CENT Days 5 & 6
On Valentine’s Day we travelled from Amarillo to Santa Fe, our first long stop in the journey to the Grand Canyon. Man, we’ve been through every form of weather short of hurricanes, cyclones, and tornadoes. First the snow, then sleet, then freezing rain with the temperature dropping every mile or so it seemed. But, it was a short day of travelling (after 7-hour days, 4 was a breeze), and Santa Fe is absolutely charming and wonderful and OMG so quaint!
Santa Fe with a population of only 60,000 has its own opera house - spectacularly located on the top of a mountain with a vista of valleys and canyons. The art here overwhelms the senses. Even the overpasses on the highways are decorated (and not with graffiti!).
The Rio Grande flows through the town and the adobe architecture blends into the landscape perfectly. This is a state where Mother Nature and humans meld instead of warring
Now, we never celebrate Valentine’s Day. Never - I hate the way the price of flowers jump astronomically for that date and the DH and I just wandered into a non-Valentine’s thing over the last 33 years. So blow me down when I get gifts and a card on Sunday morning. Sheesh! How to make a person feel bad and good all at once.
And then he arranges for us to have dinner at Geronimo’s, a 5-star restaurant I’ve dreamed about for ages (I loooooove good food). We had a table by the fireplace, and, yes, the pic stinks, but it gives you an idea of the setting - an adobe-style ranch house built in 1678. The food was incredible, eclectic and delicious, the ambiance perfect, and, of course, the DH stands the test of time, much like fine wine aging.
We had a great day and night and the following morning decided to visit the outlying city of Taos, about 70 miles north of Santa Fe (as if we hadn’t driven enough in the last 4 days - yeah we’re certifiable). I swear we had the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had in my life at a hotel on the Taos plaza. You know what I mean, coffee that tastes the way it smells.
Charming city, but the drive along the Rio Grande was the highlight of the trip. The sheer cut of the river between the mountains took my breath away.
I cannot get over how astounding and beautiful this country is!
Cheers,
JC