Well, I think "check out" time will be around 11AM again. That's when I think I'll have the car packed up again and be ready to head out. My next real destination is Asheville, but it will take me 5 nights and 6 days drive to get there from here. 300 miles in a day is about my limit and according to Google maps the route I've chosen, using county roads again rather than highways, should allow me to keep within my limits and see a lot of small town America. First stop tonight is Kenton, Oklahoma and the Black Mesa B&B. When I called to confirm the reservation, the husband was out literally mucking the barn and couldn't take down my information. His wife later told me to be sure and have dinner before I arrive as there are NO restaurants or stores anywhere close by. I checked the weather there. It is also going to be in the high 90's. Should be interesting!
I have fallen in love with Santa Fe. I always liked it a lot. In the past I've stayed in hotels in the historic district and enjoyed the walking around. I think the preservationists and zoning czars are terrific keeping the city center unique, human scale, and beautiful. This time, however, with a house in the hills just 2 miles from the city, and with a car and friends, we have done and seen so much more. The opera, it's setting on the high plateau, a spa developed to look for all the world like the hills outside Kyoto and succeeding, the fiber arts trail with its colors and textures, and of course, the galleries, shops and restaurants in the city and its surrounding towns have each provided their own pleasures and joys. Nothing disappointed. Nothing. (Well, one restaurant wasn't as good as we expected. It was fine, but we've been eating so extraordinarily well, just good isn't good enough.) Even the weather, cool, dry air, hot sunshine, cold nights, a touch of brief rain now and again to clear the dust from the air, how perfect is that!
I didn't mention it before, but I am getting a souvenir of this trip. Julie and I went into town to walk Canyon Road, the famous art gallery district, and we got hooked by an artist in the very first gallery we entered. Each of us ended up purchasing a painting. They will be shipped to Boston. Mine should arrive a few days after I do and it is a major reason to look forward to returning home. It is a significant work of art - a major and unexpected stretch for my pocketbook, but I will soon be turning 65 so it will be my present to myself. I think, were Chip alive, he would approve.
Can't wait to hear about Kenton.
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