Discovering Eastern New Mexico

Discovering Eastern New Mexico

As you know if you’ve been following the blog, I’m a chile fanatic.  This time of year, everwhere in New Mexico is featuring Hatch Chiles, and Vicky has agreed to humor me by taking us to the annual Hatch Chile Festival this year. 


We’re staying for four nights at Caballo Lakes State Park just off I-25.  For the first 3 nights we almost have the place to ourselves.  We’re close to the lake, in an area with trees and open spaces, and with a full hook-up.  NM State Parks have to be the best value, with full hook-ups at the same price our would pay for no connections in a National Park.  There’s not a lot going on in the park, which is fine with us as we’ve come for the solitude.


The journey here was easy, passing the White Sands Missile Range and turning north just north of Las Cruces (which will be our next stop).  This is part of the Camino Real, the Royal Road used by the Spanish explorers.  We’re following the Rio Grande at this point.  Our first evening is a quiet one, exploring the park and looking (unsuccessfully) for the source of the deer droppings we see in the campgrounds.


We’re only about 20 miles from Truth of Consequences which, I discover, was named Hot Springs before adopting the name of the TV show in 1950.  I discover that Riverbend Hot Springs offers private tubs overlooking the Rio Grande at a reasonable rate, so we spend a relaxing hour in our own spa bath.  Vicky spends quite a bit of the time sitting on the deck between dips.  I also get out of the water a few times, but not as much as Vicky.  I will regret this decision later as I start to feel faint while taking my shower afterwards, but fortunately the nausea passes quickly.


There’s not a lot to do in “T or C”, as the 1,500 locals call it, but we do find a local restaurant with great chile cheeseburgers, and then spend the afternoon in the Geronimo Springs Museum.  This features about 15 rooms of exhibits from a pioneer cabin to historical features on the Apaches, and there troubles in the 19^th Century.  There’s a whole section on Ralph Edwards and the Truth of Consequences TV show.  In 1950 the show reached its 10^th Anniversary and Edwards offered to host the show in a town if it would change its name.  He was more than generous, becoming a local celebrity and visiting the town regularly for over 25 years.  The museum features mementoes of those years including a movie hosted by Edwards.  The movie includes a segment from the show, which I never remember seeing.


We enjoy a quiet day at the park, then decide to visit Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, which we saw on a sign off I 25.  It turns out to be 100 miles each way, so we are going to make a full day of it.  I check the gas tank in the car and discover we need to fill up first.  There are no gas stations near the park, but Vicky finds one at an RV park a few miles up the road.  I pull in and the price – over $1 per gallon more than anywhere else – floors me, so we decide to fill up at one of the small towns along the way.


The road takes us across the desert and up into the mountains – very scenic but also very twisty and in places narrow.  We take it easy and enjoy the journey, but by the time we come to the last small town that might have a gas station, we’ve decided that if there’s no gas here we’ll use Plan B and detour to Silver City.  We will up there and although we cold still go to the Cliff Dwellings, we’ll be too late for the ranger tour so we decide to check out Silver City instead.


This turns out to be an inspired decision.  We know ahead of time that Billy the Kid grew up here after his family left NYC, and right next to the Visitor Center is a log cabin.  Although it’s on the site where The Kid lived, his mother’s cabin was torn down in 1884.  This one was brought to the site by director Ron Howard for a movie shoot, and he donated it to the town.  So we’re still following the young outlaw!


But that’s not the big discovery.  Right behind the Visitor Center is “The Big Ditch”, a 50 foot canyon created in the late 19^th Century by major floods of the river which wiped out the town’s Main Street.  The story is that early settlers cut down all the trees in the high country surrounding the town.  This left an open channel for the spring high waters that had previously been absorbed by the forest, hence the devastation.


The city’s main street is now one block back from the Ditch, and armed with a pamphlet describing the history of many of the buildings, we spend a fun hour or tow learning about the “old west” architecture as well as some of the colorful characters in the town’s past.  Were also able to check out some of the stores and meet many of the friendly locals – they’re so friendly, in fact, that we’ll just leaving one store after 20 minutes or so inside when the owner turns up – we had the place to ourselves until then.


We enjoy coffee and another of those green chile cheeseburgers, then retrace our steps to the campground.  We’ve come so far west that we’re only 50 miles or so from Deming, which we’re visiting next week, but it would be along detour to go back to the park that way, so we get to enjoy the mountain ride again.  Don’t think I mentioned the 3 deer we saw at the highest point on the road on our way here.  Well, on the way back, the same 3 deer, who ran away when our car approached, are there again, and get to repeat the retreat!


Next morning it’s time to leave.  Just a short drive takes us to Las Cruces where we’ll spend the next 2 nights, but having settled into the campground there we hop in the car and head back up  I-25 to Hatch for the afore mentioned Festival.  Their advertising says that 30,000 people come for the 2 day Festival.  WE drive through the town passing many places where we can buy the local crop, and pay the $20 admission fee to the “Festival”.  Thanks, Vicky, for indulging me, but on reflection I wish we’d just bought some peppers in town.


The Festival is on the grounds of the local airport.  If the airport has runways or a terminal building, we don’t see them.  Nor do we see any source of shade, and it’s a hot day.  There are 2 performance stages.  We’ve just missed a ventriloquist at one of them, and the next act, a singer, is among the missing.  WE walk through the vendor area (lots of spices in jars and packets, as well as other stalls unrelated to the chile theme) and find the other stage.  There’s a food place next to the stage so we share an expensive plate of boring chile cheese fries while listening to an average Country Western band.


Time to return to Las Cruces, and I still didn’t get the chiles I wanted.  As we’re heading for the exit I do manage to get a large bag of hot peppers for $2 and a small bag of roasted chiles for $1.  So all is not lost!  But I did get to attend the celebration.  If we come to this area next year I think we’ll just come into town to buy the chiles and leave!


Our park in Las Cruces is pleasant and shaded.  We had planned to go to the Farm and Ranch Museum but many of the exhibits are outside and it’s hot, so we’ll save that for a cooler day.  We spend Sunday shopping for supplies and take in a movie, enjoying some quiet time.

White Sands on Earth, Exploration of the Moon

White Sands on Earth, Exploration of the Moon

It’s a short drive down US70 from Ruidoso to Alamogordo, but in coming off the mountain it’s a huge change in climate.  Temperatures are close to 100 degrees F but since we have 50-amp electricity we’re able to use the AC to keep cool.


There are two reasons we came here – White Sands National Monument and The Space Museum.  The “white sands” are actually gypsum deposits washed down from the neighboring mountains and ground into a sandy consistency.  We get our first view coming down the mountain and it’s awesome – a layer of white stretching across most of the vista, beyond the city of Alamogordo.  After settling into our campground we drive the 17 miles south of town to the Monument and head into the (air conditioned – thank goodness) Visitor Center. 


We learn about the formation of the sands along with the geological history of the area from exhibits, a movie and Brenna, a ranger.  We’re so excited about this place and about learning more that we talk to Brenna about volunteer positions and discover they’re available, especially during the summer.  We also find that Brenna is leading a “sunset walk” into the dunes that evening.  We’d been planning on joining that walk and this strengthens our resolve.


