Who said, "You can't go home again." We sold our second home in Santa Fe in 2005, after almost 11 years of monthly trips up to the mountains. We loved Santa Fe, but decided it was time to expand our travels, and the condo, as much as we loved it, was holding us back. We thought if we want to come back and visit, all we have to do...is do it! We never would have guessed then that would come back with our new second home, Harvey, for a good visit. After being here for just a few days, it already feels great and comfortable, since we're so familiar with this place. First, I'll go back to tell you how we got here from Carlsbad.
We rolled up US 285 on Monday, which cuts right up the center of New Mexico, through UFO town, Roswell, and farther north until the rolling plains and mesas become much more steep, and you start the climb to about 7500 feet to Santa Fe. We're staying at a really nice RV park on the East side of town, actually a few miles from town. Mary Ann wanted to hit the ground running and head for a familiar place for dinner, so we went to venerable old Maria's. This place is more of a locals restaurant in a tourist town and their recipes for Southwest cuisine are basic and straightforward and ALWAYS reliable. No surprises here. To give you an idea, there is a large glassed in area in the dining room where several women are always making tortillas from scratch. Enough said. We spent the rest of the evening walking around The Plaza. If you've never been here, this is where you begin your visit to Santa Fe. It will set the mood for the rest of the trip. We did notice that one of our favorite other eating places, The Plaza Cafe, an ancient real diner, had had a kitchen fire and was closed. We're hoping that it will be open the next time we're here. The next day, we had lunch at one of our all time favorites, Zia Diner. The food is not stellar, but it is really good...and fun. Diner fare; meatloaf, turkey, burgers, etc., all with a Santa Fe twist and all consistantly tasty. The interior (top picture) is worth the trip there too.
So what is it about Santa Fe that makes it so fun to come to? Well....there are too many reasons to love this unique place. The weather. Cool summers and mild winters (cold enough for snow in the ski areas nearby though). The culture. Art of all kinds, film (more movie screens than towns 5 times larger), music, galleries, fashion, you name it. Food. This place is a vortex for foodies. There are literally hundreds of restaurants of all types. Not just New Mexican food. There are terrific Italian, French, American, delis, bakeries, Asian..almost anything you can come up with. The good ones survive, the mediocre don't. There's lots of competition for a small town. Another thing about the food here is that the attention to high quality still prevails. Most places say something on their menu's here about "organic" this or "locally sourced" that. We had lunch today in a new place called Vinaigrette, a predominantly salad menu, where everything on it comes from their own organic gardens in Nambe, a few miles from town. Even their homemade ice cream and desserts are mostly organic. It's hard to find such a variety of places like this almost anywhere. There are 2 Whole Food Stores here, Sunflower Market, a Natural Grocers from Colorado, and other smaller groceries, all catering to people who want higher end food. Again, there aren't that many stores of that type in cities 5 times the size. Even the normal stores carry a much larger selection of "healthy" foods than usual. The other thing that draws us here is the natural beauty. There are gorgeous vistas everywhere you look...and the night sky is like a planetarium! Crystal clear!!
Ok, we mentioned bakeries awhile back. We mean to tell you, you could (and we have!) go wild with them. There are even more here now than when we left a few years back. In fact, this is being written with one hand, while the other is stuffing down a 45 rpm record sized Copenhagen Cinnamon Roll from the Chocolate Maven Bakery and Restaurant! This place is world class. The restaurant has two levels. Make sure to sit downstairs so you can watch the bakers in operation through the large windows. It's awe inspiring! By the way...breakfast is THE meal in Santa Fe. You see, nobody actually works here. It's another one of those unique things. People just get up and go out to breakfast, then at around 10:30 or 11 am they will leave one of the zillions of breakfast places like Chocolate Maven or Santa Fe Baking or Pasquals or Tia Marias,or Tecolote,or..or........., and they go to where they meet somebody else for lunch (which may also serve breakfast all day!). From there, you guessed it, they discuss dinner plans. It's rough, but somebody has to take responsibility, right? What a town. Everyone's either "retired" or living off a trust fund. Stay tuned for part two of our "Coming Back Home Special"....
