small things...

And finally…Santa Fe

Day 3 started off with a whimper.  Neither of us had slept very well despite the super comfy beds.  We staggered down to our hotel’s continental breakfast and were welcomed by a pretty decent spread with eggs, sausage, pastries, cereals, fruit etc… and again the super nice people.  We stocked up on coffee and water – both now feeling the altitude a bit.  (Santa Fe is at about 7000 feet).  The plan for the day was all museums and the Plaza.

It was a sunny morning and about a 5 minute walk from our hotel to our first stop – The Georgia O’Keefe Museum.  The plan was to head first for the furthest point on our map and then meander our way back to the hotel all day.  On our way to the museum we passed the spot where Native American artisans set up their wares to sell all day.  It’s a great place to find turquiose and other stones as well as Native American folk art and the like.  I’m not the type of shopper who can spend any amount of time pondering my options.  If I see something that catches my eye and the price is right – I buy it.  And then I’m done.  I rarely look again or look at anything else.  I’m the same at restaurants.  As soon as I spy something on the menu that looks like what I want to eat, the menu closes.  Anyhow – that’s what happened here.  I spied a really lovely piece of cerulean- colored stone hanging from a silver chain. 

Looks a lot like this…

(source)

The Georgia O’Keefe is not a complete collection of her work as I’m the main art museum in your town has a piece or two in it’s collection, but it is dedicated to her and includes a bit of her history etc…I found really interesting.  Like did you know that she was initially really upset that people interpreted the imagery created by some of her most famous flower paintings as sexual?  Not her intention apparently.  She got the reputation for being a bit of a sensual sexpot because her husband (Alfred Steiglitz) took a bunch of nude photos of her and displayed them in a show.  Who knew.

We hit 2 more museums before stopping for lunch:

• New Mexico Museum of Arts
• Palace of the Governors

Lunch was at a restaurant I’d seen on many “Must do” lists about Santa Fe.  The Shed.  Tucked back in a courtyard behind a line of shops, it was clear lots of other folks had seen the same “must do” lists I’d seen.  We had about a 25 minute wait before being seated.  The food was good – simply prepared and freshly made.  But the most striking thing about The Shed was that the waitstaff was ridiculously good looking.  At least our waiter.  He looked like Paul Rudd’s handsomer younger brother.  blush-worthy.

After lunch we hit two more spots before heading back to the hotel for a rest

• The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
• Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

   

I took a nap after lunch and Beth did a bit more shopping.  We met for a drink at The Coyote Café in hopes we’d be able sit on their outdoor deck.  No such luck.  However – if you go try to get a table.  It has a great view of The Plaza.  We decided on Italian for dinner and found ourselves at Osteria D’Assisi a great little restaurant. 

Here is something you should know about Santa Fe.  Evereything closes early.  We were walking back to our hotel not much after 8pm (if that) and the streets were empty.  Our hotel staff said the Santa Fe way is “Open late/Close early”.  They ain’t lying.

Our last day in Santa Fe consisted of a lot of walking and art appreciation.  So much so that I gave up on the art after lunch in favor of reading a book and resting my tired dogs on our balcony.  Our first stop was the Artisan market by the railyard.  We are expecting more Native American artists, but instead found a rather run of the mill art fair.  Not worth the trek.  The views were nice though.

 

We made one last sightseeing stop before heading back towards are hotel and Canyon Road – The Loretto Chapel – home of the mysterious stairway.

What is so mysterious you ask?  Well it was built without center support and was built by a mysterious carpenter who asked for no money and left without telling anyone his name.  Architects and engineers alike cannot figure out how the staircase is able to function without collapse with no center support. (It was totally Jesus, right??)

Canyon Road is a two mile stretch lined with high end Art Galleries.  By the time we reached Canyon Road I was hungry, tired and starting to lose interest in the arts as a whole.  Sorry, Arts.  At the top of the hill we found a funky place for lunch featuring a rotating, somewhat confused/confusing waitstaff system and lavender lemonade.  the food was delish.  The Teahouse.  If you like tea they have a tea menu that looks like a small novella. 