We drive into the monument.  The Visitor Center is right on the edge of the gypsum dunes and, even after watching the movie, I’m not prepared for the views of white “mountains” right next to the road.  At one point we stop and I try to climb one of the dunes.  Wearing just my sneakers I lose about 6 inches for every foot I climb.  People are taking plastic “sleds” and riding down the dunes.  It’s tempting to join them, but since it’s very hot and also bright with the sun reflecting off the white gypsum, I decide not getting a sunburn trumps sledding and give it a pass.


We continue to the end of the road (it’s a loop) and on the way back we both get out and walk up one of the smaller dunes and enjoy the views and the ambiance – like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

We’re back at the Sunset Stroll starting point by 6:30pm and enjoy a very informative hour long walk with Ranger Brenna and about 15 other people.  We go up and down several dunes, spotting animal tracks and trying to identify them, and learning more about the plants and animals that survive in this arid environment.  For me, one of the highlights is when Brenna makes us all close our eyes while she strikes the sand, making a hole no more than a foot deep.  In the hole is water, which we find out has been tested and is about 200 years old.  If you go down further you can find water that’s been there since prehistoric times!


The stroll complete, we drive out of the Monument and back to Alamogordo, where I enjoy an “only in New Mexico” Green Chile Lasagna for dinner.


Sunday is our day for the space museum.  It includes a Planetarium and Cinema where we start our visit by watching 3 presentations back to back.  Planetariums usually put me to sleep, but this one holds my attention.  There’s a show about the night sky.  The projectionist starts by showing us the parking lot where we just entered, and the sky above it.  She then advances the time and we get to watch sunset, moonrise and identify stars and constellations.  She’s even able to rotate the sky so we can see what’s behind us!  I’ve always felt that the people who named the constellations were either drunk or crazy as I can’t make out the shapes, but this show helps me identify many constellations.

Between shows we’ve able to see an exhibit of photos of various locations on earth taken from space, as well as descriptive photos of the Mars rover, an ingenious device that is sending back pictures of the surface of the red planet.


A movie on Black Holes takes us inside one, and includes an explanation of the Einsteinian physics behind them.  As Vicky says afterwards “I still don’t understand them” – I’m not sure anyone really does, but the movie was entertaining. 


But it’s the last movie that we both agree is the best.  It’s about the Apollo 11 flight – the first landing on the moon.  While, like us, you’ve probably seen pictures and even videos about this, this is the most comprehensive documentary I’ve ever seen.  It takes us from the beginning of the preparations, through the buildup to the launch, including shots of the three astronauts with the families they left behind.  We see the countdown and takeoff, and scenes from inside the spacecraft as it travels a quarter of a million miles.  We see the undocking of the lunar module and the moon landing, both from the point of view of the astronauts and from the command center in Houston.

The shots of the activity on the moon are familiar, but as they take off and reconnect the lunar module with the command module, I’m almost biting my nails even though I know there’s a happy ending.  It’s amazing how they were able to rendezvous, let alone connect these two small objects in the vastness of space.  Later we share the anticipation of the ground crew as communication with the capsule is lost during re-entry; watch as the recovery ship travels to the splashdown point in the ocean, which had been moved several hundred miles because of weather; and see the smiling astronauts exit the capsule after it’s brought onto the ship.


An amazing movie – in fact 3 great shows – and we haven’t set foot in the museum itself yet.  We raid the vending machines for lunch (there’s no cafeteria) and start to tour the exhibits.  We see everything from the earliest rockets up to the latest exploration ships, and also pictures and biographies of the pioneers – from Copernicus to the latest astronauts – who have been inducted into the Space Hall of Fame.  We’re able to experience take off in various types of rockets (much tamer than the real thing, I’m sure) and to try landing a space ship using a simulator.  Even on the simplest level we both manage to crash it.  I also get to try on a NASA flight suit!


One whole floor of the museum is devoted to the latest inductee into the Hall of Fame – Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek.  It includes some of the innovations from that show that have actually become real in recent years, as well as an explanation why some – like “Beam me up, Scottie” will probably never be possible.  We spend at least an hour just on this exhibit, and are the last to leave before the museum closes.


Tomorrow we move on, but there’s much more to see in Alamogordo.  We’re both going to pursue volunteering at White Sands, and look forward to spending more time in this area.

Cool Mountains, Fast Horses, a Kid and a Bear

Cool Mountains, Fast Horses, a Kid and a Bear

It’s only 70 miles or so from Roswell to Ruidoso, but the difference in terrain is striking.  Roswell is on the short grass prairie while Ruidoso is in the mountains.  Our main reason for coming here is to enjoy Quarter Horse Racing at Ruidoso Downs, the only place in North America that has separate tracks for quarter horses and for thoroughbreds.  In case you don’t know, quarter horses are actually whole horses, not just one fourth of a horse.  They are the staple mount of cowboys and ranchers and the name comes from the fact that they can run very fast for a quarter of a mile.


We discover that Ruidoso Downs is not just the name of the track, but also the name of a town separate from the village of Ruidoso where we’re staying.  (Isn’t it amazing what you learn from my blog?)  We’re able to get tickets for the Jockey Club, which gets us seats right at the finish line, with food and beverage brought right to our seats.  The quarter horse races are over in a flash (only 300 or 400 yards) but many of the 10 races are for thoroughbreds and are longer, and we spend an enjoyable afternoon watching the races and enjoying the mountain scenery around the track.


But there’s more.  The highway through this area is known as “Billy the Kid Trail” and we spend a day following it and learning more about young Mr. McCarty.  This is Lincoln County, and we visit the town of Lincoln where in the 1880s a war broke out as a result of a fight between the owners of two mercantile stores in town.  “The House” had been opened by Irish immigrants and the owners, Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan, enjoyed a monopoly and controlled the town’s administration.

Enter a young Englishman, John Tunstall, who opens his own store on the other side of the street a few blocks down.  It’s not long before Mr.Tunstall is shot and killed by a posse.  He’s guilty of nothing but opening a store.  His followers, including Billy the Kid, decide to seek justice for him, and not in a peaceful way.  The town gets to the point where it’s not safe even to cross the street in broad daylight.  Despite this, the only person who’s every charged as a result of the wars is young Billy.  He does get away but is caught and brought to the town jail after being sentenced to hang.


The Tunstall store still looks much as it did in the 19^th Century and I enjoy investigating every artifact while Vicky learns more of the story from a docent.  The other store (The House) which was forced to close, became the county courthouse and is also open to visitors.  It’s here where The Kid was confined, and we learn the story of his escape, killing two deputies as he left.  We even see a hole in the stairwell wall supposedly made by one of his bullets.


Despite the violence of the past, this is now a very tranquil and beautiful mountain valley and we enjoy the drive.  Also on this loop is the town of Capitan, famous as the home of Smokey the Bear.  In case you don’t know the story, in 1946 the National Park Service, worried about forest fires, invented a mascot – a friendly bear named Smokey.  He was just that – a creation of an advertising firm.  A couple of years later, firefighters working on a blaze in the Capitan mountains came across a small bear cub, badly burned, clinging to a tree.  They rescued him, originally naming him “Hotfoot”.  Vets were able to cure him and he was eventually transferred to the National Zoo in Washington DC where he became the “real” Smokey the Bear.  He was taken to schools across the country and became quite a celebrity.  When he died, his remains were returned to Capitan and he’s buried on the grounds of a small museum that thells his story, and that of his counterparts in other countries, animals who symbolize fire safety.


