Birthday Travels

As noted in the previous post, I was a little unsure about our birthday travels, but all hard feelings dissipated as we pulled into the parking lot of Si Senor restaurant in Deming, New Mexico, where we always stop to stuff ourselves with fresh home-cooked Mexican food. Tender fresh-roasted chicken, light as a feather flour tortillas just off the grill, locally grown chiles and homemade salsa... it bears no resemblance to the greasy corporate hack food served in the widely known Mexican chains(which shall remain nameless - they know who they are).

Arrived at Jerri's charming 1840's adobe in Santa Fe's East Side neighborhood, just a block from Canyon Road, at about 5:00, and that's when they party really began! Good food, good wine and good talk, and excellent companionship from Margie, as usual - and then a night of dancing at El Farol, Santa Fe's oldest restaurant, which is now a tapas restaurant with a lively bar scene and live music. Tuesday night is "open mike" night, so it's essentially free to dance to some of the best old time rock'n roll ever. Lots of retired rockers in Santa Fe, who come to El Farol for a little Tuesday jam - lucky us! On this particular night, Ron Ellison, formerly of the Delfonics, was there, and we danced the night away to "Just My 'Magination" and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" packed tight against artists, native Americans, gold diggers and other Santa Feans.

The next morning, a drive on Highway 84 to Durango, through what must surely be the world's most beautiful scenery. I've driven the Amalfi Coast, the roads around Capetown, seen meadows of lupine stretching on forever in the mountains of New Zealand's South Island... but this road equals it all. First Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch, with the otherworldly pink and green Georgia O'Keefe rock formations ("Haven't I seen this before?" you ask yourself, and then realize that you own an O'Keefe print of this very spot). Then you climb upward toward the bright blue sky, with the flat-bottom New Mexico clouds puffing along, aspens turning gold but wildflowers still blooming pink, purple and yellow in the fields.

Before you know it, you're in Pagosa Springs, one of America's great small towns, and a few miles on to Ben and Birgitta's ranch, where they live with five horses, three dogs, two cats and a fascinating 15-year-old genius son named Sam. Chess games, conversation on endlessly diverse topics, a brisket to die for, mind-blowingly beautiful hikes, and child-like sleep through the chilly mountain nights, tucked snugly under the downy comforter.

But the greatest thing about staying at Rancho Kater is the communion with animals. My fantasy as a child was to live on a ranch with horses and dogs, and I get to live this fantasy whenever we visit. Birgitta has endless patience and calm, which is helpful with animals and even moreso with greenhorns like me, and the two of us took an exciting ride over the steep ups and downs of the nearby mountains. My friend Bilbo took excellent care of me, as he promised he would - did everything I asked and more. We gave the horses a nice hose-down and curry after the ride because they had worked so hard and were so sweaty, so of course they immediately flopped down on their backs and rolled around in the dirt - apparently that's much better than a bath!

Back to Santa Fe on Saturday, the countryside even more spectacular after two days of fall-like weather. Did some gallery-hopping and spent a wonderful birthday dinner with Jerri, who was having her big 6-0 last week. I learned that Santa Fe is the second-largest art market in the U.S. (after NYC) and could see why - although my favorite gallery was the Community Gallery where local folk showed art made from recycled materials - so creative and surprising.

On the way home to BZB, we went through Hatch, New Mexico, and had a World Famous Green Chile Cheeseburger at Sparky's - if you're ever in Hatch, don't miss it! The local green chile harvest was just in, and a lovely man roasted ten pounds of the spicy little devils for us to take back with us - my car smelled amazing, and still does, a little. We cleaned and bagged them when we got home, and Dick, who had looked askance at me when I told the gentleman that we wanted "medium", ate a whole roasted chile, seeds and all, then had to race to the kitchen for water, milk, sour cream, etc. to put out the fire. He has accused me (joking, I hope) of using this blog just to humiliate him, which I wouldn't do, did he not give me so many opportunities...

Now we're busy making chiles rellenos, green chile omelettes, green chile salsa, green chile soup, even a jalapeno apple pie, so must get cookin'!