Albuquerque looked really nice and we arrived just in time for dinner. After driving around University of New Mexico (UNM) we came upon the Frontier Restaurant (Thanks Pete). It was some of the best, classic, nostalgic food Shannon has ever had! The green chili and the red chili were superb and the vegetarian tortilla soup was worth another trip back to New Mexico.
View from inside Rosie
After stuffing our faces we prepared for our morning adventure to Taos, after a large snowfall so James could snowboard. The long, snow dusted, winding roads slowly became more rural and the snow became more frequent. The landscape was interesting and reminded us of Wyoming, it seemed flat for a while with a slow incline and then BOOM- huge, vertical mountains full of snow that seemed unreal. On the
James after Snowboarding Taos
way up to the mountains we passed a few American Indian reservations. Some had creative; make shift or alterna-buildings where someone had taken the time to stack random objects to make walls and a ceiling; other buildings appeared more modular and standard in design. People were selling the “best” local green chili or coffee with fry bread on the side of the road in what seemed pretty remote locations. We sometimes saw the overcrowded cemeteries on the side of the road by the large pile of fake flowers. At one point we were pulled over by a police officer and informed that almost all electricity between Santa Fe and Colorado was out due to an accident, therefore there would be no stoplights and we had to be safe. Accidents began to pile up all around us as New Mexicans struggled to adapt to the lack of streetlights. When we got to Taos, James got a recycled lift ticket at Taos Ski Valley and had a chance to snowboard in powder for a few hours. It was similar to Tahoe but the snow was cold enough to keep the powder consistent throughout the day, making for some of the best early season snowboarding James has ever done. Shannon at this time worked on something or other. We left feeling pretty accomplished in the day. As we descended the Taos Mountains the warm sun that cradled us through the day disappeared and we began to get cold.
Moon over Taos
We eventually made it to Santa Fe; cranky, tired, hungry and shivering. We found a hotel and rested. The next day we went to the historic square in Santa Fe and began to window-shop. Santa Fe felt like two different cities merged together. One was fancy, a bit pretentious and yuppy and the other was traditional,
Beadwork at IAIA
western, relaxed and hippy. All in all it felt awkward. The art we saw in Santa Fe however was beautiful. Some of the traditional arts included Navajo hand woven rugs, Navajo and Zuni jewelry, various forms of pottery including horsehair ceramics and pawnshop jewelry. Unfortunately Santa Fe was also very expensive and since most tourists visit and want a piece of jewelry or a bolo tie, the price can be steep. A lot of New Yorkers seemed to like to visit Santa Fe, we saw quite a few. We went to the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) to see one of Shannon’s favorite artists, Fritz Scholder. The exhibition was a retrospective, Scholder unfortunately died in 2005. It was a really nice, comprehensive exhibition showing various aspects of his career. Shannon particularly likes his 1970’s lithographs and they had quite a few on display as well as for sale.
At this point we are starting to get tired of traveling but it should only be a few days left before we are back in California. We are tired of camping in the cold, or the impersonal hotels with strangers. Greasy foods and lack of exercise has caused us to both gain some weight. <sigh> There is always time for exercise tomorrow. 
We are now off to the Grand Canyon in Arizona!
Santa Fe
Road to Taos, red soil instead of salt
Tags: 1970’s lithographs, Fritz Scholder, fry bread, green chili, IAIA, Institute of American Indian Arts, Navajo, New Mexico, NM, Santa Fe, Snow, Snowboard, Snowboarding, Tahoe, Taos, Taos Ski Valley, Zuni
