Adventures with Creede

Hey everyone! This weekend Thomas and I took a much needed mini-break to Santa Fe and Taos. Creede is now living in SF so he showed us the sights and we got to spend lots of time hanging out. There is much to see and do in the Plaza - tons of restaurants, cool shops and more galleries than one would think possible. In Santa Fe we stayed at El Dorado Hotel. I highly recommend it - it has one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept on and nice, large rooms. We stayed at the Taos Inn in downtown Taos and it's a funky hotel that is blessed with fireplaces in each room. I found Taos to be a bit of a letdown after Santa Fe and remain baffled as to why Julia Roberts chooses to live there. But it was fun for a day.


Here are some pics of our trip:

Santa Fe

And here are some of our more memorable moments:

• Dinner at The Shed with Creede - easily the best guacamole I've ever had and great margaritas. The restaurant is housed in a building that dates back to the 1600s.
• Meeting Igor the Misogynist Parrot - Creede's new pet is beyond adorable and has personality to spare. Though he is a famed woman-hater, he seemed to like me. I felt very Sally Fieldish.
• Seeing all the kooks in NM (it's no wonder Igor's fav word is cukoo - he should be the designated town crier). Aside from being just generally wacky, I also finally found a place that's more liberal that Boulder. One group protesting Bush/War in the middle of a busy intersection included a guy juggling and wearing a Nazi armband. Lovely.
• Taking the 90 minute Custom Tour by Clarice - we learned a lot about the history of Santa Fe, drove all over town, got some great ideas of what to do the next time we're in town, and heard about Shirley McClaine's ill-fated attempt to build a house up on the tippy top of the town's highest peak. Wouldn't have missed it
• Touring the Larredo Chapel and viewing the miraculous staircase. This chapel was absolutely beautiful and we were properly amazed by the staircase and its story.
• Gallery hopping along the plaza. We're not fans of the typical Santa Fe style art, but there are plenty of other options in this town - all kinds of art and artists. Our favorite was Lynden Saint Victor and his surrealist works. We were mightily tempted by a print or two.
• Taking in all the pueblo style architecture. Some ordinance was passed in Santa Fe in the early 1900s that everything had to be covered in adobe. It's bizarre to see everything from McDonald's to Target in that style.
  
• Having a beer at Evangelos in downtown Santa Fe. First off, Evangelos is my favorite kind of bar - it's been there forever, people were friendly, it's kind of divish and it has a history. There were a couple of huge photos of a WWII soldier behind the bar that piqued my interest. I asked the extremely nice bartender about them and it turned out they were of his father, Angelo Klonis who first opened the bar. He was a sergeant in the army in WWII and his photo was taken by famed photographer Eugene Smith. The picure ended up on Life magazine and was commemorated on a postage stamp in 2002.
  
• Dining at Doc Marten's in Taos - we were having a very nice dinner when this middle aged white lady comes in decked out in American Indian gear, introduces herself to a table of people, sits down with them, and in short order proceeds to pull out some marraccas and start chanting. She then reads a story about a wolf. After a bit, one of the men finally interrupts her and tells her they're going to talk about something else now, but she is welcome to stay. So she sits there and watches them eat for the rest of the meal. You can't make this stuff up.
• Walking along the bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge outside of Taos. If it sounds familiar it's because that's where Mickey and Mallory of Natural Born Killers got hitched. Like those two we declared our eternal love but also promised not to go on any killing sprees.
  
• Driving past the world's largest earthship subdivision outside of Taos. You have to see it to believe it. I know where I'll be staying should I ever return to Taos.
• When we entered Creede, around Blue Creek lodge, running down the middle of the road right in front of us was what I thought was a donkey. Instead, it turned out to be a big horn sheep. It trotted down the road for awhile and then scrambled up the cliff and I nabbed a picture of it. I've been coming to Creede my entire life, and I've never seen one; whereas, most people manage to spot one on their first visit. This has made me very bitter. But now, I'm bitter no more! I got a very close up view of the sheep and it was adorable.
  
• And finally, swinging by Plan B of our house that's being built. It definitely exceeded expecations. The first floor of the structure is up so we got to climb the stairs and check the view. It is unbelievable - 360 views. I cannot wait for its completion. It will be terribly hard not to find some reason to move there for good.

Santa Fe Bumpersticker of the Day: Be nice to America or we'll bring democracy to your country.

And or course: Gore 2008

-sunday