If you want to ski in interesting places, you have to work
to get there. This means hauling
ridiculous amounts of heavy equipment in and out of too-small taxis, long
flights, endless airports,[1]
even more endless drives, and, inevitably, a stop at Sonic for burgers.
We opt for the path of least flight delays, which involves
flying to Denver and then driving almost five hours through prairie and
mountains and desert to Taos. If you are
lucky, at the end of your drive you might be rewarded with a cozy nest as nice
as Casa Escondida, our digs for the week, courtesy of HomeAway.com. Bill and I have been to Taos before so we
know what delights await in this surprisingly sprawling town (was it always
this big?), but this is the first time for the new band members. Still, even though the house has everything
we could ask for, it is twilight when we arrive and everything is kind of dark
and quiet and piñon-smoky so they are maybe
not so sure.
Still, this uncertainty is nothing that a green chile
cheeseburger at the locally famed Michael’s Kitchen (home of cinnamon buns the
size of your head) cannot help with.
Peter is doing a tasting tour of this regional specialty; rankings
follow in the Appendix.
Brief historical note on Taos. This town, about an hour or
so north of its more glamorous and famous cousin Santa Fe, is best known for
its pueblo, which has been continuously inhabited by humans for over 1000
years. Such perspective is important for
us New Englanders – we think we know from old America but of course we do
not. You want your America First? Visit the southwest, Mr. President: your
First Americans are still here.
You can visit the pueblo but it closes for the winter so we
never have. Sign o’ the times: check out their website to learn more.
A note about driving on ski trips. You have to have music, but we try to tune in
locally, so that we learn about what’s up in the area. We particularly enjoy the local Crimestoppers
show, which consists of announcements about persons-of-interest being sought by
the po-po. “White male, between 20 and
30 years old, medium build, may or may not have facial hair.” Well that narrows it down. Such car-radio also involves “oldies” which
is another term for all of the Eagles’ oeuvre, ever, every time we are in the
car. It gives us a Peaceful, Easy
feeling.
[1] BUT if you tweet @SouthwestAirlines about anything, they will tweet you back! And if you tweet them after waiting 45
minutes for your skis in Denver, your skis will come out! Now that’s service.
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