We only have a couple of nights in Ruidoso, but it’s definitely another place we want to return to.

Aliens are not Green, Navajo don’t belong in New Mexico!

Aliens are not Green, Navajo don’t belong in New Mexico!

A 200-mile drive today proves easy since it’s straight down US285 which is mostly a divided highway and could have been built by the Romans (almost no curves!)

It takes us through several New Mexico counties including Lincoln County, at the border of which are two 20 feet high cowboys watching each other threateningly.  I get out to investigate but there’s nothing written on them but the artist’s signature.  We’ll find out later that they were completed recently in memory of two brothers who were not the best of friends!  However, the placing is appropriate since Lincoln County was the site of famous wars in the 19^th Century, of which more later.


Our destination is Bottomless Lakes State Park, New Mexico’s oldest State Park.  We’re pleasantly surprised not only with the location but the fact that we have a full hookup for the RV and the cost is no more than we’d pay for a basic site in most other states!  The lakes are not actually bottomless, but were named that by soldiers who were unable to find the bottom.  They’re sink holes!  Our camp site is very close to a lake, giving us excellent sunset views and a great swim, and we almost have the park to ourselves for most of our stay.


We’re 17 miles outside of Roswell, where a young farmer claimed that an alien spaceship landed on his property in the late 1940’s.  The town trades on this, with “aliens” everywhere including in the Visitor Center, and several stores selling alien paraphernalia.  Most of it is rather kitschy, to be honest, but we spend an entertaining couple of hours at the International UFO Museum, which tells the story of the Roswell landing and other alien encounters.  The aliens were small and hairless with large heads, but they were not green.


The exhibits are very persuasive and point to a cover up by the US government.  The farmer originally reported a crashed ship with 5 aliens, one of whom was still alive.  He retrieved a piece of very strong but pliable metal from the ship (there’s a sample in the museum) which six like nothing seen on earth at that time.  By the time the farmer was interviewed by the local radio station he had been visited by the military and refused to confirm the story.  There are sworn affidavits from people at the radio station alleging that they were told by the State Department and the New Mexico senior senator that if they continued to talk about this, they would lose their license “within 3 days”.

In fact, the story was kept secret for many years, and it was only when local residents started to compare stories told late in life by eye witnesses who had no connection with each other that it became clear that something had happened back in the 1940’s and the government didn’t want anyone to know about it.  That much appears to be true, but whether there really was an alien ship that crashed and the “cover up” was because, as one official stated, :we don’t want people to think there’s something we don’t know how to handle” or whether it was simply some secret government test (this was during the Cold War) is still a mystery since the data is still classified.


Leaving the museum, we find a shop with home made ice cream in interesting flavors like violet and (for me) raspberry habanero.  After a shipping expedition we have an early dinner – great steak with a sumptuous salad bar – at the Cattle Baron, the local outpost of a New Mexico chain.

We enjoy a quiet day at the park, and then use the car to retrace part of our journey to visit Fort Sumter.  This is famous for two reasons.  It’s the place where Billy the Kid was shot dead by Pat Garrett (who was not a US Marshall at the time, we learn).  The town has an interesting Museum where we learn the life story of W. Henry McCarty, the New York City boy who came west with his mother and stepfather and who became the famous outlaw.  As we continue to travel Southern New Mexico we’ll learn more about the Kid, and visit other places where he lived.  This wasn’t part of our plan, but as with Lewis and Clark last summer, it seems we’re following his trail.  One thing is clear.  The Kid was certainly a vicious killer, but he was educated, well read, handsome and charming and was well liked by many who met him, including the local Indians who he championed.


While there might be two sides to the story of Billy, there is only one side to Fort Sumter, which is the reason we came.  We know from our time in Arizona that in the 19^th Century the Navajo were forced to leave their traditional lands and walk over 200 miles to the “Bosque Redondo Reservation “.  Fort Sumter (or rather the area around it) is the site of that reservation.  While the soldiers and their families enjoyed (relative) comfort in the fort buildings, the Navajo were forced to pitch their tents in an area where nothing would grow.  As we found, summer temperatures can top 90 degrees, and we heard that winter brought biting winds and snow.

Many Navajo perished on the walk, and during the 2 years they spent at Fort Sumter.  This was an “experiment” conducted by one General James Cameron and his willing assistant Colonel Kit Carson.  The general was eventually replaced and the Navajo were “allowed” to go home.  Many more died on the walk home.  To make matters worse, the Mescalero Apache from western New Mexico were also forced onto the same reservation.  These people, form two totally different cultures, were forced to live together.  The Apache actually escaped one night and made it back to their homeland.


We learn all this from the excellent exhibits in the Visitor Center.  It’s not a part od American History to be proud of, but it IS a part of history to learn from.


We return to the campsite, stopping for another ice cream, and prepare for our short journey to the mountains tomorrow.

The meeting of cultures, where the Plains meet the High Desert

The meeting of cultures, where the Plains meet the High Desert

We have a short journey from Pojoaque, north of Santa Fe to an RV park near Pecos, just south of the
city.  The shortest route would be straight thru town, but since it’s the start of their annual Indian Market and the town is packed, we take the Relief Route (New Mexican for By-Pass or Ring Road) and make the trip in about 4 minutes.


The reason for this short stop on our journey to southern New Mexico (our new region to explore this year) is to visit Pecos National Park.  This is located right where the Great Plains (Prairies) meet the High Desert and was the ancestral home of the pueblo people, a highly sophisticated society who traded with the different nations (tribes) from East and West.  It was a true meeting of cultures, as evidenced by the wide variety of archeological treasures discovered during the last hundred years.  Items from the Pacific Coast as well as the Northern Plains have been found.


The settlement, consisting of two principal areas with large living complexes (now one story but originally up to 4) and several ceremonial kivas (underground pits), was surrounded by a low wall parts of which are still visible.  It sits in a strategic high position with sweeping views in all directions and the wall, which delineates the borders of the settlement, was not to stop invaders from getting in (they could have stepped over it!) but probably to shield defenders.


This was, as I said, a sophisticated society.  But the Spanish explorers and friars had other ideas.  There don’t appear to have been a lot of battles in the area, but there was obviously a concerted effort to convert the Pueblo people to Christianity.  There are remains, in varying states of decay, of three different churches on the same site, interestingly oriented in different directions.  One was largely destroyed during the Pueblo Revolt, when the various groups in Northern New Mexico successfully drove out the Spaniards for 10 years.  The others simply decayed over time.


The visitor center and the interpretive guide are full of interesting historical details.  We feel this area is worth an extended visit in efuture years.

The contemporary town of Pecos is quite small, but we have an inexpensive but tasty Mexican lunch (tacos for me) before visiting the historic site, and to cool down afterwards we visit Dairy Queen for the first time in years, reinforcing our belief that the best ice cream is found in local stores rather than national chains.t


This is a worthwhile stopover and tomorrow we head for Roswell to investigate the aliens many believe crashed there in the 1940’s.  Stay tuned!

