“Road Trip – Again”
The reprise of the road trip to California was scheduled to begin early on Friday morning and so we exchanged some gifts from under the tree on Thursday evening. I’m always so impressed with Diana’s wrapping skills. She got a special edition book of Winnie the Pooh stories and is looking forward to me reading bedtime stories from it. I’m working on the voices – it seems like everyone sounds a bit like Eeyore.
The car was 90% packed up on Thursday night (including the fancy new Yeti champagne transporter) so that we could get a quick start on Friday morning. We were underway by 9am and arrived in Albuquerque around 10 hours later. The 645 miles in one day was just about as much as I can handle. We did stop for a late lunch at the Drunken Oyster in Amarillo, and I couldn’t help but order the Cajun fondue that we enjoyed so much on the last road trip. We made just one navigational error – a wrong turn just before arriving at the hotel – same one I almost missed last time. Bit of a slow learner.
Saturday began with a walk across the hotel parking lot to the Marigold Café, a new place since our last trip. It combines Indian and American foods with New Mexico influences in creative ways. For example, my breakfast taco was served in fresh naan bread rather than a tortilla and included some delicious green chilis. Diana’s avocado toast was also excellent and she raved about the bacon. I’d like to return and sample the tikka mac ‘n cheese.
Our tummies pleasantly full, we made the short drive to Santa Fe. We drove past downtown to the gorgeous and impressive Santa Fe Opera house just north of town. The gate was closed and so we couldn’t get too close but the setting is really unique, with open air views of the high desert and mountains. We were glad the snow came a few days prior to our visit so that we didn’t have that driving challenge.
After checking into the lovely, historic La Fonda hotel, we walked over to Canyon Road and had a ramble past all the art galleries and sculpture gardens that line the street. I really enjoyed these wind machines – so creative and attention grabbing.
We walked back to the square and then enjoyed coffee and a slice of quiche at the hotel. I was interested to see the red chilis hung as ornaments on the square. Here’s the view from our hotel room balcony. The cathedral bells are quite loud. Fortunately the Trump rally (no masks in sight) in front of the cathedral cleared out quickly.
Why did we take the time to detour up to Santa Fe on an already long road trip you ask? Very solid question. Our friends Amy and Ray were getting married on Saturday evening at the La Fonda hotel. We hadn’t planned on attending but couldn’t say no after Amy heard we were just going to be an hour away in Albuquerque. Here’s Diana dressed up for the wedding with the favour that Amy left at the front desk – red chili peppers.
I hadn’t realized the ceremony was to be on the balcony of the bridal suite, in the evening, during a snow storm. I was not dressed properly. And certainly not for the extended event that the “celebrant” (artsy name for the lady presiding over the ceremony) insisted on presenting. I swear that as the snow increased, she spoke slower. There were several elongated descriptions of special parts – mixing sand together, the water ceremony etc. My toes were quite iced up by the end. The setting was lovely, and when we finally reached the exchange of vows, Amy and Ray were clearly very happy and did a great job.
Diana had the right idea when we made it back inside – thaw your hands on the chimney.
Here are a couple of other inside pictures. I did have a jacket and tie on for the ceremony – first time in at least 10 months.
I particularly enjoyed meeting and chatting with Amy’s Dad Bob – what a fun character. That and learning a new game, “Cheers to the Governor”, that the kids introduced. I highly recommend it – you can find the rules online. Diana and BP enjoyed getting their pictures taken on the snowy balcony when we went back downstairs.
We loaded up and headed out early on Sunday morning – destination Las Vegas – a mere 8 hours of driving away. On the road by 8am and we should be relaxing at the lovely Aria hotel on the Vegas strip by 6pm or so. All was smooth with some slow initial going on the snow in Santa Fe and the pace picking up when we merged onto the interstate down to Albuquerque. And then everything changed – and not for the better. There were multiple semi-truck accidents on I40 – we sat stopped on the highway amidst all the trucks for 2 hours straight at one point.
Thirteen very long and tedious hours later, we rolled up to Aria. Vegas is so quiet that the restaurants have very reduced hours – we were lucky to grab a quick drink and bite at the Aria Pub. The juxtaposition of the old, classic Santa Fe La Fonda with the huge, glitzy and modern Aria was quite dramatic. The scale of the place comes through in this picture where the super cars out front look like models.
After our quick dinner, we walked down the strip to Bellagio and watched the fountain show with Christmas music. Always such an impressive sight. On the way we passed through a new and extremely upscale mall called “Crystals” something or other. We were amazed at this tree where each ornament was one of the Swarovski crystal special editions – I hate to think how much it cost to decorate that tree.
Passing the smaller Eiffel tower at Paris hotel reminded us of a wonderful dinner we enjoyed there and of the very special 50th birthday dinner that we enjoyed with Mum and Dad at the real version in the real Paris.
Back at Aria, we relaxed with a cocktail at the “Lift Bar” and enjoyed a talented musician covering all kinds of music from different eras. What a treat.
Upstairs BP was marveling at all the neon sights. I hate to think about how much money these Vegas hotels are losing every hour with so few people around.
We finished listening to the Michael Connelly audio book of “The Law of Innocence” on the drive to Albuquerque. It’s amazing how a good story, well read, can help the time pass. There were just enough twists to keep our interest and not so many that it gets ridiculous – which seems to be the trend these days. D kept picturing Matthew McConaughey in his role as the original “Lincoln Lawyer” as the story unfolded.
I didn’t make too much progress on “Utopia Avenue” this week, but am happy to report that my interest was held much better again. I suspect I’ll finish the book off quickly on arrival in Pacifica as I get plenty of quiet reading time with Clorinda.
I heard the John Fogerty song “Broken Down Cowboy” on the Sirius Deep Tracks station on the drive. I liked it a lot and was surprised that I hadn’t heard it before. It’s not on Spotify but I did find this live version from the Royal Albert Hall:
“If I was a gambling man
Never would’a let you play that hand
With a broken down cowboy like me”
This Chuck Berry song came on while we were eating lunch at the Drunken Oyster in Amarillo – they played great music. Quite different than his normal stuff:
An early Tom Waits song that Jesse covered on the Tuesday Night Supper Club show:
And finally, to recognize the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s passing, one of my favourites. I can remember pretty vividly walking to school with Drew Kirkland and David Smith the morning after the assassination and talking about how important Lennon’s contributions to music were.
Stay patient and safe.