Pros & Cons of living in Santa Fe ??? (Albuquerque, Las Vegas: insurance, homes)

[Dancingearth]

Originally Posted by acs.1979

Olympia! I want to take a mini-trip there, it seems like a really nice little city...never been though. Yeah, the oceans, rivers, mountains, and rain forests here in the Northwest are a huge draw, and will be really hard to part with should I decide to move someday. Have you adapted well from hiking the Northwest to hiking the Southwest? Is it a comparable experience?

On a side note, how is the vegetarian cuisine over there? Is it few and far in between, or fairly abundent? Thanks!

Try to get to Olympia for the Procession of the Species in April. POSC: Homepage The first year I lived there my daughter and I were wildcat World Dancers with Planet Percussion--very fun. It's at the end of April.

I love hiking both places--beautiful in different ways. You have to adjust to the altitude here. Lately I've been hiking in BLM land out near the airport--no ice. It's so cool to be out hiking and see petroglyphs on the rocks.

I think it would be easy to be a vegetarian here but I'm not one so my experience is not the best. The last time I ate at the TreeHouse my friend had a wonderful vegetarian dish--ravioli stuffed with different pureed vegetables with a sauce on top. They are moving and we are anxiously waiting for them to reopen in their new location. The BEST baked goods in Santa Fe. Actually come to think of it, they might be all vegetarian. The food was so good I didn't even think about it.

[Towanda]

I do have an observation......Santa Fe has quite a large and growing presence in the health care market. Probably because of the aging population here, maybe sports related injuries, a population that has a lot of chronic medical problems, just the growth in population of the city in general.

If you drive around the area surrounding St. Vincent's Medical Center, you will see the mushrooming of medical businesses. Services that Santa Fe and residents of the surrounding area used to need to drive to ABQ for, are becoming available in Santa Fe. I know as a nurse that there is a large demand for people in the health care field, which I think it probably boosting the economy here.

[Towanda]

Dancing Earth -- I have never heard of the Tree House. Where is it located? I think it needs to go on my list for my daughter's next visit! She loves Santa Fe dining because of the vegetarian food she can get here.

[santafescribe]

Tree House Pastry Shop and Cafe | All Organic Bakery, Cafe, and Maker of Fine Pastries, Wedding Cakes, and Light Fare in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Just opened at the Lena St Lofts, behind the old Cloud Cliff.

[Towanda]

Thanks, Santa Fe Scribe.

That looks like a must-go-to place! I had never even heard of it before. (Been getting our nicer bakery products at Chocolate Maven.)

I saved it to my Facebook account - so I know right where to find the site - they have a beautiful web page. If their food is as good as their pictures .... yum.....

[Dancingearth]

Originally Posted by santafescribe

Tree House Pastry Shop and Cafe | All Organic Bakery, Cafe, and Maker of Fine Pastries, Wedding Cakes, and Light Fare in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Just opened at the Lena St Lofts, behind the old Cloud Cliff.

I'm not sure it's open yet. My friend drove by last week and saw it was still under construction.

Oops, never mind I see it's opening Feb. 19! Yum, I'm ready!

[acs.1979]

You guys are seriously making me hungry
To the person with the vegetarian daughter...don't let her visit Portland, she will never want to leave...so many good veggie options here (another reason it would be hard for me to leave!)....even the Dairy Queen here offers Gardenburgers.

[Towanda]

We drove by the Tree House when we were in town today.

There are big windows there and from what we could see inside, they look like they should be ready to go.

Nice building. Kind of an out of the way location, though.

[Dancingearth]

Originally Posted by Towanda

We drove by the Tree House when we were in town today.

There are big windows there and from what we could see, they look like they should be ready to go.

Nice building. Kind of an out of the way location, though.

LOL....it's not on the plaza or Cerrillos Road... It is on a side street but Santa Fe is too small for much to be out of the way. They were even more hidden when they were at Plants of the Southwest--it was a very cool building/setting but the new building looks interesting too. Watch out for those chocolate cupcakes! Now they'll probably always be busy and I won't get a parking space.

[Dancingearth]

After hiking in Cerrillos Hills Historic Park with the Sierra Club (awesome vistas) a friend and I ate at the Tree House. Heaven! The best vegetarian food I have ever eaten. I had cold cabbage rolls with rice noodles and veggies inside, peanut sauce on top and all on top of a wilted kale salad. The cabbage had been slightly steamed so it was still a little crunchy. All the cupcakes were sold so I ahhh..... forced myself to eat a piece of four layer chocolate mocha cake with buttercream frosting. Ohhh......better go hiking again tomorrow and skip the Tree House. My friend had spicy squash soup and apple pie.

The park would be a great place to hike when there is a full moon leaving early to watch the sun set and finish the hike by the moon. I'll have to check how late they are open. At one point you can see Mt. Taylor and all the mountains in between.