Friday Finale

After sleeping in, recovering from several early morning excursions, we packed up and drove a half hour north to Bandalier National Monument. The park is a wildlife refuge, maintains the cliff-dwelling ruins throughout the valley, and provides education about the history of the Native Americans who inhabited the verdant Frijoles canyon, which is in the middle of the dry New Mexican desert. After visiting the park one can imagine the people struggling through the piňon-pocked desert and then rejoicing upon finding this canyon teaming with wildlife and greenery, fueled by the stream trickling through its base. The contrast of the planet-of-the-apes-like desert that we drove through to reach the park and the green canyon below was striking. The Pueblo people set up homes both in a circular city on the canyon's floor and carved into the soft volcanic rock lining the sides of the Frijoles.

We hiked the park's main loop trail which started along the canyon floor leading us through areas where the people would have grown their crops and through the circular village where many of them lived. Small, also circular, underground buildings called Kivas served as the public and religious centers of the village and several had been excavated. The rooms of all of the shelters were also incredibly small, large enough only to lay down for sleep.

After passing through the central settlement we climbed trails to the nearby cliffs. The Pueblos built several story homes in front of the canyon walls and then dug extra rooms out the back of the buildings into the rock wall itself. The stone was called tuff and was comprised of volcanic ash from ancient eruptions that formed the landscape. Apparently the “tuffness” of the rock is pretty erratic and small holes had eroded all over the rock wall giving it a swiss-cheese look. The views were very beautiful, but there were a huge number of people visiting the park. It was as we were climbing in and out of the various shelters that we started to grow weary of all of the park visitors. Several families were letting their children run unchecked around the park and the kids lacked some serious turn-taking skills, at one point trapping Jason on a ladder outside the entrance to a small cave. Unfortunately this pattern would continue throughout the afternoon; we could hear people yelling over this otherwise peaceful landscape most places we went. We pressed on.

After making our way down the canyon wall the trail curved off to loop back to the Visitor Center but also offered an alternative trail to a cliff-side cave called “alcove house.” We hoped that the sign's promise of a dangerous 140 ft. climb up ladders and steeps stairs would scare off the young and loud so we decided to check it out. Unfortunately we were wrong. As we reached the top of the final ladder some kids were kicking dust around and yelling about how they were Indian warriors with invisible arrows, this in spite of the signs asking us to respect this spiritual place in silence. However, we waited them out and eventually they climbed down the ladders and we were left with a breath-taking view over the canyon and the peace and quiet that can only come from a ancient cave in the middle of the New Mexican desert.

After enjoying our time in the cave we climbed down, finished the rest of the trail through the beautiful forest and headed to the car. We drove back to our studio and tried to finish off all of the food we had bought for the week and the leftovers from our various food outings. We had tacos, hummus, chips, crackers, Thai veggies, figs, goat cheese, and some Chardonnay. Then we packed up and went to bed early in preparation for our 6am flight. It had been a delightful week and we truly enjoyed ourselves every day. We were looking forward to heading back to Philly and to seeing our animals at home.

Goat City

Yoshi and L.B. are pack goats with the Enchanted Pack Goat hiking company. Yoshi is a small brown oberhasli and L.B. (lucky boy) a sable saanen. Today these noble goats, along with their capable guides Susan and Patti, led us on a hike up the Cerrillos hills just south of Santa Fe. The hills were the sites of turquoise, gold and silver mines. Only two active claims remain in the area but most of it is now protected public land.

The guides led us on a two mile hike covering an elevation of 700 ft that gave us an amazing view of both Albuquerque and Santa Fe as well as the surrounding deserts. Our elevation at the very top of the hill we ascended was 6,900 ft. We could really feel the high elevation as we struggled with deep breaths to climb the hill. But the goats carried plenty of water for us and even snacks and lunch – awesome goat cheeses, salsas, and sandwiches. The goats were so good! As we climbed the hill Jason kept turning around for photographs of the beautiful landscape that stretched out around us. The higher we climbed, the more incredible the view became. Narrowing the photos for today's post was very difficult.

