So we fled the scene over the Presidents Day weekend, visiting Santa Fe and Taos.
We took the interstate down, and came back up through Taos.
Saturday morning our first stop was at the Farmer's Market, where we had a really good cinnamon roll and a bowl of atole served as a soup.
We visited one of our fave churches - more than a 'church,' actually - the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi.
San Miguel chapel was just down the street from our digs. It's the oldest Catholic church built in the United States. Its history goes back at least as far as 1628.
We visited Museum Hill, another of our faves, this time taking in the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. Our last visit saw us in the Museum of International Folk Art, arguably The Squeeze's fave so far. The Spanish Colonial Art museum was closed for a special event, so we missed that one this trip.
No visit to Santa Fe is complete without a bit of face-stuffing. We hit Tomasita's for a late lunch on Saturday, snuffling their most excellent chicken tacos and a veggie burrito. The Squeeze thought the veggie burrito was exceptionally well done, with grilled onion, peppers, squash, and refried beans. A lot of these highly touted eateries are overblown in reputation; Tomasita's always lives up to their billing. They also have a range of excellent margaritas. The building provides a great ambience as well.
Speaking of overblown ... Cafe Pasqual's falls into that category, despite one of the best moles we have ever tasted. Perhaps the best. However ... their carne asada was really bland, though it came with a very good guac. Add to that, that diners are packed in like sardines, and the 'Pasqual experience' comes out lacking a good deal.
The Shed's another hot spot. With a 2.5 hour wait for dinner we passed on that, going instead for a margarita, a rather decent El Cumbre Amber draft, and a bowl of chips and salsa. Excellent ambience with a boistrous dinner crowd, good service, and a fun time ... though the 'Sweet Heat' margarita was a bit on the weak side it was nonetheless quite good, with a jalapeno-salted rim that added a bit of a kick.
Given that The Squeeze is a shameless chocoholic and more than a bit of a chocolate snob, no visit to Santa Fe is complete without a stop at Kakawa Chocolates, where we slurped and snuffled our way through a couple of Jeffersonians.
And then we stopped by Miriam's Well School of Weaving, where The Squeeze lost her mind completely, albeit understandably given the range of fine yarns in stock.
On the way back, we stopped in Taos for a mid-morning breakfast. We tried Michael's despite it being low on our list of eateries. I've always found their Mexican dishes entirely too bland and lacking in imagination. With a 40 minute wait time, we opted for elseplace, with The Squeeze pointing out a little hole-in-the-wall outfit just south of the square on the main drag. Jalapeno's turned out to be a gem, with a chorizo breakfast burrito that far surpassed anything Michael's ever dreamed of turning out. The Squeeze went for a carne asada, which was also quite good. The green chile sauce on these dishes is perhaps one of the best we have ever snuffled.
With that, we hied for home, up through San Luis and Fort Garland and over La Veta Pass, pushed along by a gale-force tail wind that did wonders for gas mileage.
A good time was had by all.
