You never know how a day is going to turn out.
This one did not begin auspiciously. Clouds shrouded the moutains, rain spattered sporadically, the Weather Channel was not encouraging and Bao flatly refused to go out and do his morning wee. Bao refused to go out, period. He hates rain. In the end, I had to carry him to the car, with the luggage. Not a good start.
And it got worse. Ten miles south of Colorado Springs, we hit torrential rain. Thunder, lightening, the whole meteorlogical enchillada. When the rain was so heavy that the windshield wipers could no longer move, I gave up and pulled over to wait it out. Nobody else did, and I felt like a real wuss. (But a safe wuss. When we finally got underway again, we encountered a 7-car accident a quarter of a mile down the road)
I'd given Barbara the address of a restaurant on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, not because I particularly wanted to go there (although I did want to end up at Canyon Road, where all the art galleries are) but because Barbara thrives on specifics.
When we reached our destination it was still raining, I'd been driving for nearly four hours, I was hungry and I thought, What the hell. El Farol (the restaurant) turned out to be absolutely fantastic. They had a Spanish Lunch -- paella, chocolate espresso torte and a glass of wine for $15. It was the best paella I've ever tasted. Highly recommended. And from then on, it just kept getting better and better.
Canyon Road is wonderful, one gallery after another. We wandered, damp and happy (almost all the galleries offered Bao treats) for several hours and didn't spend any money until we got to the last gallery of all and they had -- wait for it -- Chinese snuff bottles. In Santa Fe. It was a deceased estate. I shall make a long story short. I bought a snuff bottle. In Santa Fe, of all places. (They also had a 19th century Chinese ceramic pillow, from the same estate. It was expensive, but I've always wanted one of those Chinese ceramic pillows. I am thinking about it)
So it was a good day. Bao is asleep, and I'm about to take a bubble bath.
Tomorrow, Las Cruces.