The goats turned out to be amazing pack animals and hiking companions. We had thought they would be a lot more stubborn, but the biggest trouble they gave us was stopping to snack now and then on the plants we were passing by; this actually provided convenient and needed breaks in the hike. Their footing was sure and they would respond to basic commands, recognizing their names and stopping when you gave a firm “whoa.” As you can see in the photos, we were both delighted by the goats during the entire hike.  As we moved along Patti and Susan gave us details and stories about the hills. Patti had just bought a small adobe house at the base of the trail and knew a lot about the area while Susan, the owner of the goats, had done an extensive amount of hiking with them and knew all of their ways. They were a great team.

When we reached the top we stopped to eat our picnic lunch. The goats snacked in a large juniper bush and then took a nap as we also rested before returning down the hill. It was so silent at the top and very beautiful. Every direction we looked gave a breath-taking view of the land below dotted with juniper bushes, pines, and cactus stretching out to mountains on the horizon. The view made me think back to our trip to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum and how she was converted upon seeing this rugged beauty. As Patti said when we reached the top, “welcome to heaven.”

The trip down was quicker and more dangerous than the climb. The rocks gave way beneath our feet now and then and Yoshi's saddle broke, leaving the humans to carry the panniers (We're not sure if Yoshi orchestrated this!). We were lucky to see some local fauna on our descent. A blue western scrub-jay flitted from bush to bush (the same bird Kate had spotted outside our studio a few mornings earlier). A western collared lizard froze on a rock as we drew close. As we stopped to check out the lizard a tarantula crawled by next to Jason's foot; it startled Jason but Susan was un-phased and tried to pick it up. The spider would have no such thing so we continued on before the goats got too interested in our new hairy friend.

The hike was a success. We had made new friends in both our guides and the goats. We had seen views that we will never see east of the Mississippi. It was truly a delightful morning. We headed back to the studio, rested a bit and then headed downtown for a little bit of shopping in the city's plaza and downtown area and eventually found dinner. We watched the sunset from the balcony of Rooftop Pizzeria and then headed home for bed exhausted.

Beauty and Relaxation

4:30am Wednesday: Balloon Day. We got up very early, drank some coffee and headed out bundled in the many layers we had been instructed to wear by the balloon folks. We drove to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in the dark morning and met up with our flight crew and other balloon goers in the parking lot behind a Denny's-like restaurant; this was our launch pad. The morning was crisp and beautiful and as soon as we got there we could see the “Dawn Patrol” fanning out across the Sandia Mountains. These are the early morning scout balloons sent up by the festival to test the winds; no other balloons are allowed up in the dark and the Dawn Patrol is largely visible only when they fire their flames to lift higher. 

 

We signed some release forms about the potential for death and started getting ready with the crew. There were two balloons going up that morning and we were assigned to the “crew balloon,” the balloon that was taking the ground, or chase crew, up for their one ride during the festival. It was the cool balloon. Our pilot was named Dean and he seemed competent enough to get inside the huge picnic basket we would be riding in with four other men. Jason got to help fill the balloon with air, including holding it open while they shot huge ten foot flames right past him and into the side-lying balloon. This flame would later be directly above our heads. Similar to Jason's spicy ladder, Kate is on a program where she gets closer to a frightening, dangerous flame every day. On Tuesday she was the grill master over a scary open flame in our cooking class. Today she was asked to ride directly next to Dean, directly next to several huge tanks of liquid propane, and directly under a massive flame. It went well. 

The ride was beautiful. It was very slow and smooth and the view of the sky around us filled with hundreds of other balloons was beautiful. We spent some time flying low over a cottonwood forest and then dipped down not two feet above the Rio Grande; you could smell the water and mud as we passed above it. We also flew high above Albuquerque and had an amazing view of the surrounding mesas and mountains. The pilot has little control other than being able to catch different wind currents at different altitudes so we didn't have a huge choice of where to land. Rather than crash land into a petroglyph park, Dean chose a golf course. After landing he exclaimed “We made it. We defied death!” Seriously. The chase crew came to retrieve us and we headed back to our launch site for mimosas and pastries. It was only 10am!!

