Day 4, Santa Fe

Day 4: Santa Fe

Weather: Sunny, dark clouds, heavy rain, hail, sunny, temps from 60s to mid-70s

QOTD: Would you like to borrow an umbrella?

DB and THB use the Fitness Center together riding for miles side-by-side on elliptical machines. THB watches Tour de France and during commercial breaks switches to Wimbledon. Breakfast of fruit bowls and huevos rancheros, coffee, included.

Take in art galleries around the railroad station, with some good to very good work (no purchases). We’re usually the only folks in the gallery.

Lunch at Vinaigrette: excellent salads (tuna for THB, peaches and prosciutto and chicken for DB), iced tea, and bread, $45.

Just like at the loft: tool chest in the bathroom

THB goes to rest up, DB goes to jewelry shop; success on both counts. THB comes back to help on final decisions, then DB carries on shopping and THB carries on resting up.

In the midst of all the shopping and resting up there are two very strong downpours accompanied by hail. They are having a lot of rain this year, unlike the Bay Area which is in year 4 of a drought (and one that some predict could go on for many more years).

 

Hail catcher

Dinner is at Martins, DB’s mother’s cousin Linda joins us (she’s only a few years older than us). DB liked her meal, THB thought his was fancy without flavor or fancy with too much flavoring that didn’t go together; with two glasses of white wine, $200 for three.

Every restaurant in town is in a similar building

And, in and around Santa Fe:

Okay, not Santa Fe, Lightning Field

I don't know, which way should we cross?

Day 3: Quemado to Santa Fe

Day 3: Quemado to Santa Fe

Weather: Cool in the morning, warm in the sun, then hot, then raining off and on from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, cooling at night in Santa Fe

QOTD: How fortunate are we?

These pics made it into yesterday's post, this is the day when they were actually taken

A pre-breakfast visit to the poles. No red sunrise, just poles showing up as the sun hits the Field.

Granola with apple for THB, eggs and bacon for DB, coffee (with cocoa mixed in for THB).

This is a travel day, as we get picked up at LF at 11, dropped in Quemado at noon, head the back way to Albuquerque (to include a pie stop), drop off RTM at an IHOP near where her sister works, then proceed to Santa Fe arriving around 4:45.

Inn of Five Graces

The highlights:

·       LF in the morning light as the poles come alive (pics repeated from Day 2)

·       Stopping for pie in Pie Town (the real name of this itty bitty town known for its pies…though the name was better than the actual pies)

·   Seeing the VLA (Very Large Array): a group of antenna used for astronomy research

·       A very nice room in Santa Fe at the Inn of Five Graces, very near the plaza

·      Dinner at the restaurant in La Fonda Hotel: share guacamole made table-side, combo of chile relleno and pork tamale for THB, veggie tacos for DB, glass of wine and local brewski, $83

 

Shots from the pie place which included a windmill collection out front

Rhubarb

Cherry

That’s about it. For more thrills and chills, go back to Day 2 and look at the pics!!

Day 2: Albuquerque to Quemado to The Lightning Field

Day 2:  Albuquerque to Quemado to Lightning Field

Weather: Pleasant in Albuquerque, raining at times (sometimes hard) on way to Quemado, then perfect for our purposes at Lightning Field

QOTD: We’re conducting a research survey and would like you to answer a few questions…

The Fitness Center comes with a huge bonus: Comcast all channels. THB has a choice of any Wimbledon match and Tour de France! Damn, a fitness center with more channels than at home. Oh, and my new fitness outfit hadn’t dried out so I went back to my standard version.

And for breakfast, DB finds an excellent small menu spot a few blocks from the Artichoke Café: the Hartford Square Café. Dining al fresco! A breakfast burrito of scrambled eggs, jack cheese, and barely cooked greens, salsa (muy bueno!) for THB, scrambled eggs and bacon (shared with THB) for DB, with coffee $21.

By prior arrangement, we have a travel companion with us on the ride to Quemado: RTM. It makes sense to carpool from Albuquerque, it’s 2.5 hours each way.  She’s a delight: on-time, well versed on many a topic, easy, and a younger brain.

Off we go, and Grants is perfectly situated for lunch: it’s the last “big” city before we turn off 40 and head south to Quemado. We search the town for the First Street Café, of course it isn’t on First Street. Not even close. Oh, and it’s closed!

We give up and go back to El Cafecito. It’s mobbed: everybody who lives in Grants must be here! And, it’s the owner’s birthday; cakes with candles. Chile rellenos for THB (not bad), grilled chicken salad for DB, tacos for RTM, one iced tea, $32.

Near El Maipais

Off the highway to Quemado, past El Malpais (where THB and LB made a stop 13 or 14 years ago…recommended) for around 1.5 hours to meet up with the other couple (A&Z) for the last carpool to Lightning Field. It’s been raining here, there are some huge puddles on the gravel/dirt/mud road to the cabin.

The dead restaurant next to the office in Quemado

The Lightning Field stats:

Fortunately there are mud boots as the recent rain has turned the area around the cabin into a treacherous boot-eating quagmire. Treading carefully to stay above the mud table, walking amidst the poles is fascinating.

More pics of the cabin and surroundings:

More pics of prepping to walk:

A&Z and a friend

Pics of The LF:

RTM in selfie pose

RTM not in selfie pose

THB poses with his favorite pole

Selfie without a narcissitstick

Even more powerful is sunset: all the poles are illuminated and visible where before you (for sure weak-eyed THB) could only see about 25 nearby poles. It's a magic act!

Movie magic: the poles pop out!

Even more amazing: THB took these pics in morning and is pretending they were taken the previous night

Dinner is cheese enchiladas and flan, and DB has brought tuna to go with olives, carrots, and seed crackers. And, in the middle of dinner, the house phone rings (there’s no cell reception, we are in the middle of the middle of nowhere). THB gets up to answer and is immediately transposed back to E-ville: Hello, we’re calling to conduct a survey…..ARGHHH!!!! Even here, yes YOU, can have your dinner interrupted by tele-marketers “doing research.”

And then the magic moment all you blog fans are waiting for: the most amazing sunset ever (hyperbole? NOPE!), where a sheet of light rain is illuminated in shades of red: AWESOME!!

As night descends, the cabin is surrounded by periodic flashes of lightning, seen in all directions approximately every 30 seconds, while the cabin remains under clear skies. A-maze-ing…best art installation ever? $250pp in high season...priceless?

For those of you considering a trip here, time to mark in bold font the day they start taking reservations for next year (or try and squeeze in on a cancellation this year). THB’s annual calendar is starting to fill up with return trips to Paris and Quemado.

Pics of wildlife and flowers: