Strawbale Adventures: Summer

Summer is upon us. The cicadas are clicking away at their monotone love song. They shake and rattle and click away loudly. Sometimes, as I'm hiking along the trails, they scurry away when I brush past a tree near the trail. They startle me a bit with their rattling like a hollow rattle at the end of some serpents' tail. Mmmmmm.

The lobby of our hotel.

Last weekend Les and I went to Santa Fe. I love Santa Fe. We stayed at the El Dorado just off of the plaza. Then we walked everywhere. We strolled the plaza numerous times. We walked to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Rio Chama.

Santa Fe is magical. We strolled leisurely down streets that are literally centuries old. Felt plaster walls that had seen Spaniards and rebelling Indians and wars and now peace. Unfortunately, there are many, many tourists. But it still has such a feel of peace and harmony.

After dinner we were lead back to the Plaza by beautiful music. There was a marimba band, of all things! A group of young people playing hand-made marimbas of all sizes was rocking out to African inspired melodies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNQgXHJ1Nek We sat and listened and watched all of the beautiful people. We looked in the shops with all of the exquisite Southwestern Jewelry.

We stayed Friday and Saturday nights, then headed north on Sunday. We stopped in Taos and walked the plaza there. Then headed east. We considered spending an extra night out, but decided against it. We drove through the mountains toward home, stopping in Cimmaron New Mexico on the way. There's an old hotel there... the Saint James. It was built in the 1800's and was host to many people passing through. Outlaws, cowboys and lawmen stayed at the St. James. They had pictures of some of their guests and stories. I liked the story about the cowboy that was being obnoxious. Some other cowboys challenged him by betting him that he couldn't ride his horse along a 6 foot wall. He somehow got his horse up there but then someone fired his gun, spooking the horse. Both fell off the wall and both died.

After the undertaker went through the cowboy's pockets, he reported back to the judge. He found a pearl handled pistol that the judge gave to the sheriff. His clothes and boots were given to the undertaker and the $40 in his pocket the judge confiscated for himself. (For his trouble.) Then, he was buried at the town's expense.