We'll open a restaurant in Santa Fe...

I went away to Santa Fe for the weekend.  We took off Friday down I-25 in my amazing one-tank-wonder "The Shadow".  It has a sunroof, an iPod hookup and cruise control.  You pretty much just steer south and you're there in 5 hours 34 minutes.  You stop only for M&M's and to pee, and that better be the same stop. 

Autumn in Colorado is lovely.  But autumn in Santa Fe is heavenly.  It's all short-sleeved weather during the day, but at night it gets chilly and the coyotes howl.  There is definitely something about the high desert, it beckons and haunts you, but in a good way.  I've been to Santa Fe a handful of times, I have all kinds of favorite places, I get new ones every time, and people I like keep moving there... and getting second bedrooms. They are generous and I love them... a lot.

What didn't we do?  We laughed a lot.  We ate a lot.  I visited favorite spots and found some new ones, it was a good ol' time.  There's something about the combination of green chile, cheese and beans in a tortilla that just makes sense, but it only works in Santa Fe. 

Trust me, you're gonna want to go here.

 Then there was Trader Joe's, which feels so much like the cave of wonders.  Listen, pumpkin butter is the 8th wonder of the world.  It is amazing stirred into steel cut oatmeal.  I'm just saying, but I'm not sharing.  And autumn adobe kinda looks pumpkiny... way to let your Fall Freak Flag Fly, Santa Fe!

So what do I take away from this weekend getaway, I mean, besides the pumpkin butter?  I take away the peace of knowing that my cousin is well, that her husband is awesome, a new bunch of beads (Tesuque flea market...check it), a revived Chaco tan, and some renewed spicyness.  Hopefully that will carry me on to Thanksgiving.  Sometimes life is medium, but you gotta know that you can handle the hot.

Fall-orado rocky mountain high

Autumn in Colorado is the perfect antidote to bitterness, writer's block, malaise, and general yuck. 

 Right?  Can't you hear John Denver singing?  No?  Well skip to the next song on the player above... there you go...

 It was a lovely day up in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Fortunately, all the tourists were down in town at the Elk Festival wandering the main drag looking for the perfect caramel corn and waiting to hear an elk's mating call.  Boat missed?  Possibly. 

After a lunch of cheddar sandwiches and honeycrisp apples, we started off for a short wander through the woods on the boundary of RMNP.  Dad had been there before, (obviously... there are few places within 20 miles of Estes Park that my dad hasn't been... trust me) but we got to see the fall foliage at its finest.

Me and my dad

 I knew today was gonna be the day I celebrated fall.  I just knew that after this craptastic week, I needed a remedy.  I needed to drive up to Estes with my pumpkin latte and my iPod blasting and my sunroof fully open.  It worked. 

It worked really well.  Thank you, Colorado.