Once upon a time, there were four moms who found themselves turning fifty years old. For the past five decades, they had grown and learned and loved and lost but had held to the friendships that had sustained them through the school years. So to mark that small space between fifty years of life, they escaped by automobile to the magical borough of Sante Fe, New Mexico.
The drive was fun and full of stories. Lunch in a Trinidad park was exotic: V8 juice, cheese, crackers and pictures to commemorate the occasion. Arrival in Sante Fe proved the accommodations would be perfect. One of the recommendations for dinner, The Shed, was northern New Mexican cuisine with a reputation for great margaritas. Because lunch had been light, the four friends arrived fifteen minutes before the restaurant opened and enjoyed drinks in the bar. This turned out to be lucky, as the wait was over an hour by the time they left. As it turns out, accosting strangers to take pictures is less effective than you would hope.
The next day began and ended with perfection. They began with a walk to The Plaza and an hour of stories in the Starbucks shop. Walking back to the condo, they saw a chance at a cooking class. Who knew, that each loved cooking. They signed up, raced back for minimal makeup and returned to a most entertaining three hours of cooking demos followed by an amazing lunch of the prepared food and local beverages.
The second day was balance for the other half of a girl’s brain – shopping! Arriving at the Paris Bakery early, anticipating large cups of latte, ala Friends, they were enticed into a tapas sort of meal: butterfly cookies, bisconchito shortbread cookies with anise and cinnamon, and croissants of chocolate, plain and almond. Choosing their selection, the adorable local boys shared a joke – until persuaded to share with the moms. As it turns out, they were convinced that the four friends had partied heartily the previous night. Even funnier, was that they looked that badly without having partied at all. Ah, well.
From there, they were fortified sufficiently to wander the many galleries along Canyon road.
Lunch was the next one from the cooking chef’s list, Tune-up Café. Tune-up was known for amazing breakfast, perfect burgers, but only known by the local residential district surrounding the place. Most recently named Dave’s Not Here, after years of being named Dave’s, it must be remembered sans pictures, as they just seemed too intrusive. Lunch was served again in the new favorite style of tapas – small bites of four different dishes in the middle of the table.
After lunch, they returned to the plaza for jewelry shopping, with loose interpretations to accommodate the need for purses and headbands.
Time again for a late shower before heading to the last dinner. Known for romance, but more importantly recommended by the cooking chef, Amavi’s provided great dishes celebrating the local cuisine. Sante Fe boasts 341 restaurants for their 70,000 residents, more per capita than anywhere in the US. Second place goes to San Francisco, at less than half that percentage.
The weather had been light-jacket-beautiful for two days, but the morning brought large snowflakes to decorate the flora and fauna. The unanimous conclusion was that no one was ready to go home to reality, but off they went. Because the GPS girl directed them toward the more scenic trip via Taos, it required a turnaround at the reservation and one more trip through town for a more direct route. A simple bio break was evidently a bit of a challenge for the driver and required a couple of false stops before landing at a 7-11 in old town Las Vegas. The organizer friend had the brilliant idea to balance breakfast with Road Trip fare: cheetos, vinegar potato chips, sunflower seeds, licorice, popcorn and the little donuts covered in wax chocolate. A couple weather zones included hail, but it was brief. The trip was truly complete. One more stop in Pueblo for lunch in a not-a-chain restaurant that included one more serving of refried beans, and they were healed and ready for the next fifty years.
Hugs and kisses in a Denver parking lot, promises to make it an annual pilgrimage and post cards for missing cohorts, and the trip came to an end. Today, you can find our heroines loving, scheduling, caring, cleaning, coaching, cooking and remembering. How perfect is that.
