The Best of

Margarita: Tie- Cowgirl BBQ-Santa Fe and the Mexican Handshake at Rosario's-San Antonio, TX
Enchiladas: Mi Tierra Cafe and Bakery- San Antonio, TX
Store: Wholefoods- Austin, TX
Hotel: Woodburn House- Austin, TX
Museum: Tie- Georgia O'Keeffe- Santa Fe and The Alameda- San Antonio
Vibe: Austin, TX
Activity: Sledding in White Sands, NM
Surprise: Tie- Marfa, TX and White Sands, NM
Photo-op: White Sands, NM
Sign: Del Rio, TX "Warning, Prison Area. Do not pick up hitchhikers."
Song in the Car: Tie- La Vie Boheme-Rent and Dolly Parton
Day: White Sands, NM

Gracias great southwest

Ah...time to leave. The road trip had come to a close. But before we headed to the airport my sweet friend Donna, up from Houston, was ever so kind to wake up very early and come get me for breakfast at 8:30am. We headed to Kirby's, an Austin brunch staple, and had a delicious breakfast. I had gingerbread pancakes, which I've never heard of before, and they were fabulous! They're a little rich so I couldn't finish one, but they are so so yummy. I love making pancakes and I couldn't believe I never thought to try gingerbread ones, but I will now. It was so great to see Donna, even though I could only hang out till 10am. But thanks Donna Lynn for making the early morning trek!!
And so sadly we had to bid adieu to our lovely b&b, the beautiful porch, Austin, white lightening (our rental car that kicked ass) and the whole road trip. You know, originally we were planning a few weeks in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Due to the political climate in Thailand we decided maybe this wasn't the best year to go there. Wracking our brains about where else to go we decided why not pump some much needed money into our own economy and explore somewhere none of us were familiar with. And it was worth it. I often forget how truly amazing, vast and beautiful our country is. It's trips like this that remind me. We're so incredibly fortunate to have all of this in our backyard. Whether it be a small town or a big city, each has it's own identity. If last year's trip was the Good Kharma one, then this years was the Good Characters one. No matter where we went we kept meeting such wonderful people with so many stories to tell. Without a doubt this is one of my favorite parts of traveling. Always, always! take the time to sit down at a cafe or a bar or a b&b and talk to the people who live and work there. Shakespeare said, "What is the city but the people?" and I couldn't find this to be more true. You'll get your best recommendations, the most entertainment and best sense of a place from its people. I loved that about this road trip. From Jerry and Linda in Las Cruces, to Verena in Marfa, to Brooke in San Antonio, to Noel and his wife in Austin; it was a never ending cast of characters.
Thank you to all the people we met along the road and, as always, thanks to my partners in crime, Jaime and Steph. I'm a lucky lady to have such wonderful girlfriends to enjoy exploring the world as much as I do.
Now for the next trip... India? Africa? Australia? :) tbd

Bear wants beer

In a bbq coma I knew we were really going to have to rally to hit the town. First we had to take advantage of our jacuzzi on our last night at the b&b. I used some of the tropical body wash in the shower and ended up making quite the bubble bath. We had debated getting in in our bathing suits but since we were about to go out we opted to just stick our feet in. haha I'm sure this is not how the jacuzzi is typically used in a b&b but it was great fun. We ended up having to turn off the jacuzzi jets bec. the bubbles got so high. Fortunately just as the bubbles started to make us a little sleepy my lovely friend Chelsea, who lives in Austin, showed up. She was kind enough to drive us downtown and hit the bars. We had hear to go out on 6th street but fortunately Chelsea showed us which side of 6th street to go out on. I guess one side is all college kids with a Girls Gone Wild Van hovering nearby.... yeah, not quite our cup o'tea. I can't remember the name of the first bar we went to but it was a cute outdoor bar with a great selection of beer. I liked that all the bars in Austin are outdoors with heat lamps. We ran into a couple of Chelsea's friends who were kind enough to hang with us and took us to the next bar, Molotov. What happened next was absolutely hysterical, to say the least. We arrived at the bar and I looked up on the second level porch and saw...FURRIES! (I am not explaining that one to Mom). I'm also not entirely sure they were furries, but whatever it was there were about 50 people dressed up as animals ordering drinks and tearing up the dance floor. It was so freaking funny. I couldn't stop taking pictures of the animals dancing with each other, ordering drinks at the bar, etc. I have no idea what it was but the bouncer said a bus had pulled up and unloaded all 50 of them. We also heard word that about 100 people dressed as animals were running around in circles in Union Sq. back in NYC that night so who knows. The animals were let loose! We hung out till about 1/1:30 dancing to an awesome dj. Seriously, he rocked.
The night out was a blast and I have to thank Chelsea, well the furries too ;), for that.

