Another shot at this place (which is also this place), for those of you who are keeping score at home.

The pool’s been vacant so long that there is a nice stand of cattails growing in a marsh at the deep end, which is remarkable since this is in New Mexico – a locale not known for a lot of marshland.

Before the interstate, the main route through town was Route 66, and it was lined with motels and restaurants. Not too many of them are still operational.

One time, a couple of decades back, we failed to have reservations for a hoped-for overnight visit in Santa Fe. We didn’t realize that the Santa Fe Opera was that popular, and that all the rooms would be full. So we headed out, thinking we’d either find a place to stay along the way or drive all night and be home for breakfast.

The first town past Santa Fe is Santa Rosa, where we did find a room in one of the old places along the former Route 66. I think we paid twenty buck for the room, which I am pretty sure was inflated when the desk clerk sensed our desperation (for all our big talk, we really didn’t want to have to drive all night.) The room was tiny, with barely room for a bed. But that wasn’t entirely a bad thing, as the carpet was pretty…questionable…and the bed covered up most of it. We stayed there, successfully, and made it home the next day.

The story would be better, of course, if I could tell you that we stopped for the night in THIS VERY MOTEL. But we strive for accuracy (mostly) here at One Day | One Image, so I can’t claim that. But the place we did stay was right across the road from here.

So, the moral of this story is that you’d probably be better off with a reservation if you want to stay in Santa Fe.

Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 9.22.2013