Our annual Musical Culture Week

Our annual Musical Culture Week

We start by leaving the RV in White Rock and driving the car down to the Santa Fe Opera House for their weekly “Opera Insiders” session.  After coffee and donuts we meet Adam Franklin, the artistic administrator for the opera, who fills us in on his role taking care of physical arrangements and day to day needs of the opera singers and apprentices.  It’s not a part of the opera you would normally think about, but the talk, and ensuing Q&A session, is fascinating.  After the talk we’re split into smaller grous and given a backstage tour, including the costume and scenery shops as well as a view of the orchestra pits and the elevators used for entrances from the floor of the stage.  A very entertaining, and totally free experience, after which we drive back to White Rock, hitch the car to the RV, and move to our home for the next week.

It’s a short drive to Pojoaque so we’re soon settled into the RV park.  We drive the car down to Whole Foods in Santa Fe to stock up on essentials like bread, cheese and pate for tailgating before the opera.  We notice that what was a building site just north of the Opera House last year is now a new casino.  Not something that would normally excite us, but this one is advertising a jazz brunch on Sunday, sp we add that to our “to do” list.

After a quiet evening we do take in said jazz brunch.  It gives us a choice of entrée while listening to a good live jazz trio, and unlike many casinos, this one is bright and cheerful.  Vicky enjoys a Shrimp Cobb Salad” including huge grilled shrimp and what she describes as a great avocado dressing.  For me, an “only in New Mexico” Green Chile Eggs Benedict, with perfect poached eggs, runny-yolked just the way I like them, plus ham and the promised chiles, accompanied by great hash brown potatoes.

We relax for the afternoon then head down to the Opera House.  Today is “Apprentice Scenes”, a series of 7 or 8 fully staged opera scenes featuring the stars of tomorrow – young opera singers (and technicians) in their late twenties who have survived a rigorous audition process and who spend the summer playing minor roles in the mainstage productions and learning from seasoned professionals.  The quality is always excellent and we enjoy everything from Wagner’s Ring to the final scene of “Carmen”. 

But the highlight for both of us is a scene from “Gianni Schicchi”, past of a trilogy of one act operas by Puccini.  It’s a delightful comedy about a group of family members concerned that their deceased uncle has left his huge fortune to some monks.  They ask the title character to help them, even though some of the family believe he’s “beneath” them socially.  To make things more complicated, the youngest son is in love with Gianni’s daughter.  The whole thing, as presented here, is a rollicking farce, interrupted by the beautiful soprano aria O mio babbino caro (O My Beloved Father), where Gianni’s daughter is trying to persuade her father to help the family and let her marry.

For the next 5 days we’ll see a different opera each night, while enjoying the charms of northern New Mexico and visiting with our friend Michelle and her beautiful wolf Gracie.  Monday’s opera is “La Boheme”, which we’ve seen many times.  The highlight of this production is the staging – realistic Paris scenery, with each act set in a different season.  Seeing soprano Gabriella Reyes as Musetta enter on ice skates was definitely a special moment, and of course all the singing was superb.

Tuesday is Mozart’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” (So are all women) a politically incorrect story about rogue who bets two young soldiers that he can prove that their beloved fiancées will be unfaithful if given the chance.  He forces each of the soldiers to woo the other’s fiancée.  The original setting called for disguise using masks, but his director uses almost a bare stage and no disguises at all.  As the plot progresses, one of the girls gives in immediately, while the other holds out until finally succumbing in the 3^rd act.  The ending is ambiguous and the music not Mozart’s most memorable, but it does provide another interesting, and fun evening.

Wednesday is a world premiere of “The Thirteenth Child”, by Danish composer Poul Ruders and American librettists Becky and David Starabin.  The plot is based on “The Twelve Brothers”, one of the less famous fairy tales published by the Brothers Grimm.  The music is modern and largely atonal with a few good melodies.  The first act, setting up the situation, dragged a little.  A king and his wife have 12 sons and she is about to give birth.  The king, who’s been convinced by a scheming regent from a nearby kingdom that his sons are planning to kill him, decrees that if the new child is a girl the boys will all be executed and the girl will inherit.  With mother’s help the boys run away to the forest, and of course the new baby is a girl, who also ends up being sent away.

The second act, in which the sister finds her brothers and everything ends up “happily ever after” is much more fast moving and kept us awake and rooting for the downfall of the villain.  It’s always an interesting part of the Santa Fe experience to see a new opera, and while this didn’t compare in quality with what we’ve seen in previous years (Cold Mountain, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and Doctor Atomic) we definitely enjoyed the production on balance.

Leos Janacek’s “Jenufa” on Thursday is the highlight of the week.   I took my drama students to this opera in New Zealand and they were blown away.   This production doesn’t disappoint and Vicky declares afterwards that this is her favorite opera.  The heroine spends the first act worrying that her handsome fiancé Steva is about to be called up to the army, meaning that they will have to postpone the wedding.  This would be embarrassing as she’s pregnant and hasn’t told anyone.  Steva’s more homely younger brother Laca, who has loved Jenufa since they were children, tells her that Steva only loves her because she’s beautiful.  They get into an argument, which turns physical, and Jenufa’s face is cut (accidentally) by a knife that Laca has been using in his work.

Steva is not inducted into the army and turns up drunk.  He’s chased off by Jenufa’s stepmother but not before it’s become apparent that he no longer loves her.   After the intermission Jenufa has the baby and her stepmother, who has kept her secluded and told everyone she’s gone away, murders the child.

There’s a powerful ending that I won’t spoil for you.  If you’ve never attended an opera, like most of my students, this superbly crafted (and acted) drama, accompanied by lyrical Bohemian style music, will be a perfect introduction.  This provides a lot of post opera discussion for us, and will for you.

Our final operatic treat is Georges Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers”, which is new to us.  It’s another timely plot, involving two men who, when younger, had both been in love with the same girl.  To preserve their friendship, they both renounced her.  Then they went their separate ways.  Now, one of the men is the “king” of a group of pearl fishers off the coast of a (fictionalized) Ceylon.  The other man turns up at the same time as a mysterious “princess” who the pearl fishers believe will keep them safe from storms as long as she concentrates on her job and stays alone on a rock.

Of course, it’s the girl from the past, and things get complicated when she and the non-fisherman recognize and still have strong feelings for each other.  This is one of Bizet’s earlier works and doesn’t have the “timeless” music that characterizes “Carmen”, but it’s still highly melodious, and with a strongly dramatic plot, makes for another thought-provoking experience.  A great ending to our week of opera.

While I’ve concentrated on the musical evenings in this post, we also enjoy a relaxing day at the spa pools at Ojo Caliente, which I talked about last year, and a wonderful lunch with Michelle in Ciimayo, a restaurant in a 100 year old house with traditional Mexican recipes.  I had feather lite sopapillas stuffed with pork and spices.  They also give you plain sopapillas for the table with honey for dipping, in the traditional Mexican way.  Maybe I should have been born Mexican!