Our last night we tried to witness the famous sunset from yet another rooftop- The Rooftop Pizzeria.  Alas, the clouds thwarted our plans.  But the food was great and we had a funny run-in on the elevator with a heavily jeweled dude who was all disgusted by the number of elevators in Santa Fe.  He was over it.

The next morning we made a relatively easy drive back to the airport and I had a super easy flight home.  Beth was waylaid in Denver for 8 hours which is a nightmare, though I think you can get a massage in that airport.  I don’t actually know what Beth did all that time...

Verdict: New Mexico has the nicest people on the planet, good food and great history and Art. And also they go to bed super early (hell yeah) and some of them are like 'elevators - I hate you', but the rest of them are like "hey - welcome to New Mexico. Let's be best friends!"

The end.

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Turquoise Trail and Santa Fe

Turquoise Trail and Santa Fe

The trip continued…

Friday morning we woke up and….It was my Birthday! woot woot!   After receiving a few welcome “happy birthday!” texts from my sister and friends, we headed out to grab some coffee and breakfast.  We happily returned to The Grove Café -  just two short blocks from our hotel.  Another great meal, delicious coffee and AGAIN the nicest people ever. 

 

(source)

We spent much of breakfast reveling in the much better meal we were having than the night before and talking about some of the other trips we’ve taken together:

• Laguna Beach after xmas a couple years ago
• Lake Tahoe
• Michigan last summer
• And a trip to New Mexico once before (Taos and Angel Fire) for a music festival when we were in college. (Where I remember seeing a band of blonde dreadlocked folks from Vail play a reggae version of the Bee Gees classic “Staying Alive” and it was ridiculous and awesome and I can sing it now in my head)

After breakfast, it was time to head out and slowly make our way up to Santa Fe.  It’s only an hour long drive by highway, but if you take the Turquoise Trail you can stretch it out into a day trip.  And that is just what we did. 

First stop: Sandia Peak Tramway

I might have mentioned this when I went to the Grand Canyon a few years ago, but did you know that I’m afraid of heights?  Not always.  But when it happens I can get myself pretty worked up about it.  But I figured a birthday is a pretty good day to push yourself to do something like ride a tram through the air up to 10,000 feet.  Do what scares you right?  Well I did.

I barely saw anything on the ride up. And that it because I was mostly staring at the floor and trying not to panic.  But I braved a moment to snap the photo above.

And here, where we passed over one mountainside still climbing to the top and could see the other tram heading back down.  I mean, holy shit, look how high we are! Once we reached the top and 10,378 feet above sea level I started to relax between my much shallower breaths.

Initially I stayed a healthy 10-15 feet back from the edge, but after awhile I got a little braver and stepped a little closer.

Can you believe how freaking high this is??  That’s Albuquerque way down there!

 

We probably didn’t spend more than 25-30 minutes up top before climbing on the tram to head back down.  This time I could actually look out the window.

I was psyched to get back down to the ground, but it was totally worth it.

On to the rest of the Turquoise trail…

(source)

The trail takes you up I –14 through the mountains between the Sandia and Ortiz mountain ranges.  You wind through a handful of old mining towns and a whole lot of scrub brush and surprisingly few other cars.  I was imagining a slow meander up this road following a line of other cars, but it just wasn’t so.  I also thought we might stop at several of the towns, but we didn’t actually stop anywhere until we got up to Madrid, just past the halfway point.  Madrid (pronounced MAD-rid, not Muh-DRID. This ain’t Spain) is a coal mining town-turned ghost town-turned artist/hippie/outlaw haven.  It’s pretty funky.  We stopped for lunch at The Hollar.  It’s food cooked southern style in a little ramshackle looking place on the side of the road.

(source)

The service was pretty slow but the sun was warm and we weren’t in a hurry.

The view from our table.

The view of the burger (yes with a biscuit for a bun) just before I introduced it to my belly.

