Summer Travel Map

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Enjoying Santa Fe

September 28, 2008
Santa Fe, NM

We've been enjoying our stay in Santa Fe so far, alternating "busy" days with "easy" days. The weather's been pretty good, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s. Rain has been sporadic and mostly after bedtime, and we're acclimating well to the 7,000'+ altitude.

Similar to our stop in Page at Lake Powell, when we pulled into the park we noticed quite a few Monaco motorhomes. As it turned out and unbeknown to us, the Monacos In Motion caravan that left Lake Powell had just ended here! Even more Monacos were on the scene and pulling in; another caravan was forming up to leave. It was great to catch up with some prior acquaintenances and meet some new people at their evening "happy hour".

On Tuesday, we did some grocery shopping. We didn't particularly have a list of items or a meal plan, which made things a little difficult, but we explored the local Farmer's Market for vegetables, and the nearby Whole Foods for cheese and other specialty items. We saw a nice piece of halibut and some fresh mushrooms, so dinner was identified. The rest of the week, we decided to work with things we already had on hand, like linguine with chorizo and shrimp.

Wednesday was a rest day, although we did some cleaning and laundry.

On Thursday, we took the afternoon to drive into Santa Fe proper and poked around in some shops. It was a nice, sunny day, so I got some photos (click here) here at the park and in town.

Friday was a day that was planned in advance. We had tickets for two events at the Satna Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta (how could we not?), and then a dinner reservation for the evening. We decided to board the pups, since we wouldn't be able to walk and feed them on schedule, and we dropped them off mid-morning before we headed into town.

Our first seminar was at La Fonda Hotel,a dn it involved a panel discussion focusing on Santa Barbara Pinot Noir. We really enjoyed the discussion, and especially the 8 different wines that were poured. We'd met two of the panel members before, about a year-and-a-half ago when we were in southern California, and we've had wines from all four participating wineries, so this was a chance to get "inside perspective" on some of our favorites.

Since we had some time between sessions, we decided to have lunch, and chose a local place by the name (Coyote Cafe, which was one of our old haunts when we lived in NYC). Geri had "mucho nachos" (huge plate) and I had a duck quesidilla. Make a note, if anyone tells you a mango caipirinha is a good idea, forget it.

Our next session was the "reserve tasting and silent auction", and it was set up at the El Dorado Hotel ballroom. About 100 different booths were set up and a huge crowd shuffled around tasting whatever their hearts desired. There were wines from all around the world, although California dominated due to the proximity. We tasted several nice wines, although Geri petered out about halfway through due to the crowd and the heat. I toughed it out until I finished the room, and we actually won a lot in the auction (6 bottles of 2005 Zaca Mesa Black Bear Block Syrah).

We then had a nice dinner at Pranza, purportedly the best Italian restaurant in town. It was quite nice, with a wonderful decor and atmosphere and good food. Geri had a nice lasagna and I had a steak, and neither of us finished everything on our plates.

Yesterday, we rested. OK, maybe I nursed a bit of a hangover. We picked up the dogs in the morning, and weren't completely satisfied with their care, since their bedding (and parts of them) had been wet (if you know what I mean). Geri gave them a "tubbie" and washed their beds, and they were all settled down by evening. I did some post-processing on the recent photos in preparation for posting today.

Today was also a relatively quiet day. We did some shopping (a bacon press for the outside griddle, food for the next few days), walked the pups, met a 4 1/2 month old Yorkie down the way, and watched a little football. All in all, a very nice week!

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