After much delay, the final installment…

Sunday was our last full day in New Mexico, and Kirios and I wanted to make the most of it. After breakfast at the hotel, we drove out to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. Basically, there are cone-shaped rock formations on mountains that were caused by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. Some of the tent rocks were just taller than me, and some were massive multi-story formations. The tent rocks also show layers of volcanic material, with different colored bands along the face of the cliffs.

When we arrived at the Tent Rocks, Kirios and I scarfed down the leftover pizza from our expedition to Taos the day before. And then I discovered that there was no running water at the National Monument, and Kirios and I rationed off the rest of our water bottle. There were two shorter trails near the visitor’s center, the Slot Canyon Trail which features a “steep climb” and increase in elevation, and the 1.2 mile  Cave Loop (half of which has a path wide enough for a wheelchair). Kirios crammed all of his business and sight-seeing clothes into one small carry-on; he only brought one pair of shoes toNew Mexicowith him – nice but comfortable leather shoes appropriate for the office… so we decided to explore the Cave Loop. It didn’t disappoint, leading us through the desert mountains to exciting views of the Tent Rocks and surrounding forest. We spent a lot of time taking pictures, including some with Kirios’ lightweight travel tripod so we could pose together. The day started to warm up, and by the end of our journey we had ditched our gloves and ear warmers, and even unzipped our winter coats!

Afterwards we drove to the closest gas station for some bottled water and took advantage of the cheap gas too – I got excited every time we saw gas under $3.00 so we kept topping off the tank. To get to the gas station, we passed a large dam, so we drove back to it to explore for a few minutes before enjoying the scenic drive back to Santa Fe.

Although we could have used a little R&R after our journey, Kirios and I decided to make the most of our last day in Santa Fe before all of the shops and attractions closed around 5pm. We did a quick drive through Canyon Road, known for its many funky art galleries. Then we toured the Loretto Chapel known for its Miraculous Staircase – really an architectural marvel! Afterwards, in desperation to send me home with a souvenir and frustrated because 99% of the jewelry in Santa Fe is handmade and well beyond our budget, we spent some more time in the shops near by the plaza. Kirios started to grow frustrated that my ears aren’t pierced and my wrists are too thin for most bracelets, when finally we found a store with a case full of rings on sale, some of which were small enough for my little baby fingers. Kirios immediately found one he loved – a funky Santa Fe-esque design with inlaid stones including turquoise (super popular in New Mexico) and opal (a personal favorite of mine, plus Kirios has already given me other opal jewelry it matches with!). He humored me and let me spend 20 minutes or so trying on the different rings before I agreed that his pick was by far the best. And I picked up a little arrowhead necklace for him at the store too before we left. Once my hand was adorned, we went back to shops with other novelties, and I picked up some dried green chile and other herbs for a birthday present for my mother. (She had told me a few days earlier that it had been worth her visit to Santa Fe many years ago if for no other reason that she started cooking better when she returned!) and I also bought a colorful little bowl for Kirios to put his wallet and keys and things in when he visits my apartment since he liked the one at the hotel so much.

The sun started to set and the shops closed down, so Kirios and I made a quick stop at World Market (the only place still open, if only for another half hour) to pick up some nuts and chips to snack on before our 8pm dinner reservations. We headed back to the hotel to enjoy our snacks and rest while watching Madonna’s half-time show and the second half of the Superbowl. Conveniently, the game ended right when it was time to leave for our dinner reservations!

For our final dinner in New Mexico, Kirios and I went to La Boca, a small tapas restaurant and wine/sherry bar. (They really like their sherry out there. Ick.) Our waitress advised us that their tapas portions were pretty large, so we each ordered two dishes and they were served as two courses. For our first course, I had roasted butternut squash cazuela with fresh sage, melted mahon, & pumpkin seed oil. It was hardy and well seasoned. The mahon cheese complimented the sweet squash flavor, and there were a few pumpkin seeds which served as a nice change of texture. I did think the portion was a bit big, and despite the delicious taste, after a while I couldn’t help but think I was eating baby food. Kirios’ first course was grilled semi boneless quail with pomegranate molasses & harissa cous cous. Kirios had never tried quail before, and although he selected many tempting finalists on the menu, he decided to go for it and try something new. (When he asked whether I thought he should order it, I said, “You like duck and chicken, what could go wrong?!?”) In the end, he said the quail was juicy and succulent, but he was a tad frustrated at how little meat there was on such a tiny bird, and how difficult it was to get to it with all the bones.

My second dish was bruschetta with crimini mushrooms, fried egg, truffle oil & reggianito, and let me tell you, it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. Instead of a slice of bread with neatly chopped vegetables, cheese, and an egg topping it, I was served a bowl full of a thick creamy mushroom sauce blending with a warm runny egg soaking a piece of toast at the bottom of the bowl. If I had known it would be like this, I probably wouldn’t have ordered it, but I’m glad it did. The thick flavorful dish had elevated ingredients and flavors, but an overwhelming homey-feel. In fact, while eating it, I kept having flashbacks of my parents making rocky mountain toast on a griddle years and years ago. Meanwhile, Kirios was having a completely different, albeit enjoyable experience on the other side of the table. He ordered one of the evening’s specials, pork medallions with a fig reduction topped with cheese. We can’t remember what kind of cheese it was, but I’m thinking parmigiano or something similar. Anyway, Kirios just went crazy about the dish. It was light and simple, perfectly balanced. He was on cloud nine. He was, however, still a tad hungry and interested in ordering an additional dish. My dishes were much heavier than his, and he decided it wasn’t worth getting another tapas plate if I wouldn’t also, so instead we shared a Spanish torte with strawberry sauce for dessert. It was pretty good, but I’m not in love with cream that isn’t sweet as a dessert component. All in all, it was a very nice meal. We did note that the meal end up costing the same as it would have if we had ordered it at a similarly nice restaurant in Washington DC – which is overall a more expensive city than Santa Fe, but we didn’t mind a little vacation splurge!

