Weekend Getaway to Santa Fe 2023

Isabel and I love going to Santa Fe - first off, Isabel was born just north of Santa Fe in the town of Espańola and my Candelaria ancestry were one of the first of seven families to settle the Rio Grande Valley in 1690. So our DNA just jumps for joy when we are here.

Northbound on I-25 from Albuquerque to Santa Fe

There are several blogs from the past I have written about our Santa Fe trips so please check them out. This trip was specifically for our visiting Isabel’s Aunt and Uncle as they were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends. Isabel’s mom, Alette Thomson, joined us for just a quick three-day getaway where we flew into Albuquerque and made the approximate one our drive to Santa Fe where we enjoyed the afternoon.

Enjoying that delicious green chili martini at La Casa Sent.

Our first stop was supposed to be The Shed https://sfshed.com/ but they had a two hour wait, which is pretty normal, but we thought we might get lucky. Our fall back was just one courtyard over where we enjoyed a lovely lunch and a tasty green chile martini in the courtyard at La Casa Sena https://www.lacasasena.com/ Following lunch we did a little shopping around the Plaza and then made our way to our AirBnB just outside of the little artsy village of Tesuque, New Mexico.

Just off the Old Santa Fe Trail we had to take a gravel road through a wash and past an alpaca farm to our little adobe casa. What a lovely and quaint place this turned out to be. Old brick floors, wood casement windows, hand painted tiles and totally appointed with antiques from France and Spain. We settled in and all took a nice long siesta.

Our little Casita in Tesuque, New Mexico

Once we awoke, we piled back into our car and took off for Isabel’s Aunt and Uncle’s compound north of Espańola where we enjoyed reuniting with her family and a good old fashioned fish fry with of course some good New Mexican salsa and green chile. How nice to just chill on their front porch and really not have to do anything but relax – something I do not do very often.

The next day was Sunday, and we were craving New Mexican food of course and so we were off to Rancho de Chimayo for some amazing enchiladas, eggs and margaritas….we were on vacation might as well get into the flow. http://www.ranchodechimayo.com/

We picked up some goodies in their gift shop including of course powdered red chile, blue corn pancake mix and several other necessary provisions we always pick up when we come here. We tried to visit the famous church here in Chimayo the Santuario Chimayo, but the parking lot was completely packed so sadly we moved on. https://www.holychimayo.us/

Next stop was Abiquiu, New Mexico which is the home to the artist Georgia O’Keefe. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_O%27Keeffe I always love coming here as you can totally feel the spirit of this artist here and experience and enjoy the landscape that inspired her. We stopped at the Abiquiu Inn for a coffee and worked in a cat nap in the parking lot and then it was off to the 50th Anniversary party.

St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Abiquiu, New Mexico

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary to Terry and Randy Conley

Saturday night was a fish fry but tonight it was authentic New Mexican food, enchiladas, tamales, beans, rice, chips, salsa…it could not be better. Again, another evening to enjoy the cool outdoor New Mexico weather including a brief rain shower that cooled things off perfectly. I even got the chance to sing the Sweet Caroline and the National Anthem on the Barbie megaphone/karaoke machine! How special to be a part of this celebration of 50 years of marriage of Isabel’s Aunt and Uncle. Isabel and I will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary on the 16th of September and so its truly something to shoot for – I’ll be 103 years old but anything is possible.

Our lovely little chapel on our AirBnB property

Our third and final day, Monday, started with us all sleeping in as we were enjoying the cool air. I slept until 7:30 and which is quite the record for me! I got a little work done and slowly the ladies started moving. Isabel’s mom was reading about our AirBnB and discovered that there was a small chapel on the property that we were totally unaware of. We went out back and sure enough there it was! We all took the opportunity to stop and take some quiet time to say some prayers and just enjoy this lovely found treasure literally in our backyard.

We then made our way back to the house, loaded up and headed to Santa Fe for the afternoon before our flight home. This time we did get to The Shed early enough, actually an hour early, to be the first in line. It was definitely worth the second effort as we enjoyed a fabulous New Mexican brunch.

Following brunch, Isabel and I made a 20-minute walk to the Inn of the Turquoise Bear to scout out our venue for our newest Candelaria Design Tour~Santa Fe which we have slated for the Fall of 2024. It appears we will be able to buy out the entire Bed and Breakfast venue as we did with The Setting Inn for our recently completed Willamette Valley, OR Wine and Food Tour. Isabel and I will host this five-day 2024 tour along with world renown photographer, Wes Johnson https://bendingthelight.com/ with the goal of combining photography, sketching and cooking! More details to follow and message us for more information and to get on the list as this will be an amazing artistic and culinary experience!

We finished our three-day getaway with a little more shopping on the Plaza and area surrounding and then it was back to Albuquerque and the flight home. Isabel and I both love coming here for a number of reasons. First, it is only a 45-minute flight from Phoenix. Second, we both share so much personal history with this place. Finally, we love the architecture, landscape, cuisine, people and culture of Santa Fe and this region of New Mexico. It is truly like leaving the United States and going to another country. Isabel and I are looking forward to more of these long weekend escapes and our 2024 Tour, so stay tuned.

