We've driven through the desert and arrived in the great American prairie at long last! We saw wildlife for the first time in a week: a herd of deer, a munching elk, a prairie falcon, birds, hawks, rabbits, and a chipmunk -- all in one day. ;-) This beats the barren dessert any day!
After brunch in Santa Fe (who can pass up organic chile rellenos and papas fritas with Christmas chiles?), we headed east and north, arriving around dinner time at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. Truly beautiful in the sunset.
But we can't overlook what might have been the absolute best experience of the day: our table-mates at Pasqual's in Santa Fe, a dermetologist and his wife, visiting from Daytona Beach, truly the most "Is this a Woody Allen film we're currently in?" experience we've had since Ann (of Lu and Ann fame) asked me suspiciously, "WHERE is the pickle jar?" at Justin's birthday party. Sidney and unnamed wife were terrific companions for a meal, advising our stay, guiding us to pottery sales, comparing Hillary Clinton to Golda Mier, and admonishing our general choices. Coincidently, Sidney was a UMass class of 1956 alum and, ever the University Archivist assistant, Meg badgered him for his papers to little avail. We even got free dermetological advice. It was amazing. Read more in Meg's dramatic account, to be featured in an upcoming novel; they were too good to pass up.
The real thrill of the day was reaching green land. And sunlight filtering golden through green leaves. Ah, it is good to be where there is water -- actual streams and puddles and lakes. We won't take water for granted for a while yet.
Also, it is good to be where we had one of the strangest entrees ever: Jerk Shrimp with Melon Salsa and onion jam. Behold! It was EXtreme eating.
We're not sure about our schedule for the next few days. We're going to try to take advantage of our interium status as young, relatively unattached travelers in a place where we both spent our younger years. We'll see where the breezes take us. No real rush, aside from Railroad Earth tickets, hurrying us back. We'll keep everyone posted after we've looked through the fliers we picked up.
Signing out from a hotel room overlooking the Olympic Training Center, while watching the Olympic BMX racing (where Latvians are winning?!),
-Ben & Meg
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