Life is a Highway

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Well, today we hop on a plane and fly back home. It's been an amazing trip, meeting wonderful people in incredible places. I'll post in the next couple of days with a recap.

Yesterday we started off our day with another great breakfast - corn pancakes with homemade syrup and Marie's fabulous fruit salad. The salad includes grapefruit, oranges, figs, pistachios and a pomegranate syrup. We raved about it the first time we had it, and Marie says she always tries to offer a dish again if a guest really likes it. Another nice touch from Crystal Mesa Farm. During breakfast Alisa Franzone-Davis dropped by. Alisa is the founder of Raw Woman, a local culinary school that teaches folks how to prepare meals without cooking - in other words, using all raw foods. She taught a class on Saturday at Crystal Mesa and we tasted a granola type salad and cinnamon buns - that's right, cinnamon buns with no cooking. They both were delicious. Check out Alisa's website at http://www.rawwoman.org. You'll see it's way more than a culinary school.

After breakfast, we headed back to Ghost Ranch for one last hike. This amazing place has become, in just two visits, our spiritual center out here. We love the natural beauty and, as the name implies, there's something else going on there. Near the top of the trail, we stopped to take it all in, and Marie did a little sketching.

Before we leave, I want to share a few more pictures of Crystal Mesa Farm B&B, truly an amazing sanctuary.

We WILL be back! Please check out their website at http://www.crystalmesafarm.com/

Back to the Mines

Yesterday dawned cool and extremely windy. The wind direction made it sound even stronger here at Crystal Mesa, which caused us to switch our plans. We were going to hike at Bandelier National Monument, just northwest of Santa Fe, but we decided not to tackle 30 foot ladders in 50 mph winds. Instead, we headed down the Turquoise Trail toward the old mining towns of Cerrillos and Madrid (pronounced Ma' drid).These were two of several boom towns that formed in the late 19th century around the hopes and dreams of thousands of prospectors looking for silver. As the brochure for Cerrillos Hills State Park says, most of them had their hearts and backs broken by claims that rarely delivered. But while hope sprung eternal, these towns were bustling with hotels, bars and brothels.

Today, they couldn't be more different. Cerrillos looks trapped in time - dusty dirt streets, frontier storefronts and a mining museum. Madrid has become a bustling arts and tourist town, though still rough around the edges. Get off the main drag and you encounter dirt roads that will challenge your car and body alike. They could have trained the Apollo astronauts here.

We started our day at the aforementioned state park, which features hiking trails and the occasional historical mine. Like many people, I romanticize mining, assuming it's done in caves or underground caverns. Instead, these poor fellows staked their dreams on 20 foot holes in the ground. If they found anything at all, it was often lead, iron or manganese, not silver. Mostly, they found  nothing. Native Americans mined the hills for turquoise and the Spanish for silver for hundreds of years. Frankly, we were underwhelmed by it all - guess you have to be a mining buff. Some pictures from our hike:

We also encountered our first snake of the trip

and a little cactus we dubbed the Charlie Brown Christmas Cactus.

After a fairly long hike, we moseyed into Cerrillos. The cast of the movie "Young Guns" posted a "thank you" to the townfolks on one of the storefronts and the church was a thing of beauty. Five minutes later, we were ready to leave.

Three miles up the road lies Madrid. We got rid of the trail dust with hot fudge sundaes (I can just picture Billy the Kid riding into town and demanding a Rocky Road sundae), then checked out a couple of the funky shops and high-end galleries.

On our way out of town, we set off to find the town cemetery. Marie at Crystal Mesa said it was not to be missed. Divided in half - Catholic cemetery on the right, secular cemetery on the left - it's known for its outrageous "headstones" and decorations. After a jarring climb up one of Madrid's residential "streets" and a stop to ask directions, we finally found it. And yes it was funky and strange and "a hoot", as one of the residents promised. But mostly Marie and I felt a strong sense of sadness there. The town graves were decorated eccentrically and extravagantly, but also with numerous very personal touches. Candles. Photos. Toys. Beer and tequila bottles. Pottery. You could really feel the loss. Plus, like the Catholic cemetery, it was so poorly kept. The dryness and cacti added to the desolation. We took a few pictures, but not with the same energy we expected.

This morning we discussed it with Crystal Mesa Marie (to differentiate from Union Bridge Marie), and we all agreed that perhaps cemeteries should be more like the one at Madrid, that we tend to sterilize death and loss with the perfectly manicured lawn and the rows of nice, neat headstones. I have to admit that we really felt the life AND death of those folks buried in Madrid.

Mother's Day

Yesterday being Mother's Day, Marie exercised her prerogative and requested a day to just chill at Crystal Mesa. We read and journaled, Marie sketched and I checked out the grounds. Early evening I headed back to the Tesuque Village Market to pick up a wood-fired pizza, a few Coronas and key lime pie, which we ate on the deck. Followed by an awesome sunset. Here are some pictures of the house and grounds of Crystal Mesa, as well as that sunset.

Our room. At night, you can lay in bed and look at the stars through the top windows.