Theater, a caldera, a boarding school and bombs

Theater, a caldera, a boarding school and bombs

Thingamajig Players in Pagosa Springs entertains us with the musical “Jeckyl & Hyde”, based on R.L. Stevenson’s 19^th Century novel about a scientist who believes he can separate the good and bad parts of a person’s personality.  When his research proposal is rejected by a committee of academics he performs experiments on himself, producing the homicidal Mr. Edward Hyde, who proceeds to murder most of the committee.

The musical adds not one, but two romantic interests to Stevenson’s’ story – a girl who Jeckyl is engaged to marry, and a prostitute who he befriends.  Not exactly a happy “Rodgers & Hammerstein” type musical, but a very entertaining and well-acted production.  This is the second show we’ve seen from this company, and if you find yourself in Pagosa, I recommend you check them out.

We spend 4 days in the national forest campground, enjoying a couple of meals in town but otherwise just relaxing, after which we forge a new (for us) route to Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico, traveling through the village of Chama (one end of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad), where we savor huge (and delicious) hamburgers and fries for lunch at the High Country restaurant – another strong recommendation.  This route is much more scenic than the one we took last year.  We follow US84 all the way from Pagosa Springs to Espanola, NM, enjoying high desert scenery, and little traffic.

I get a nasty shock as we’re heading to our campsite at Bandelier National Monument – you can’t reserve sites there.  I probably knew this last year but have forgotten.  Vicky does know this but, as she puts it “It’s never full”.  Well, she’s right that it isn’t full, but it has no sites that will fit our RV. Unless you’re camping, Bandelier can only be reached by a free shuttle bus from the town of White Rock, but we’ve driven the 8 miles of winding, steep mountain roads to the campsite, and have to retrace our steps.  I’m not too gracious about this.  Fortunately, there are sites at the Visitor Center in White Rock with electric hookups, and we’re able to spend 2 nights there.

Next morning we get an early start to drive to the Valdes Caldera National Monument, where we arrived last year after closing time.  It’s a huge extinct volcano and they only allow 35 cars to follow the roads each day, so you have to get there early (or so we’d been told!).  On the way, after climbing up a steep cliff in the car, we pass a sign saying “Elk” and showing an elk standing still (as opposed to the deer signs that show them leaping!).  I comment to Vicky that I’ve never seen an elk standing in the road, drive round a curve and stop for – you guessed it – two elk standing in the road!  They unconcernedly walk off to join their buddies at the side of the road – some very impressive racks of antlers on the stags.  A great start to the day!

Turns out we’re car number 5 at the Monument and the ranger tells us they’ve never run out of permits so far this year as they re-issue them after people check back in at the Visitor Center!

The parking lot is full of cute prairie dogs which gives us an entertaining half hour, after which we do drive to the end of the road and back.  This takes us past some cabins (they were part of a ranch before the government took over the land), though the caldera to the point where we can see the opposite (north) rim.  We have the place virtually to ourselves, but meet ground squirrels, prairie dogs, a coyote, a hawk (very close to the road and not at all afraid of us) and perhaps most surprisingly, a herd of cows which, as we find out later, is left over from ranching days.

When we reach the end of the road a light rain starts, and as we’d seen forecasts of storms later in the day, we don’t stop long.  We make it back to the Visitor Center (sunny, of course) in late morning and visit with the prairie dogs for a time, then head down the hill  to Los Alamos for the second time in 2 years.

Last year we spent almost all our time in the Bradbury Museum, which details the development of the atomic bombs during World War II.  It’s fascinating, so we spent hours there, pausing only for lunch and a walk around the historic buildings.  This year we start with the National Park Visitor Center, enjoying a film detailing the inhabitants of the area from prehistoric times to the present day, and after a passable lunch at a Thai fast food joint we visit the museums in town, learning more about the pueblo people, the day to day life of the people in the days of the “secret city”, and more recent developments.  There are plenty of artifacts and stories.  In particular I’m fascinated by the history of the boys’ boarding school that was dispossessed in 1942 to make room for the scientists.  The boys got a superb education from recent graduates, and survived a rugged lifestyle including sleeping outside on the porch all year.  (This area has lots of snow in winter and very hot summers!).  Better them than me!  We also learn of fast friendships that developed between the pueblo people and the Manhattan Project staff – a great bridge across vastly different cultures.

We return to Quill and the RV in White Rock, and next morning take the short trip to Roadrunner RV in Pojoaque, north of Santa Fe, our home for the next 7 days as we enjoy the opera.  This post is getting long, so I’ll add start a new

A Visit to Lake Powell - and More

A Visit to Lake Powell – and more

In taking the RV to Cedar City we’ve always used Route 89A through Jacob Lake, as we did this year.  Now we need to retrace part of this route but both agree that the road down from Jacob Lake to Vermillion Cliffs would be scary, if not dangerous for us due to the steep, curvy road, sometimes with little shoulder before a drop-off.

So we choose the alternate route along US89 which parallels the UT/AZ border on the Utah side, eventually passing over the Glen Canyon dam which created Lake Powell.  We stay overnight in Page, just beyond the dam, and having arrived early decide to take an evening cruise along the lake.  The scenery is spectacular, multicolored crags and wide lake vistas - that is until the threatening storm – thunder, lightening and heavy rain – catches up with us.  We lead a quick retreat from the open-air observation deck and get good seats in the covered cabin.

Of course, I have the only window that leaks, but the staff mop up the leak with towels and when the wind changes the leak stops.  The rain prevents me from taking any pictures, but after it stops there are some great cloud formations and we’re able to enjoy the cliffs with twilight illumination.  The interplay of colors on the rocks is magical, and we agree that despite the rain, this was a worthwhile trip.  There are longer boat tours on Lake Powell and we’ll definitely be back to see more.  My only regret is not seeing any animals.

After a dinner of “nouveau southwestern” food and a night in the campground we return to Cottonwood for a week’s stay.  Vicky returns to the Park Model to meet our new tenant and prepare the place for her, while Quill and I have some bonding time.  I’m able to do some water aerobics each morning, mostly having the pool to myself except on the weekend.

The surprising thing about this stay in Cottonwood is that we’re down in Section A, close to the pool but also low down and close to the river.  I don’t expect to get cell phone or internet coverage, and I have to take an online class.  This isn’t a problem as the park has a rec center next to the pool, which has free WIFI.  But it turns out I don’t even need that – our site, despite the low elevation, has cell phone and internet reception.

Vicky returns fairly late on Friday, but we still take the time to head into town for dinner – an Italian steakhouse, of all things, with food we decide needs to be further explored next time we’re in town.

Now we’re off again – following highway 260 up the Mogollon Rim, stopping for lunch at the little country café in Happy Jack, then on to Winslow, site of the “repair” to the first car transmission last year.  We’re both pleased we don’t have to stop there this year, and get on I-40.  As always it seems to take forever before we arrive in New Mexico, but once we do it’s only 20 miles or so to our overnight stop in Gallup.

An early (for us) start the next morning takes us up the lonely but ruggedly scenic road from Gallup to Shiprock, then over to Farmington and up to Aztec, where we’ll be volunteering next Fall at Aztec Ruins National Monument.  I described this when we discovered it last year, but just to remind you, while it is the site of many buildings from the Pueblo culture 800 years ago, it has no connection with the Aztecs of Mexico, who never made it this far north.