We took a brief walk up and back from The Hollar.  There isn’t much to Madrid, but it is funky and pieced together in the way a mining town-turned ghost town-turned hippie/artist/outlaw haven should be.

The rest of the drive up to Santa Fe is much of same.  Rolling hills of scrub brush, mountains in the distance on either side and funky little side of the road towns all along. 

Santa Fe – Night 1

We pulled into Santa Fe around 4ish and checked into our hotel – The Inn on the Alameda.  This hotel is awesome.  Not right on the plaza, but within walking distance.  The room was comfy with a private little balcony overlooking Alameda and the creek.  Beth took off on a walk when we got there and I settled in on the balcony to read all my Facebook Birthday wishes.  Seriously, it is the best.  If you are on Facebook you are crazy if you do not make sure everyone knows when it’s your birthday.   You are crazy.

I was tired from the day and wanted to find a restaurant nearby (after first stopping by the complimentary happy hour at our hotel – free booze!).  Beth humored me and we ended up at a great little spot directly behind our hotel – Mucho Gusto.  The restaurant is tucked behind the back of a little strip of shops and could easily be missed – but don’t let it!  The food was fresh and delicious.  I had the flautas and Beth had the Chalupas (which I thought would be fat fried doughy tortilla shells, but was really a lovely little salad with beans, cheese, veggies piled in two small tortilla shells)  Again the staff was incredibly nice.  There is something in the New Mexico water I think. 

Part 3  tomorrow!  (sorry this is taking me so long – it was just a weekend trip!)

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Month 12 wrap-up!

Month 4 - Wrap up

I’ll be Quirky

Say it out loud…

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Yup. I totally went to Albuquerque last weekend.  (My friend Simona taught me that trick!)

#3 – Travel places I’ve never been

Back in January, when I think we all had the inkling that this winter might be a doozy, I started hatching a plan to head somewhere warmer for my birthday weekend in March.  Last year I took a much loved trip to Louisville.  This year I hit up my always-up-for-a-trip friend Beth and we decided to head to New Mexico.  We stayed for 4 nights total: 1 in ABQ and 3 in Santa Fe.  I have been through both of these places on a road trip and even stayed overnight, but have never really *seen* either.

Day 1:

I flew into town first.  Picked up the car and headed into ABQ to find somewhere to eat lunch and waste a bit of time before I could check into our hotel and then pick Beth up at the airport.  Being the anxious traveller that I am (and the fact that I was now 5000 feet higher in altitude) I was pretty sure that I couldn’t get a deep breath so it took me a beat or two to relax, but I got there.  And the spot I picked for lunch helped: The Grove Café.  Their philosophy is to provide high quality local and organic foods with a kind of neighborhoody vibe.  My kind of place and they nail it.  My first impression of ABQ was a good one.  Hipsters, families, young, old – it seemed like a good crowd.  I ordered a tuna salad sandwich and a lemonade and found a spot to sit and people watch.

 

After lunch I took a drive up and down Route 66 to get my bearings.  I knew we were going to be here for such a short visit and I didn’t want to waste time trying to find stuff to do once Beth got here.  So this part of ABQ is curious.  It reminded me a lot of Reno, NV.  It seems a little down-and-out, but with little peeks of culture and history tucked in.  There were a lot of empty store fronts along this road and tons of motels (Route 66 and all).  If I go back I need to see more sides of the ABQ.

 

Our hotel was super nice inside: Hotel Parq Central and, as we were going to come to find out was true about everybody in New Mexico, the staff was incredibly nice.  The hotel is a converted hospital and with a contemporary/luxe vibe now.  (Thank bejesus, we didn’t find out it had been a hospital until the morning we checked out – I would have been convinced there were wandering sick from the beyond who were responsible for the bathroom shade I kept breaking). 

After picking Beth up we dropped off her things in the hotel and too a drive down to Albuquerque’s Old Town to walk around and find some dinner.  Old town is a bunch shops/restaurants/businesses housed in old adobe buildings all encompassing a historic church and plaza. 