2021 Review & On To 2022!

CDA staff photo in front of football great Larry Fitzgerald's home we recently designed. Click photo for a full article in Luxe Magazine showcasing the home.

So who is ready to kickoff a fresh, new year? Well every year is a fresh start that is for sure. It’s nice to look back but it’s also great to think of all the possibilities that lie ahead and how we are the writer of our story. Each day truly is a gift and needs to be lived like its your last, or as Isabel tells me, lived as if it your first! Great perspective.

Let’s hope we have all learned some good lessons from these past years, like to appreciate our health, all that is good in our lives, how important our homes are, and to stop delaying on those things you've been wanting to do. For us at Candelaria Design, we always strive to live life to its fullest and inspire ourselves and others to do the same.

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We have an exciting 2022 in the works with three Candelaria Design Tours; Oregon in May, Spain in June, and Italy in September. Then add in plenty of client dinners, fund raisers, site staking and house warming parties and 2022 will not be short of exciting events filled with #CandelariaStyle.

We have been so fortunate to have stayed busier than ever this year! Our work was published in numerous publications, we won two Luxe Red Awards, two Masonry Council Awards, and were named as a top architect firm by various outlets! Our Candelaria Design Team has really done a stellar job, especially given the unforeseen changes in the world, the housing market, the supply chain and even internal company changes this year.

So now, let’s take a look back at all we accomplished in 2021 at Candelaria Design! We all wish you a joyous, prosperous and healthy 2022.

“Inspiring Living” Podcast

Mark's Inspiring Living Podcast has been going strong since September 2019 and has nearly 100 inspiring episodes! Take a look at our website's Podcast Page by clicking the image above to see all the past episodes and listen to some amazing stories.

Recipes

As you know, Mark loves to cook and entertain, but did you know we have a wide variety of recipes on our website, many of which have YouTube video tutorials featuring either Mark or professional chefs! Click the image above to see for yourself and learn something new!

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Mark's Summer Escape in McMinnville, OR

Summer’s in Phoenix are the hottest, longest time of the year, a time when most people try to leave for a cooler climate. For my family and I, we started spending our summers in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho when my friend and client Patrick Murphy hired me to design his family a second home on stunning Lake Coeur d’Alene in 1999. In fact, we purchased a home there in 2004 and enjoyed many years of both summer and winter fun overlooking that magnificent lake. Fast forward nearly 20 years, my oldest daughter Tiffany urged us to “explore” and spend this summer somewhere else. So, I tasked her with finding a place that provided all of the following: a cool climate, a weekly farmer’s market, a small town but with fun things to do nearby, good food, and within reasonable driving distance from Phoenix. Well, she managed to find not only a town with all of that, but situated in a lush, rolling hills wine region! Needless to say, this is our new favorite summer spot.

McMinnville, Oregon is a small city of 34,000 people (10,000 less than Coeur d’Alene) an hour southwest of Portland and 45 minutes east of the coast, situated in the heart of the Willamette Valley. This region is known for its Pinot Noirs and there are literally hundreds of wineries to visit, serving much more than Pinots. Lucky for us, the wineries and tasting rooms were just starting to re-open to the public when we arrived on June 30th, along with dine-in restaurants, state parks and the weekly farmer’s market!

Mark enjoying a Pinot Noir at Domain Divio Winery

We rented a house on Airbnb about a mile from “main street” for the month of July. With the pandemic going on, neither myself nor my wife and daughter are working in the office, so we took all our work with us and my drafting table, cooking appliances, three bikes, and made the two-day drive to Oregon. We all got plenty of work done along with lots of walks through the woods, wine tastings, cooking and dining out, podcasts and rest. One podcast episode we recorded there featured one of the wonderful wineries we visited, Domaine Divio, and the owner and head winemaker there, Bruno Corneaux. Bruno grew up in Burgundy, France and went on to work in wineries around the world, before ending up in Oregon and starting Domaine Divio in 2014. Listen to this podcast episode here.

Tiffany & Isabel Candelaria at Domaine Serene Winery

We were so impressed by the wines, the landscape, the restaurants, the friendly people and the whole experience in and around McMinnville, we not only want to return as soon as possible, but we want to give all of you the opportunity to join us! Given everything I just mentioned, plus plenty of airports nearby and an array of accommodations, yet still relatively small and unknown, we decided this is a perfect location for a new Candelaria Design Tour!

The charming “main street” of McMinnville

Fresh berries from farm stands all around town.

Peruse the photos below we took during our month in Oregon and you’ll see what a charming place this region is and all it has to offer. We are planning the McMinnville/Willamette Valley Tour to take place in April 2022, with our Spain Tours remaining in June and our Italy Tours in September.

We hope you all managed to get away this summer and have some fun in these challenging times. We look forward to welcoming you into our office and new demonstration kitchen as soon as it is safe. In the meantime, comment below to let us know your favorite summer destinations and connect with me on Facebook and Instagram @markcandelaria.

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