We made our way back to the hotel and I’ll admit, I fell asleep in a blissful food coma before Kirios had even finished packing up his suitcase. In the morning, we enjoyed our last “Mountain Sunrise” breakfast at the hotel before driving to the airport inAlbuquerque. We had as pleasant of a travel day as could be expected, and made it back home around 11pm EST, but not exhausted since the time zones went backwards!

After wrapping up a very busy January, Kirios and I kicked off February fabulously – in New Mexico! Since most of our travel weekends over the summer were filled up with weddings, we had been discussing a winter getaway for several months. We brainstormed a lot of cities to visit, but hadn’t actually sat down and made any real plans – after all, we usually keep busy! But a couple of weeks ago Kirios learned that he needed to travel to Santa Fe for a Wednesday through Friday business trip, and I jumped on the opportunity. “Stay there. I’m coming out to join you,” I told him.

And that’s exactly what I did. Kirios flew into Albuquerque on Wednesday and headed to Santa Fe in his rental car via the scenic Turquoise Trail, where he grabbed a Southwestern burger at the Cowgirl BBQ before preparing for a day of meetings on Thursday. I went in to work on Thursday morning with my suitcase, and left the office at 1:30pm. One train, 2 planes, and two busses later, I made it to our hotel, Inn of the Governors, in downtown Santa Fe at midnight – Mountain Time.

Originally, Kirios was scheduled to work Friday morning, so I planned to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, walk over to the Georgia O’Keefe museum, and window shop before meeting him for lunch. Luckily for us, his coworker’s flight was moved to earlier in the morning, and he got the whole day off. There was fresh snow on the ground in the morning which quickly turned to slush in the desert sun, and we skipped over puddles all the way to the museum. The museum was small but beautiful, and had a fairly comprehensive collection.

After we finished up at the museum, we headed over to the Plaza, where we admired the artwork of the Native Americans sitting out in front of the Palace of the Governors and the art and gift shops filled with beautiful things. We meandered a couple more blocks to have lunch at Ristra, an elegant restaurant blending French and Southwest flavors. We started with the appetizer special, a delightful creamy mushroom soup with chipotle croutons. I had the portabello burger with rosemary eggplant caviar, manchego cheese, and a spinach salad. It was not a bad sandwich, but it didn’t seem particularly special when compared to Kirios’ Crispy Duck Leg Confit served with a salad including dried cranberry, pumpkin seeds, and a raspberry vinaigrette. Duck is one of my all-time favorite dishes, and it saddened me that this wasn’t kosher so I couldn’t try it. It looked, smelled, and sounded (the crunch of the crispy skin!) excellent. But don’t feel too bad for me, we still shared a strawberry-rhubarb crepe with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Mmmm. I need to make another strawberry rhubarb pie one of these days…

After lunch, we spent some more time admiring the turquoise and opal jewelry in shops on the Plaza, and taking pictures in the snow before retreating to our hotel for its daily “tea and sherry” hour. I’m not a fan of sherry, but if you are, apparently Santa Fe is a good place to get it! Kirios enjoyed sampling the sweet and the dry, and we both took advantage of the R&R.

Most of the museums in Santa Fe have extended hour and are free from 5-8pm on the first Friday of the month. Kirios and I took advantage of this by visiting the New Mexico History Museum and the Palace of the Governors. The New Mexico History Museum is very new, it opened in 2009. It had a lot of interesting information about the history of the land, and the Native Americans and Mexicans who lived there. I was a bit surprised that its message was so anti-US. I probably shouldn’t have been, considering the state history, but I guess my textbooks and museums back East have all have more patriotic philanthropists funding them… Unlike the museum, the Palace of the Governors was extremely old, having been used as a government building back in the 1600s under Spanish rule. We didn’t have too much time there before it closed, but it was interesting to see how the building was built and used.

Finally, we had dinner at La Plazuela at La Fonda before calling it a night (La Fonda is a big hotel right on the plaza with shops, a café, and a bar in addition to the restaurant). It was our most authentic Southwestern meal. Kirios had chicken and beef fajitas with an extra side of green chile, and I had a roasted red bell pepper, stuffed with sautéed winter greens, leeks, shiitake mushrooms and sweet corn, served with butternut squash puree, poblano chile-potato gratin, cauliflower flan, quinoa pilaf and roasted tomato-sweet onion sauce. It was a lot of different tastes of vegetables and spice flavors, extremely interesting and tasty. We both ordered New Mexico beers to go with our dinner, and sat by the fireplace for at La Fonda for a little bit before returning to the hotel and succumbing to a food coma.