Over our bed:

The front door:

The tipi (which is comng down due to wind damage):

Mother's Day toast:

And, finally, that sunset:

All That and a Bag of Chips

Apologies again for the delay in blogging. This vacation just keeps getting fantasticer and fantasticer (I have to make up new words to describe it). After our abortive day on Wednesday due to the nail in the tire, Romana said she really wanted to go to Ghost Ranch on Thursday. This is where the iconic American painter, Georgia O'Keefe, spent much of her adult life. It was given to the Presbyterian Church in 1955, and is now used as an education and retreat center. Knowing that none of Georgia O'Keefe's art is on display there (there's an O'Keefe gallery in Santa Fe), you might wonder what the draw was for Romana. We have learned not to question, and were we rewarded!

Getting our usual late start - too many great stories at Crystal Mesa for me to leave - we drove about 90 minutes northwest of Santa Fe. As we approached Ghost Ranch, we noticed the landscape change. First was the return of red rock, which we hadn't seen since somewhere south of the Four Corners. The second was lush farmland, probably due to the third thing we noticed, which was Abiquiu Lake - nice to see blue-green water after the big muddy of the Rio Grande and San Juan Rivers.

Upon arrival, we stopped off at the Info Center/Gift Shop/Fossil Museum, where we decided to hike the Chimney Rock trail, which culminates in an overlook above Georgia O'Keefe's house. The wind was howling, with gusts estimated in the 60-65 mph range, at times nearly knocking us over. As the trail paralleled a narrowing canyon, Marie and I both felt a strong increase in our emotions; Romana said she noticed it as well. She said Ghost Ranch got its name from the strong spirits that reside there; others say it comes from the many tales of ghosts and legends of hangings in the area. Based on our experience (we felt something on the way down the trail as well), I'm with Romana - there are very strong spirits here.

Here are some photos from the day. Here's the ranch:

Chimney Rock trail:

Abiquiu Lake:

Chimney Rock:

"Canyon of the Spirits":

Romana at the overlook (note the wind):

The view of Georgia O'Keefe's house:

Journaling on the trail:

The view coming back down:

After the 3 mile round trip hike, we headed back to Santa Fe. We stopped at the Sunflower Farmers Market (think Whole Foods), where Romana bought a smorgasboard of food for our last dinner together before she returned to Kelly Place. And best of all - she insisted we get some dark beer to go with dinner. I love a woman who drinks dark beer!

The next morning Romana said goodbye to Crystal Mesa and we headed back to Cortez, CO. After 6+ hours of driving (with a stop in Durango), we got to see Marc and Jerene and Laz and Nancy again, but then had to say goodbye to Romana. That was tough. We've really gotten to know and love this wonderful kindergarten teacher from Switzerland, and we had some amazing experiences together. Marie cried her eyes out as we drove off. Five hours later, just after midnight, we arrived back in Santa Fe.

Yesterday we popped out of bed - ok, crawled out of bed - and, after another great Crystal Mesa breakfast, headed for the Tesuque Flea Market just north of Santa Fe. This is a can't miss destination here. There's so much interesting stuff and great bargains, as well. As usual, we picked up a few things - some for Marie, some for me, some for gifts. Then we decided to check out the village of Tesuque, and discovered the Tesuque Village Market, a funky market, bar and restaurant. We settled onto the wooden front porch, drank a margarita and mojito, ate chili rellenos and a chorizo and chicken burrito, and watched the colorful characters walk in and out of the market and bar. What a cool place. Then we headed back to Crystal Mesa to chill and watch the sunset.

Hello, Santa Fe

As we were preparing to leave Kelly Place yesterday, we decided to see if Romana wanted to come with us to see Santa Fe. There were two prerequisites. First, she had no way to get back to Cortez (5 to 6 hours away). Second, we needed to see if the B&B in Santa Fe could accommodate her. We took care of the first part, agreeing to bring her back on Thursday or Friday. Just as we were leaving without her, the B&B called and said she could sleep in the "library" off our room. (When's the last time you had a library off your room? Us too.) So Romana quickly packed and off we went.

After around 5 1/2 hours, including stops, we stopped in Bernallilo, just north of Albuquerque, to pick up tacos, enchilados, beans and rice. When we arrived at the Crystal Mesa B&B, we were blown away. First of all, we sat on the deck, ate and watched the sunset (that's Romana and Marie).

Then we all enjoyed the final traces of the sunset (that's Romana).

And then we looked around this amazing place. In addition to being architecturally fascinating, it's filled with an eclectic collection of items from the owners' travels as well as Native American items.

This morning we met our hostess, Marie, who grew up in Switzerland, Romana's home country. Then we found out that her husband is an actor and has been playing Jackson Montgomery on the soap opera "All My Children" since 1987. Pretty cool. After a nice breakfast, we headed out to Bandelier National Monument. Instead, we discovered another Santa Fe landmark, the Firestone tire store. The tire pressure sensor triggered on our SUV and we found a nail in the tread. By the time we got it fixed, we decided to spend the afternoon and evening in Santa Fe.

Tomorrow, Ghost Ranch - Georgia O'Keefe country.