It’s cool to do this trip together this year – last year we went back and forth on these roads between Winslow and Pagosa Springs with our car and rental cars, driving separately until we could return the rental car to Farmington Airport (which has no scheduled flights, just car rentals and private planes!).  This year we’re able to share our discoveries of the scenery.

The final leg of this trip, just like last year, takes us to Pagosa Springs, Colorado.  Last year we had a week here waiting for the car to be fixed.  This year we simply spend a few nights at the East Fork campground outside town.  In the next episode I’ll tell you about a very dark play we see, as well as our other activities and our expedition to Santa Fe.

Canyon, Amphitheater and Bard

Canyon, Amphitheater and Bard

Just like last year, we visited Cedar City Utah for the Shakespeare Festival.  A lot of this will duplicate what I wrote last year so I’ll just highlight the differences.

We traveled from Cottonwood to Jacob Lake for a 2-night stay.  Took a short hike round the area near the campground.  Not a lot of wildlife but great views.  We also enjoyed the tasty homemade cookies at the Jacob Lake Lodge, and drove down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  It’s always quieter there than at the South Rim, but this year there weren’t a lot of people.  A walked along the rim a little way and had a picnic lunch, then drove out to a more remote area where there’s an easy nature trail leading to spectacular views of a natural arch.   We made friends with a Canadian man and his teenage son, and recommended our favorite restaurant near Cedar City, which we later found they’d visited.

Unlike last year we had not problems getting up the hill from Vermillion Cliffs to Jacob Lake, and the journey from there to Cedar Breaks was uneventful.  We pulled in to our favorite spot in the National Forest to find another RV already camped there.  This wouldn’t have been a problem – it’s a big area – but the woman was very unfriendly, and told us a lot of her friends would be arriving on the weekend.  While she had no right to make us move, we considered other options.

There’s a campground right at Cedar Breaks National Monument which is usually full, but we discovered there are 6 first-come-first-served sites, 2 of which would accommodate our rig.  The camp host was very nice and suggested we get there before 11am if we wanted one.  So we just spend one night near the unfriendly woman – not seeing here again – and then 2 nights in the campground.  This turned out to be great – there are no hookups for the RV but they have clean showers, and we’re within walking distance of the visitor center and the trails.  This year we’re here in wildflower season and there are spectacular growths of columbine, brilliant purple Markagunt Penstemon  (a local flower that doesn’t look at all like other penstemon), Arizona thistle (which I avoid) and even varieties of sunflower.

We talk to the rangers, and take a walk close to the Alpine Pond, hoping to see marmots or pika, but we have to be satisfied with a cute chipmunk.  The nights are not as cold as in August last year, and on Sunday we drive the steep hill down to Cedar City and check into the KOA campground.  Once settled we go out for dinner at Milt’s Stage Stop, enjoying the prime rib, bountiful salad bar and the hummingbirds (less this year than usual for reasons we’re not sure of) outside the windows.

Then it’s time for Shakespeare.  We jump in with both feet on Monday for a 4.5-hour marathon of Henry VI Part II followed by Henry VI Part III.  It’s in the new “black box” Ames theater, performed in the round, so everyone has an intimate connection to the players.  As expected, the actors give us stellar performances.  We see Henry descend from an idealistic young man into probable insanity, his wife Margaret of Anjou manipulating him and everyone else, as well as Earls, Dukes and other Lords who are mostly just politicians, not much different from those we see today.  Gloucester, the only one other than Henry who is a decent man, is soon removed by the others.

These two plays are among the earliest of The Bard’s writings, and are not considered his best by scholars.  They’re seldom performed and neither of us have seen them.  But the performances kept us not only awake but on the edge of our seats for the whole time.  A great start to the week.  Although there are evening performances, we’ve decided to give tonight a miss after the marathon afternoon.  We do enjoy the outdoor Green Show, where young actors get their chance to shine in 3 different outdoor song, dance and story shows.  Tonight is English night, and we agree it’s one of the best we’ve seen especially when they catapult stuffed sheep into the audience while sharing outrageous puns like “What to you call a sheep in a tutu?     A Baa-lerina!”

Tuesday is a full day.  We start with the Curtain Call Lunch – this year flavorful Mexican tortillas in the company of 4 members of the company.  In the past we’ve had Fred Adams, the Festival’s founder (Still active in this late 80’s) and Brian Vaughn, the Artistic Director, but this year we have 4 actors, one in his 50’s the others much younger, including a student from Southern Utah University in her first season with the Festival.  After the Q&A session we both agree this was really interesting – different questions than the usual mix, allowing us an insight into how actors get hired, and how they develop, here in Cedar City.

Now it’s time for a day of (Shakespearian) tragedy.  The afternoon performance of Hamlet is in the indoor Randall Jones Theater where we’ve discovered we can get great box seats at reasonable prices.  We get clear views of the actor’s faces, sharing their emotions.  We met Andrew May, a very friendly Canadian actor, at lunch and now we see him as the villainous Claudius – a totally different character.  Quinn Mattfield as Hamlet is superb – we can see him wrestle with difficult emotional decisions, and find him totally believable.  This is Shakespeare’s longest play, but again it keeps us involved throughout.

We have dinner in town before heading for another Green Show – Scotland this time, ending with everyone singing Auld Lang Syne.  The tragedy continues in the open a Engelstadt Theater with Macbeth.  A tragedy in two ways - the story, of course, but also the performance.  This was the first Shakespeare play I saw – as a high school student – and one I really enjoy.  While it had its moments, as plays here always do, Vicky and I both found the performances lackluster.   Macbeth’s inner struggle between his inherent decent character and his ambition, and his wife’s descent from her own ambition to madness, just didn’t work for us, nor did MacDuff convince us of his hatred of the protagonist.  We usually find there’s one lay we like less than the others, and this was it.  But a disappointing play here in Cedar City is as good as a mediocre play elsewhere!

From Tragedy to Comedy.  Wednesday afternoon we’re back in our box seats for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”.  Written as a short play for a privat school when the men were 19 and 23 respectively, it didn’t become a success until they were already celebrated for “Jesus Christ, Superstar:  It tells the biblical story of Joseph in a whimsical style, and this director carried the whimsy further, even make the killing of a sheep hilarious.  Aaron Young, as Joseph, not only looked the part of a young innocent, but carried the show with his strong voice and highly believable acting.  This is one of the shortest musicals ever to be successful in the West End and Broadway/.  The company extended it with a 15-minute curtain call featuring all the upbeat songs from the play, with the words projected so we could sing along.  A great afternoon.

After a dinner of BBQ and an excellent Russian-themed Green Show, it’s back to Shakespeare for another comedy – Twelfth Night.  For the first half hour we get to watch the crew covering the stage with a tarpaulin and then mopping it dry after the storm passes.  Vicky convinced me not to get us seats on the front row of the balcony, and although I had given her a hard time, we’re able to avoid the rain.  Once the storm passes, we enjoy a strongly acted performance.  The casting crew managed to find a Viola, who dresses up as a boy, and a Sebastian, Viola’s twin brother, who actually look alike, so the confusion that is at the heart of the show actually works.  For me, though, the starts of this show were the haughty and conservative steward Malvolio, and the comic characters Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Maria, who make a fool of him.  The comic scenes have us in stitches, and the rain never returns.  This is why we come here every year.