We headed to Pasqual's for brunch, as we had heard this was the absolute best meal to eat here (from Rocky Durham, no less). It did not disappoint. Jason had huevos rancheros and Kate had a similar dish but with sweet bananas, green peas, and feta. Also, the homemade english muffin was excellent; meticulously buttered from edge to edge.

We next headed to a Japanese Spa above Santa Fe called Ten Thousand Waves. You may see that we only have pictures of the spa entrance – this is because it is a nude spa. These are the shenanigans we are into on our trip. The spa had a lovely hot spring bath, multiple Koi ponds, sanas and many beautiful pathways through a pine forest. We relaxed in the hot spring for a bit and then got a great massage. It was delightfully peaceful.

After getting up so early and having quite a busy day, we once again used some local produce to cook a Thai dish for dinner and went to bed.

A Very New Mexican Day (A Day Different)

One of the things that we had been excited about doing on our honeymoon was taking a cooking class. Fresh from a good night's sleep, in spite of the songs of the coyotes out our window, we road some torn up bikes down Canyon Rd and into town to the Santa Fe School of Cooking; sitting under the tutelage of none other than the pride of Santa Fe, Rocky Durham. We had a blast learning how to make three different salsas. Rocky has started a bunch of Santa Fe style restaurants in Europe and is also the host of his own TV show. He had a lot of personality to say the least; he only refers to his girlfriend as “the woman that I love,” as in, “oh, the woman I love is a vegetarian!” (If you want to know where to eat well in NM, email him, he's happy to tell you.) Not only did we learn to make some great salsas but he also showed us tips about everything from chopping cilantro to taking the seeds out of the center of a pepper in one second. He gave us carte blanche to do what we wanted in his kitchen. 

First a roasted tomato salsa. Roasting one's ingredients isn't something we had done before when making salsa so we kind of freaked out with the first one, charring the skin of all of the veggies. It had a nice roasted flavor but lacked the freshness that makes salsa so great. The second was a pineapple salsa. Kate's last minute decision to add add cumin to the mix made this one much better than the first. A salsa to be proud of. The final salsa was roasted tomatillo. This turned out to be our favorite. We decided to go a little heavier on the jalapeño and balanced that with some sugar which sat nicely with the tomatillos. The class was so much fun. We learned so much. We met some friendly people. It was a great way to start our day.

The weather was beautiful and we had our minds set on eating at Flying Star Cafe so we walked down to the city's rail-yard district and checked out their from-scratch menu. We had a greek salad topped with fried cheese, avocado and tomato and a tempura cauliflower dish topped with a jalapeño chutney. We washed that down with some local beer; Marble IPA and Kate's favorite: Eye of the Hawk!

Then we walked back up into town and toured the Georgia O'Keeffe museum. O'Keeffe grew up in Wisconsin and later lived in New York City but after visiting northern New Mexico and connecting with its rugged beauty decided that it was her new home. After her husband's death she moved here permanently and created most of the abstracted desert inspired works that we know her for. One thing that the museum stressed was that the erotic connotations everyone associates with her work only represent a small portion of her creations. She did a large number of completely abstract pieces and even cityscape paintings that are nothing like the vaginal flower macros that we associate with her name.

After an exciting morning of cooking and a lot of walking we decided to buy some produce, stay in and cook something that would go well with the morning's left over salsas. We made some delicious tacos and warm figs with goat cheese. We are looking forward to incorporating more chiles in our day-to-day cooking; Jason's hot campaign continues!

Recovery Day

 

We took things slowly on Day One of the trip being as we were still very much recovering from the wedding and jetlag. The day consisted mostly of sleeping and eating. After waking up and having some great espresso we made some plans for the week, starting with a trip to Santa Fe Brewing Company. I don't recall that either of us has had their beer before, so we weren't sure what to expect. When we arrived we asked if they served flights, got a blank stare, and then ordered a “sampler” of all their beers. We were impressed! Our favorites were the heffeweizen, the pale ale, and the blonde. We also enjoyed a delicious and very cheese-heavy lunch; it was not as spicy as last night's green salsa pizza and as such was not a step up the spicy-ladder for Jason.

After the brewery we headed to Trader Joe's to get some milk and cereal for the week. This experience was not unlike Trader Joe's in Philly but with more room and a ton of wine and liquor. The City Different! We enjoyed ourselves very much.

