After your Thanksgiving feast is over, shake off your food hangover and head out for some post-Thanksgiving fun. Whether you have a houseful of guests to entertain or simply want something cool to do with your beloved that doesn’t involve Black Friday madness, Santa Fe’s got you covered. You’ll find deliciously different things to do, from the world’s most popular interactive fun house to world-class museums and an annual ceremony of holiday lights.
A Walk on the Wild Side 
If you haven’t yet been, Meow Wolf’s “House of Eternal Return” is a wildly inventive wonderland of fun for all ages. You’ll climb and crawl your way through an old Victorian house, sifting through clues to solve the mind-bending mystery of the resident family that’s gone missing, caught in some kind of multiverse. One of Santa Fe’s most popular attractions, the exhibit was created by a collaborative group of artists backed by “Game of Thrones” author and Santa Fe resident George R.R. Martin.
All of that exploring is bound to whet your whistle and that you can do at Meow Wolf’s Float Cafe & Bar, which offers coffee drinks, tea, health shakes, and zany cocktail drinks, after 4 pm, that pay tribute to “the multiverse.” Your adult beverage might include lavender foam, lumpy marshmallows, an edible eyeball (lychee), and absinthe drinks poured through a cloud of cotton candy, all perfectly appropriate for the house that Meow Wolf built. You can grab a snack here — pastries, cookies, rice crispy treats, hummus and guacamole snack packs — or outside at one of the food trucks.
Ride The Dragon
And because one thrill ride wasn’t enough for Martin and his crew of creatives, there’s now another, traversing the desert between Santa Fe and Lamy, NM. We’ve already extolled the virtues of Sky Railway and its plethora of themed and wholly interactive train rides, but the holidays are special, with Pablo’s Holiday Train. Take a drive down to historic Lamy, where you’ll climb board for an hour-long journey that leaves the station four times a day, and find Mrs. Clause telling tales of how her husband helped Pablito the dragon save Christmas in New Mexico. Join in on holiday sing-a-longs and enjoy the views. Upon return to the station, you and your family can wander the magical Elf Winter Village, snacking on cocoa and cookies, shopping for knick knacks, and enjoying the holiday sights. It’s a full day of wonder for the entire family!
Santa Fe Museums
You can’t go wrong spending a day or more at some of Santa Fe’s museums! They’re all closed Thanksgiving, and some require you to purchase tickets in advance, so click the links to their websites for more information. Head to the plaza for downtown venues like the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, the Santa Fe Children’s Museum, the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Indian Art, the New Mexico History Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art. Up on Museum Hill, you can visit the Museum of International Folk Art, the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.
A Recipe for Restoration
If you need to recover from hours in the kitchen prepping stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and a variety of pies, not to mention basting the turkey, take a trip to the Inn and Spa at Loretto. You’ll restore your body, mind and spirit with an array of spa services and sate your appetite with a meal at Luminaria.
Start at the spa, chosen by USA Today as one of the top hotel spas in the country. Treat yourself to the Sacred Stone Massage, featuring heated volcanic river stones that to soothe your sore muscles and achieve deep relaxation. Or, choose the Sole Revival Massage, which focuses on the reflex points of your tired feet and lower legs. For a luxuriating experience, try the Milk & Honey Body Wrap, which combines an exfoliating sugar scrub with a body mask of honey and coconut-infused milk. The Café Olé offers an Indonesian coffee scrub combined with vitamin-rich body cream. You could also choose to spend the full day here, indulging in an array of rituals, treatments and more. To see what entices you, check the spa menu here.
When you’re utterly relaxed and your thoughts turn to food, you won’t have to walk far to the hotel’s restaurant. Luminaria, serves lunch and dinner and the globally-inspired menu includes a comforting tortilla soup with chicken, corn and avocado; a heavenly pumpkin risotto; grilled Scottish salmon; honey-glazed duck with lavender; and other inventive dishes.
Let There Be Lights
For a hefty dose of holiday spirit, head to the Santa Fe Plaza the Friday after Thanksgiving. The annual Holiday Lighting on the Plaza, a beloved tradition with locals and visitors, kicks off around 3:30 pm, when music will be performed by the Santo Nino Choir, Bells of St. Francis, Santa Fe Brass, Sol Fire, and Legacy of Santa Fe. Santa and Mrs. Claus are expected to arrive by vintage fire truck at 5 p.m. and Mayor Webber will flip the mega light switch at about 6:15 p.m. Hot chocolate and cookies will be provided by Girl Scout Troupe #10045, and food trucks will also be available.
Take a Hike
Ate too much? Sure you did. We all do it. Lucky for us, Bishop’s Lodge Auberge Resorts Collection hosts a Gratitude Hike that winds through the neighboring national forest from 3 – 4 p.m. Not only will you get the chance to walk off all that delicious food, you might learn something from the knowledgeable guide. Bishop’s Lodge actually has a full slate of activities for that week, including Holiday Card Collaging, and a Biscochitos Making Class on Tuesday, November 22, and a visit with Navajo multimedia artist and storyteller Ehren Kee Natay, on Wednesday evening. Friday, they’ll teach you how to make your own tortilla dough and create the wonderful staple that lights up any drab meal. All of which leads up to the Annual Tree Lighting ceremony that takes place Friday, December 2, with carols, cookies and mingling.
Help Others
Take a stroll over to the Drury Plaza Hotel and walk through a winter wonderland of Christmas trees decorated by local businesses and organizations. One of these trees could be delivered straight to your home for the holidays if you are the winning bidder! All proceeds go to support Esperanza Shelter, Santa Fe’s domestic violence shelter. Learn more about Esperanza and the auction here.
This article was posted by Cheryl Fallstead
