Good Morning People!

13 states and 2200 miles down…

We just had 2 really nice, COLD, nights in Santa Fe, NM. We arrived on Wednesday night in time to get settled into our condo and head out to take in the town. We were within walking distance and went it on foot, not fully appreciating how cold we might be on the way home later that night. Santa Fe sits at an altitude of slightly over 7,000 feet which makes it very cold this time of year and the air very thin.

We found the architecture to be even more charming then we had imagined and found ourselves enamored with the place early on. Even the Albertsons we shopped at was in true adobe style, red clay with blue accents in south western motif.

We walked around the main point of the town, the central plaza, and found many great stores with south western gifts and many more restaurants and bars. The bloom didn’t come off the rose until we sat down to our very carefully chosen restaurant, Pasqual’s, and found it over the-top- expensive and the food to be bland and lackluster. The service was also very inattentive. We had such high expectations we were feeling very let down. Has having spent the last 18 months in NYC jaded us possibly? As we sat at the table feeling disgruntled by the whole experience, we agreed that Pasqual’s wouldn’t last 2 weeks in the Big Apple, where amazing restaurants flourish and the weaker go out of business. It’s a brutal place to be a restaurateur but an incredible place to be a diner J We made it back to our cozy adobe casita in time to curl up to a movie in bed…not that kind of movie!

The next day started on the famous Canyon Road of Santa Fe. It’s the art community of the town. There must be over 100 galleries on the ½ mile road. It’s super cool with outdoor sculpture everywhere. It has a very commune feel to it as the streets are narrow with mountains on both sides and most of the sidewalks are unpaved. We spent quite a bit of time here enjoying the art. We nearly bought a $2,000 painting in one gallery. I think it may have been the Datura plant growing inside that brought us to that unrealistic state of mind. Datura is an extremely strong hallucinogenic flowering plant. It’s indicative of the area that is was just growing rampantly inside the gallery. Along the walk we couldn’t help but notice 2 more restaurants we were considering the night before and their prices were even higher than Pasqual’s. We really were shocked at the prices of things here. I think it must be the Aspen of NM. We meandered more through town and found the Santa Fe market on one side of the plaza. It was where the Native artisans were hawking their goods on blankets on the sidewalk.

Thursday night we decided to enjoy our condo and cook ourselves a meal for the first time in over 2 weeks. It was so nice! Tony built a fire and we stayed in and stayed warm. Seriously, there is snow all over the ground in Santa Fe- it’s COLD there.

Today is Tony’s birthday so we agreed I would forgo my morning run(who really wants to run in 30 degree weather anyway?) and get an early start to Sedona. We should be there by 3:00, which will give me time to work out at the gym at The Hyatt and still have plenty of time before our 8:00 dinner reservation at L’Auberge at Oak Creek. It’s supposed to be the best restaurant in Sedona. Since it is a special day we decided to splurge a bit. Speaking of the Hyatt- in true Hyatt style the concierge called us yesterday to ask us if we wanted her to arrange some activities for us. As the conversation progressed it came out that we were in Santa Fe. She got really excited and asked “ have you eaten at Pasqual’s yet? It’s the best place in town”. We won’t have her booking any restaurants for us…