In the afternoon we went to see The Guardians because of our love for owls. We thought we were seeing it in 3-D, but we were wrong. The movie was a bizarre mix of several stories and was essentially Lord of the Rings and Avatar acted out by some cute owls. It was pretty OK.

Then it was time to eat again! We went to El Farol, as Spanish tapas restaurant very close to our condo. We are coming to recognize Santa Fe as a great food city; this place was exceptionally delicious. We got a great bottle of a Torrontes/Chardonnay blend and started with a pear and idiazabal (Basque sheep's milk cheese) salad with a sherry and pine nut dressing. Then a delicious bleu cheese with honey and marcona almonds and a lightly fried avocado half with a lime cream and salsa sauce, our favorite of the dishes. Even though we were already feeling a bit full we then moved on to a soft and grainy goat's milk cheese with flat bread, roasted peppers, asparagus, and olives. Finally we had parmesan crusted artichoke hearts with lemon caper butter. Luckily we had walked to the restaurant so we had a bit of a walk home after all that eating.

The city is very quiet and also very dark, and it is beautiful and quiet at night. We walked home past many small homes on one paved and one dirt road and could see hundreds of stars. The walk was reminiscent of our quiet walks home in the Costa Rican town of Monteverde. Before falling asleep we heard a pack of coyotes hunting in the distance. We fell asleep excited for another day of exploring.

Wedding and Flights - We Did It!

Welcome to the Kate and Jason's wedding/honeymoon blog. Here you can check some of the fun things we will be doing as we adventure into the American southwest.

First things first though. We really want to thank everyone who helped us make this wonderful event a reality. We put a lot of work into it ourselves but there is no way we could have done it without the hours of work that our friends and family contributed. Together we folded hundreds of cranes, cut many butterfly and bird flags, poured 100 bars of hand-made soap, ran cabling, moved pews, rehearsed music, focused lights, served cheese and champagne, and all-in-all made our vision of our perfect wedding a reality. And Kate and Courtney cooked a truly delicious dinner for when (most of) the work was done. Several people asked us during and after the event if it happened as we thought it would and the answer is a clear “yes!” It was amazing to see a vision we had together come to life thanks to many hard-working hands! Also, thank you to everyone who was present and who shared during the ceremony. Your kind words, best wishes and funny stories will remain with us forever and were the perfect way for us to begin our marriage together. Seeing our two families come together and catching up with so many people we've not seen made us both so happy; thank you to everyone who attended.

Now, the party is over, stories have been shared, tears have been cried (mostly by Jason) and we are beginning our journey together in Santa Fe. Our flights went very smoothly. We sat in the vary last row of both flights (connecting in Minneapolis) but had nice window views. Our favorite part was the view as we descended into Albuquerque. A small rain storm was moving across the flat lands at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. As we circled to land the sun set through the falling rain lighting it on fire with a bright golden glow.

At the rental car desk at the airport we were being given a bit of a hard time by the gentleman in charge (and his boss, who was wearing sunglasses at night) so we decided to break out the “honeymoon card.” This was a good idea! It resulted in a free upgrade – from a small Chevrolet to a snazzy red Kia with automatic windows and locks. What luxury!

We then drove about an hour from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and were greeted at our little studio by the owner, Tushita. She is very kind and gracious and even offered us chips and hummus from her own fridge when we said we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We didn't need to take her up on it, however, but instead drove a few minutes into the sleepy center of town and got pizza with mushrooms and spicy green salsa at the Atomic Grill. We didn't realize how hungry or tired we were until we started eating the pizza. It was also at this time that Jason started his (somewhat involuntary but delightful) “spicy food program.” We think by the end of the week he'll be drinking his beer with hot sauce.

Our studio is beautiful. Right now we are drinking espresso made in our little moka pot and enjoying the slow sunrise. The light comes through on both sides and we have a beautiful view of the mountains. Currently Jason is photographing every part of the space, so you'll get to enjoy it too! There is a beautiful outdoor patio with a small fireplace and there is a lovely silence we are definitely not used to. Today we are heading out to explore the city by bike and hitting some museums.