For Thursday we have only an evening show and have planned to spend the day in Zion National Park.  However, with temperatures there forecast for over 100 degrees we re-think this.  There is another Festival in town – formerly called the Neil Simon Festival but now renamed SimonFest, it features newer plays, often with SUU students.  We’ve never attended one of their plays, but “I Hate Hamlet” sounds like fun, especially since we’ve just seen the Danish Play.  The audience is small, but the artistic director gives us some background on the history of the play.  It features a television actor who’s gone to NYC and has been offered the part of Hamlet at Shakespeare in the Park.  He’s ambivalent about it.  He’s staying in an apartment once owned by John Barrymore, the most successful Hamlet of his era, and Barrymore’s ghost coaches the young actor.

We learn that the original “ghost” was a temperamental English actor who would not take direction.  During one performance he ignored the choreographing of a sword fight and actually wounded the other actor, who walked out of the theater and never returned.  No such theatrics this time, but we do enjoy a fun performance - not up to Shakespeare Festival standard, but still worth seeing.

Finally, back to the Engelstadt theater (did I mention it’s modeled after Shakespeare’s Globe) for a new play “The Book of Will”.  It’s a dramatization of how the First Folio of The Bard’s play was assembled.  After his death, three members of his troupe “The King’s Men”  (John Burbage, Henry Condell and John Heminges, realize there are few definitive scripts of the plays, and are particularly disgusted with a performance of Hamlet they see.  With the help of the young son of a rogue publisher, they’re able to assemble the plays and in a touching final scene they present the first copy to Shakespeare’s widow Anne and her daughter.

The play is a thriller, with some comic moments, and you find yourself rooting for the Kings Men.  Several of the actors were ones we had enjoyed lunch with, which, as always added to the experience for us.  This was a brilliant ending to this year’s visit, and we’re already planning for next year.

The plan at this point was to spend the next month making our way through Utah and Colorado to Santa Fe for the opera, but we have someone who wants to rent out our park model in Peoria from August to December, so we need to return and get it ready.  Stay tuned for my next post with a lake cruise in a thunderstorm and more!!

Two weeks in rural surroundings

On the Road Again

We enjoyed the first 2 weeks of July at the Thousand Trails resort in Cottonwood, where we spent some time last year.  It’s hot, but not like Phoenix, and it does cool down at night.  It was partly a time to relax, but we did make some short trips.

It’s about 35 miles from here to Prescott, the original territorial capital, which is the home of the World’s Oldest Rodeo.  Before living abroad, we traveled extensively to rodeos,  following many of the top cowboys, and Prescott was always on our list.  So we spent a day there this summer.  The announcer, who’s been there for almost 40 years, was the only person we recognized, although we did see cowboys who were the children of the men we followed way back when.  It was a lot of fun, and we topped it off with dinner at Prescott Station – no trains but one of our favorite restaurants.

You can get from Cottonwood to Prescott via Interstate highways, but the slower and more interesting route is over Mingus Mountain, a steep, twisty road that takes you through the old mining town of Jerome.  I was about to call it a ghost town, and indeed it almost was when we first discovered it in the ‘90’s, but these days it’s full of arts and crafts, places to eat and slow moving traffic.  The streets of the town are narrow and almost vertical.  Residents must have great leg muscles!  Once through the town the mountain views are terrific, so we enjoyed the drive in both directions.

Another nearby town is Clarkdale.  Our friends Donna and Mike recently moved there, and we haven’t seen them in a while.  We had a fun evening at their new home, catching up on each other’s lives.  They are now running an organization that supplies food to needy people throughout the area, helping a lot of people and enjoying the life.  We returned the following day to join them in the town park for a concert – they happen every Saturday night during summer.  This was a tribute to Buddy Holly & The Crickets.  We enjoyed it and even danced a lot, and met many of Donna’s and Mike’s friends and co-workers.

We also drove the 50 miles to Flagstaff one day.  We’ve been many times but never visited the historic Riordan house.  It is actually two identical houses connected by a large room used for games like billiards.  Brothers Tim and Michael Riordan each occupied one half, with their families, from the late 19^th Century onwards.  They, and their brother Matthew, were the founders of a very successful lumber company.  Tim’s half is still decorated as he would have known it, while Mike’s house has been turned into a museum.  Both had electric light and refrigerators at a time when few people had these amenities.  We enjoyed an almost 2 hour tour with a docent, then returned to the 21^st Century for dinner and a movie.

A relaxing two weeks after which we headed for Cedar City Utah.  But that will be the subject of the next post!  Stay tuned.

Update on our May and June

Seems like I've been neglecting the blog since finishing the updates on the Italy trip, so here's the first of a few posts to bring you up to date.

We stayed in the Phoenix area through the end of June.  Both Vicky and I had medical issues although hers were more serious, and we needed to see doctors.  Vicky had cataract surgery and now has 20/20 vision for the first time since age 11.  She only wears glasses for reading (and the sun!) now.  The operations went smoothly with no pain, but we had to be there for follow up visits.

I also had an eye exam, resulting in what now, in retrospect, seems a comedy of errors.  I did need a new prescription for glasses - not surprising since it had been over 4 years since I got my last pair.  However, the doctor discovered I had high pressure in both eyes.  He was so concerned that he sent me to an eye surgeon(the same one that did Vicky's cataracts) for a laser procedure that same day!

Dr. Justo believes it's important to tell his patients in detail about procedures.  This isn't a good thing for me, as I get queasy when anyone talks about medical procedures.  As he was describing the laser procedure he was going to do, I passed out in his office.  It was the next morning before I was back to normal.  So I survived a week with drops to reduce the pressure, and returned next Friday for the procedure - with NO advance description this time.  The whole thing took less than 5 minutes and I felt almost nothing,  The next week I had the oterh eye done and now, with the new glasses, all is well.

The other issue with Vicky was a diagnosis that she has buildup in the arteries near her heart.  She's had no symptoms and the doctor felt surgery wasn't needed and gave her medicine.  SInce Vicky's family has a history of heart problems, we went for a second opinion and got the same advice.  However, Vicky was warned not to go too far from a hospital or from internet access, so our plans to spend the summer in the wop-wops of Northern Utah went by the board.

While in Phoenix we were able to volunteer at the Herberger theater for a couple of shows, and also went to Algodones (Mexico) for dental treatment.  We'd both been told by an AZ dentist that we needed deep cleaning (read large expense) on our teeth.We have a reliable dentist in Algodones so went there for the treatment.  After taking X-rays they informed both of us that the deep cleaning would do nothing beyond a normal cleaning except enrich the dentist, so we just had the (very thorough) normal cleaning.  If you're within striking distance of Algodones, try Sani Dental  The quality of service in that city varies a lot, but Sani has up to date equipment, US trained dentists and has never steered up wrong.

We left at the beginning of July and have had a fun month, but I'll make that another post so this one doesn't get too long.

