New Mexican Adventure Parte Dos

We left Albuquerque the next morning and headed into Santa Fe.  After trickling through the mountains to the east and winding our way through desert passes we ended up in an urban area completely carved from stucco/adobe.  I’d never seen an "earthen" looking Starbucks, but now I can tell you they do indeed exist.

Our arrival into Santa Fe was a bit turbulent as I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and by 2:30 I was exhausted and irritable.  We headed into the arts district near the capitol and quickly realized there was a festival going on, and between my irritability, street closures for the festival, and the crowds of pedestrians we retreated to a little dive serving “mexican” food just off the main drag for lunch and then slept off the ginormous portions the rest of the afternoon in the hotel.

As I’ve mentioned before, my dad was a bit incapacitated on this trip due to a rotator cuff surgery and subsequent Breg (sling apparatus), so he chose to sit the rest of the evening out.  Mom and I decided to give the arts district another chance, so we braved the one way streets and traffic, dropped a pin at our parking spot and headed out on foot.

We did find the festival with music, food, and dancing...

From there we sidewalk shopped up a hill and found beautiful Cathedral Bacillica of St. Francis of Assisi where we tried out my forward facing camera...

And finally proceeded to a quaint little wine bar/restaurant for a glass of wine, even though the menu sounded spectacular!

I don’t have too many notes about the wines that we tried at the restaurant other than I remember we each had 2 different glasses (so, not “bottle only” ie, less expensive) and tried them all (a server’s nightmare).  We started with a Sancerre (French sauvignon Blanc) and an Albarino (citrusy, mineral situation with a slight effervescence from Spain).  Then we moved on to a Pinot Blanc from Alsace (which I thought would be sweet based on the region, but because Alsace is cold, and these grapes probably didn’t get completely ripe, the wine was acidic and delicious) and then a dry Rose.  After wine, bread and butter we walked along the streets and decided we really enjoy Santa Fe and should return with friends soon.

**Dad was not left out!  We popped by Trader Joe’s and grabbed an eggplant parmesan for him to enjoy along with a hazelnut chocolate bar for us :)

The next day we ventured out into the largest farmer’s market I’ve ever seen and had a wonderful morning, well, aside from the rain...and the cold...and the parking, but then, I’ve said too much.

Joking aside, the market was super!  We found flowers, smelled roasting chiles, ate bread with grasses baked right in, bought some apples, cider squeezed from those apples, preserves with chiles, and so many other things!  

 I couldn't believe that after all the driving through desserts and seeing no farm land at all there was a cornucopia of produce available, even things that are out of season at home all grown locally at the same time.  What a strange growing season they must have, but then again we are in the high desert, where weather is variable...surely it affects the veggies.

I should mention the people here were as interesting to look at as the produce.  Watching people being one of my favorite pastimes, I could hardly force myself into the car, but alas, our time in Santa Fe had come to an end.  We headed east toward Lubbock, TX munching on our FM finds and sipping coffee.

 Again, I'd call this a success.  From here the trips winds itself down, but Lubbock should not be slighted, so I'll post about our wine adventures there next!