After a confusing attempt to follow the moving blue ball on our “smart” phone apps and getting turned around more than once – we found our dinner spot.  It kind of sucked so I’m not going to even name it here.  But I will say, thank you world for the creation of the sopapilla.

After a drink on the roof of our hotel (there was a bar there, claro) we called it a night.

Part 2 – the Turquoise trail and Santa Fe….later skaters.

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Month 12 wrap-up!

Hot 'tssss' Glass!

(Did you get that the 'tsss' above is like a hot burning sound of hotness?)

Have you heard of Dabble?  If you're a bit of a dabbler and wanting to try a bunch of new things before committing-to-ONE-thing-forevermore Dabble might be for you.  I learned about if from a friend on Facebook and quickly surmised this was a way to help me with this goal of making 41 beautiful things.

Last year, when my pals and I went to Louisville, we stopped by an awesome hot glass studio/building called Glassworks.  I was surprised to find myself hypnotized by the process so when I saw the opportunity for a hot glass workshop through Dabble I signed up!

I don't know how all the Dabble classes work, but this one got us right into it.  Maybe because this is a one shot deal to have an experience and get enough out of it to sign up for classes - the instructor didn't spend time with a big intro or history lesson.  She gave us a quick tour of the space at Chicago Hot Glass.

Notice the burn holes! 

After the quickie tour we picked our colors

And then one-by-one our instructor Kit walked us through the process.  I didn’t get photos of the whole process b/c I had my hands full of hot glass – but I can walk you through it a bit:

Your first step is to come to this fiery vat of molten glass (wear your safety goggles!)

 

You then grab a long iron rod and dip it in picking up a small amount on the end.

(source)

You have to be careful to keep the rod spinning as the molten glass will begin to drop towards the ground and you want to keep it with a rounded shape like above.

Next you quickly roll the glass in a bowl of your first color, or what will become the interior color and then place the rod into the next bit of fire.  This one is called the “glory hole”…yes.

(sorry, it’s like taking a picture of the sun)

Once the colored chips have liquefied into the rest of your glass you quickly bring it back out and sit down to shape it while it’s still hot

That’s the bench there in the middle and the shaping tools on the table. 

To add the next layer and a different color you repeat the whole process.  We were making flowers so we had two layers of glass and then a third piece was attached at the end for the stem.

Pre stem

Kit adding a stem to a classmate’s flower

And the final product!….

Beautiful Thing #3!

I predict more hot glass in my future.  You got me, Dabble.

xo

erin

My Polar Vortex brain

A few days ago it was warm enough around these parts to take a long walk in the morning.  By “warm enough” I mean that it was above 25 degrees. Like maybe it was 26 degrees.  It was warm enough that my face didn’t hurt from the cold. 

After a few minutes of doggedly scanning the ground for sudden-icy-spots-threatening-to-send-my-feet-flying and finding few - I relaxed into my walk.  Most of the ground still covered in snow, there isn’t much to look at yet, so with zilcho to notice and no icy threats to focus on, my brain was free to….think.  My winter brain creaked and sputtered back to life.  It was apparently hibernating! I hadn’t even noticed.

• I came up with all the best comebacks and zingers I’d missed all winter!
• For the first time in months I found some ideas for the story I’ve been working on for years – (I might even write them down!)
• I had big thoughts about life and purpose and plans and dreams and stufflikethat
• And I thought about this blog and whether or not I want to keep writing it

So on that last one.  I write the blog primarily to get me to write something at all.  Very few people read the blog (But HI!!!! I love you and thank YOU for reading it), but I also write it because it’s important to me that somebody read what I write.  It makes me write differently.  Knowing that somebody will read it. 

But the Polar Vortex took over my brain and I haven’t had any interest in writing anything.  With the spring, I’m not sure what I’ll feel like writing or if I will much at all.  Or maybe I’ll write spring-feverishly.  But maybe not here.  I don’t know.

My guess is I’ll keep writing here a bit.  I’ll update when I cross an item off the list.

Maybe I can just be okay that I write a blog only sometimes. 

There will still be small things I’ve been meaning to tell you, after all. Right?