Sante Fe Opera

What a fabulous end to a great day.

They even had my favorite firework, just like in the Wishes show at Magic Kingdom.

The fireworks were awesome!

Another apprentice artist, James, and his wife Lindsey were so sweet to make brownies and join us for the show.

Santa Fe High School with the fireworks display. Bands played all night, it was a fun time!

Having a great time!

Watch out folks! We have another Indiana Jones on our hands.

Old Santa Fe downtown church. This is where they filmed a scene in Rent!

The view the audience gets behind the stage. Breathtaking!

It looks like a football stadium! Each seat has a prompter in front of it to give translations for each show.

Joe in front of his theater. What can I say? I'm marrying a rockstar.

The Old Santa Fe Opera in the 1930s and 40s.

The cantina, where food and beverages are served and wifi is accessible!

Yet again, another rehearsal hall. Get the idea that they practice alot?

Another rehearsal hall

The newest rehearsal hall. It is outdoors, built to be the same size as the main stage.

There are such beautiful gardens everywhere!

The Grand Entrance

Most of you know that my fiancee is an opera performer. Many times over, whenever I tell anyone what career he has I get the expression, "Are you serious? No way. I don't believe it. That's awesome!" I have to say, I think it's pretty great too. It certainly has its ups and downs. As you can imagine, the only major down is not being able to see each other that often. However, I believe the positives outweigh the negatives by quite a bit. I must say, there have been many places I have had the privilege of seeing for the first time because of where Joe's career takes him. This summer, Joe has been one of the very few chosen to be apart of the prestigious Santa Fe Opera Company. He is a young artist, one of 40 chosen amongst thousands that applied. I knew this was a huge opportunity for him and really couldn't wait for him to go. Deep down, I knew this was a big deal, but couldn't help be a little sad that there was a huge possibility that I wouldn't see him for about 3 months. When he told me the beginning of June that he believed we could see each a little sooner than three months, we both jumped at the opportunity and quickly figured out the best time for me to visit. It just so happened to work out perfectly that I had the Fourth of July off of work and only had to take two vacation days so that I could come visit for about a week. So, I booked my flight for July 4th and started waiting anxiously to visit.

I flew into Albuquerque, NM at 11am MT and the flights couldn't have been better. Joe picked me up from the airport and we headed to the lunch at the nearby Buffalo Wild Wings. Immediately, I was taken aback by the beautiful landscape around us. There were deserts everywhere and glorious mountains that framed the backdrop of this scenic area. It is a completely different landscape than the east coast, and even from the summer program Joe did last year in the Adirondack Mountains in Schroon Lake, NY. After a quick lunch, we headed back to Santa Fe where he is living this summer.

We decided to explore Old Santa Fe downtown for the afternoon to see what kind of activities were there for the Fourth of July. On the way, he decided to stop by the opera house to show me around. It is BREATHTAKING. I can't wait to see a performance while I am here. What a great opportunity he has! After we went to the opera house, we travelled downtown. There were so many wonderful and unique shops in downtown displaying art from the Southwest (which most of them were closed). I can't wait to go back and shop! I already found a couple great pieces of pottery and dishes that would look great in our kitchen next year. After walking around downtown and scoping out the best shops, we picked up a tip from a local that the high school was open and was having a fireworks display later that night. Now I love fireworks and had been asking Joe for the past week on where we should go to watch them. We camped out in the bleachers at the stadium and waited a few hours for them to begin. It was a great event, they even had bands playing to entertain the crowd before it got dark enough for the fireworks show to begin. The show was great, and Joe and I were thoroughly impressed with the display. It was such a great day to spend with each other, and I can't wait to explore this new area of the country for the next few days!