful folk art from East and West. It’s a visual feast; your eyes won’t know where to look first! 😍 The funniest was Figure 6—a dining table set with a giant cockroach placed right beside the food. As a Cantonese, I gotta say: folk art is keeping it real! 🐊👀 After leaving, I looked up Alexander Girard—turns out he was the head of fabric and textile at Herman Miller. No wonder his designs are so colorful and full of warmth! Right after the Girard exhibit, I wandered into the Prison Art exhibition—artworks made by incarcerated people in the U.S. Their materials included toilet paper, cigarette boxes, unraveled socks… One panel explained that the prison system often moves inmates to different state facilities far from home as part of their sentence… which also strangely fuels creativity. 🎨😢 Which reminded me of all those nights I stayed up late drawing, feeling homesick and tired as a working girl… gently shattered. Other personal favorites: Jean Cocteau Cinema near downtown Santa Fe—owned by George R.R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones! 🐉 The bar sells custom classic movie posters; I snagged one from Psycho. Next door is a bookstore with signed copies of his books. Also loved Fechin House up in Taos. This was the home of Russian artist Nicolai Fechin, later turned into a gallery. The spatial design, furniture, and lighting are breathtaking. And get this—his wife and daughter were both under 150cm, so he built all the furniture extra short for them 🥹 As a petite girl, I felt so seen! Will definitely write a separate post about this when I have time. Maybe it was the two days of solo driving through high-altitude desert, but this was the first time I ever took my time reading every artwork description and truly soaking it all in. Ah, praise civilization, praise art. 🙌 #SoloTrip #NoMoreSecretWandering #BackToWorkMonday