Remember how I told you that we’d revisit my left knee in this post? When I arrived in Santa Fe on Thursday evening, it was hurting for real. More than when my right knee hurt after I twisted my ankle at Sequoia. I decided that I had to do something about my achy knees, so I asked Dr. Gemini about it. It told me that I have to strengthen the muscles around my knees and gave me a few exercises to do that. I asked it for exercises to strengthen the muscles around my ankles too while we’re at it. I’ve been doing the exercises in the last few days and I think they’re helping.

I woke up on a struggle bus every day I was in Santa Fe. I still hadn’t been sleeping well and I didn’t feel like doing anything on Friday morning, so I took it as a rest day. My knee was still hurting, so that was an additional reason to stay in that day. It was glorious. My Airbnb had a cute little patio and I spent the morning and evening out there reading and doing my knee and ankle exercises. Since the afternoon was hotter, I spent it inside, also reading. It had been a while since I had had so much time to read and it was wonderful.

On Saturday, I was going to go explore downtown Santa Fe, but when I woke up on the struggle bus again I decided that I could do that on Sunday. I had a lunch reservation on Sunday in that area, so it made more sense to explore when I was already going to be there. I spent another glorious day reading outside. I also watched Wicked 2, which I hadn’t seen yet. I went on a 20 minute walk in the evening to see the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The shrine was closed, but I saw the main church. My knee did well on the walk, so I decided I was ready to explore the following day.

On Sunday, I woke up on the struggle bus again, but after breakfast and spending some time outside I felt much better. Apparently, sunshine and grounding do wonders for getting me off the struggle bus. I went to Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi. Then I went to Kakawa Chocolate House to have one of their famous chocolate elixirs. I felt so fancy sipping on my little mug of chocolate and then walking along Canyon Rd, which has a bunch of galleries and shops. I didn’t go into any of them because I’ve seen enough galleries on this trip, but it was nice to see all the adobe-style buildings.

After that, I went to see the Loretto Chapel. It’s a beautiful little chapel that was built by the Sisters of Loretto, who had a school for girls there. Eventually, they had to sell it and the new owners decided to keep it as a museum so that we can continue to appreciate it today. The chapel is known for its miraculous staircase. The architect of the chapel died before access to the loft of the chapel was built. The legend says that the sisters prayed a novena to St Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters, to find a way to build a staircase to the loft. On the last day of the novena, a carpenter showed up with a donkey and a toolbox. He built the staircase with basic tools and rare wood that isn’t native to the American Southwest. It has two 360° turns with no visible support. Once the staircase was complete, the man disappeared without asking for payment. The sisters searched for him and called all the local lumber stores looking for accounts for the supplies used for the staircase, but they didn’t find anything or anyone.

After seeing the chapel, I walked around the Santa Fe plaza looking for a magnet. They had a bunch of New Mexico magnets or Santa Fe magnets that only had wolves or hot air balloons on them. I couldn’t believe that nobody had a magnet with the actual city of Santa Fe on it. Finally, I found one with cathedral on it but it was in the middle of the dessert with nothing around it. I figured that was the best I would find and bought it. I had the same issue at Taos on Monday, though I did end up finding a magnet I liked at a jewelry store, of all places. I’m not sure why cities in New Mexico make it so hard to find decent magnets. Finally, it was time for my lunch reservation. I ordered what ended up being a huge breakfast quesadilla and a huge 10 layer honey cake. I ate half of each and had a full meal left over for the following day.

My knee did great with all the walking on Sunday! I did feel it a little at times, but it didn’t start hurting again. I guess all the rest and Dr. Gemini’s exercises worked.