40th Anniversary Trip Day 16 and after

40^th Anniversary Trip Day 16 – Tuesday in Rome

After a peaceful night’s sleep we had down for breakfast in the hotel – included as always!  Although it didn’t include pannacotta we will both agree that this is the best breakfast spreads we had on the whole trip.   It includes a chef who makes omelets to your order – no need for me to choose ingredients I can just say “everything”.  There are sausages, bacon, hash brown and tomatoes to go with it, along with the usual selection of breads, cheese, cold meats and fruit.  But what makes this really special – and it takes Vicky to find it – is a counter with local specialty pastries.  Over the next 2 days we try several of them. 

Although the dining room is large, we’re given a table by the window where we can watch people and traffic on the Via Veneto.  Vicky does an unscientific count and we conclude that over one third of the private cars in Rome are “Smart Cars”.  As we walk around the streets later, we find many of these little cars parked at 90 degrees to the curb – a great solution to the limited parking in the center of Rome!

The concierge has booked us on an afternoon tour, so we decide to explore the local area.  Right across the street is a cashmere shop –  I don’t need another cashmere sweater and of course Vicky got her new shawl in Murano, so we simply “just look”.  Further up the street is a store that modestly advertises itself as “the finest menswear in the world”.  I find a shirt I really like and ask to see it.  The friendly sales clerk takes it off the shelf and holds it where I can see not only the shirt but the $750 price tag.  I play the game by telling her on reflection it’s not what I want.

At the top of the street is the entrance to Villa Borghesi, an impressive palace that is now an art gallery with extensive park-like grounds. 

The gallery itself is closed for renovation but we spend a delightful hour or two exploring the gardens (the 3^rd largest public park in the city) and trying to identify trees and birds.  There’s a zoo (Bioparco di Roma) on the grounds, which we consider, but settle for more strolling.  This statue may prove that selfies are older than you thought!

Since the afternoon tour is on foot, we stroll back to the hotel and rest for a while.

The tour company is to pick us up at the hotel and drive us to the starting point of the tour.  WE arrive early and sit in the lobby, eventually getting worried since they haven’t arrived, but the concierge checks and they’re on the way.  Eventually they arrive and we’re driven through the narrow streets, meeting our guide and fellow travelers just across the road from the Colosseum.

The next 3 hours are fascinating.  Although we’ve visited the Colosseum (officially the Flavian Amphitheatre after the family name of Emperor Vespasian who had it built) and the Forum Romanum before, we learn a huge amount of history, including the debunking of several myths.  Although Ancient Rome did stage “fights” between wild animals and hapless prisoners (mostly early Christians) these were not held in the Colosseum.  What happened there were gladiator fights and the vanquished were rarely killed (forget the “thumbs up – thumbs down” bit).  This was for economic reasons.  The gladiators were highly trained fighters who were treated very well by their employers and to kill them wouldn’t make much sense.  But they did provide (free) entertainment for the masses.

There are, as promised, huge lines to get in but our guide gets us past them, and we have the choice of walking up to the interior of the amphitheater as the Romans did, or taking an elevator.  I take the ancient route while Vicky saves her knees.  The Colosseum is under construction but we still get a feeling of how it must have been, with different levels for the different classes of society.  We get enough time to circumambulate the arena on the Senatorial level, then back down the stairs (or elevator), through the crowds and across the street to the more peaceful climb of the Palatine Hill.

Site of the hill where the she-wolf raised the orphans Romulus and Remus, so the legends say.   Our guide tells us there’s no evidence of any truth to the rumor – the people of Rome defeated the Etruscans who ruled here under their kings, and se up the Republic.  But it was the site of the modest home of Octavian Caesar, who continued to live in it after he became the first Emperor.  It’s still there, and we see the ruin from afar.  We’d need a separate tour to see more but that will have to wait for our next visit to Rome.

We do see the opulent palace known as Domus Augustana, the opulent palace used by emperors for over 300 years.  It had nothing to do with Octavian, being built by Domitian, the not too pleasant younger son of Vespasian (of Colosseum fame).   Maybe Domitian wanted to have only a short walk to the gladiatorial contests?  Whatever its beginnings, it’s still possible to get a feeling of what the place was like in its heyday.  We see a peristyle (courtyard) with the remains of a huge fountain, as well as many of the walls. 

The guide shows us how to distinguish the age of the walls.  During the Republic and earlier, stones were used.  After the founding of the empire they turned to brick.  We spend a happy hour immersed in details like this, imagining how it must have looked all those years ago.  Eventually we reach an overlook where we (and the senators before us) can look over the Forum, the center of business and life during both the Empire and the Republic.

We walk down into the (familiar to us) Forum where you can still see many of the temples and the Senate House.  The guide points out the spot where Gaius Julius Caesar was murdered (that, at least, is not a myth!) and then leaves us to our own devices.  A great afternoon!  The tour doesn’t include transportation back to the hotel so now we have to find either a bus or subway.  The latter isn’t really an option since the subway station nearest the hotel is closed.

After a lot of wandering and asking of random policemen and women, we fins a tobacconist where we can buy bus tickets.  The woman who sells them to us tells us where to find the bus, but her directions bear little relation to the streets.  Eventually another policeman shows us to the bus stop and suggests an additional bus that will get us even closed to the hotel.  After watching several of the buses we were going to take go by with no sign of the new one, we do get one of our original choices, which gets us home, although it’s a short walk since we get off one stop too soon!

The bus is crowded but Vicky finds a seat.  I have to struggle to the front to validate the tickets.  As I’m returning to stand by Vicky a young man takes pity on me and gives up his seat.  We have some time to rest in the room.

For our last dinner in Italy we head just around the corner to a place we found yesterday after we’d already eaten.  We have a nice corner table and start with a “Primi Platti”.  I opt for a risotto which is flavorful but would make a meal in itself.  Vicky’s pasta is much lighter.  For the main course we both choose veal.  Vicky has Saltimbocca, a thin slice of tender veal cooked with ham.  I’ve had this in restaurants in the US and enjoy it, but today Ii opt for something new – pork shoulder servce with potatoes, a Rima dish, so I’m told.  While not as flavorful as Vicky’s the veal is tender and delicious.  I also order a side dish of cooked chicory – another experiment!  It’s rather bitter but it does complement the veal and potatoes.  The only downside is after two large dishes I can’t face dessert.  Nevertheless, a few spoonfuls of Vicky’s dessert somehow find their way into my stomach.

That’s it for the trip.  Wednesday we take a taxi to the airport.  A word of warning.  Every taxi in Rome has a sign on the side promising a trip to the airport for 48 euro for up to 4 people in including luggage.  Comparing this to the cost of a taxi to the station plus train fare, we decide to do it.  The hotel calls the taxi and we’re no sooner inside than he turns on the meter.  The driver tries to tell me that traffic is heavy so he has to use the meter.  After some discussion I tell him to just take us to the train station, at which point he turns off the meter and we get the published rate.

There is heavy traffic around the hotel due to a special event, but once we turn the corner it’s no worse than usual and we make it to FCO airport in the promised 45 minutes.  Hence the warning.  If you do this, watch to make sure the meter isn’t running!

The flight is fine except it’s very cold, and when I ask for a blanket I’m told I have to pay for it!  So much for low fares!  We get in late and overnight near LAX and arrive home to our wonderful Quill on Thursday afternoon.

Italy is as wonderful as ever.  Great memories, but I wish it weren’t over.