The Salt Lick Experience

The bbq joint we picked, after much research and asking around, was the Salt Lick. www.saltlickbbq.com This one in particular is located in Driftwood, Tx about 30 minutes south of Austin. The drive out was really quite pretty. You kind of feel like you're in the middle of nowhere going down a 2 lane road surrounded by trees and ranches. I was imagining seeing signs everywhere "2 MILES TO SALT LICK!" "1 MILE LEFT TO SALT LICK!" a la Outer Banks advertising. But there was nothing. So we started worrying how we would see it...would we miss it? This is hysterical in retrospect. Suddenly we rounded a corner and there up ahead was a massive parking lot full of cars. It could have been a state fair or something. We pulled up and there was a police man directing traffic and so so many people. I could feel the intimidation setting in... how am I going to eat all that meat, what am I supposed to order again? am I not supposed to ask for sauce on the side? eek
I thought for sure we'd have at least an hour wait. The outdoor areas were insane. A band was playing in one section and big groups of people, or even families, were hanging out by the picnic tables getting their kegs started. Kegs you ask? Oh yes, this is Texas after all. Salt Lick is b.y.o.b. so people roll up with kegs and coolers galore. I couldn't stop laughing. Particularly at the families rolling up with little kids and grabbing their bud lights from the cooler. haha We were sat after about only 20 minutes. They took us to one of the many huge rooms with row upon row of picnic tables. It was time. The moment of truth. What to order... We all settled on the meat combination platter. And we did ask for the Salt Lick jalapeno sauce on the side, faux pas or not, bec. we were curious to see how it tasted. Our plates came out and they were intimidating (though not nearly as intimidating as the bottomless meat platters families around us were ordering). We had sausage, beef brisket and ribs as well as potato salad and coleslaw. I've been a true North Carolina bbq devotee for years so I was dying to see how this measured up. I should also mention that I can't even remember the last time I ate ribs. I've been grossed out by them since I was a kid bec. I don't like getting messy when I eat food. haha Laugh all you want, I know it's ridiculous, but it's just how I am. However I made an exception for this place and in the end the rib was my favorite. I thought the sauce, both the regular and the jalapeno, were delicious! The meat was good, the rib really good, but I didn't think it was exceptional. The thing is you really go here for the whole experience, not just the meat. That said, i did think all of the meat had such a fantastic smokey flavor. When we were leaving they let me go back in the kitchen to take pictures of the big bbq pit and now I can understand why it had such an amazing flavor. None of us conquered our dinner, but we were also desperately trying to leave room for the dessert: pecan pie and peach and blackberry cobbler with Texas bluebonnet vanilla icecream. The pecan pie was nothing special, but the cobbler was scrumptious. We didn't make too good of a dent in it but it was still delicious. Alas, our time at the Salt Lick had come to an end. I have to say, i still stand by my North Carolina bbq, but this was definitely a cool experience. You MUST check it out if you go to Austin. Unless you're vegetarian of course... :)

Sippin on Shiner at the Oasis

Post lunch we headed northwest of Austin about 30 miles to get an afternoon drink at a place called the Oasis. I clearly did not read the description in the book, yet again, bec. I was picturing some low key shack type bar with a pretty view of the lake. This was more of a gigantic 3..4?? story restaurant/store on a cliff overlooking the lake. The view really was great and I'm sure at sunset it's pretty amazing. We grabbed a beer, Shiner Bock since my Dad and cousin were highly recommending it, and sat at the bar for a bit. Turns out the bartender went to high school about 15 minutes from me so that was an amusing coincidence. The Oasis itself is not somewhere I'd recommend dining (very touristy and cheestastic) but it's not a bad place to grab a drink and sit outside looking down on the lake. Plus when you drive out there are some amazing houses, or castles as we called them, on the hills overlooking the lake.
We still had some time before the big final dinner, Texas bbq, so we headed into the Warehouse district in south Austin to find a boutique the book had recommended. Turns out the most amusing thing to me was that the boutique was in an area called the 2nd st. district: 2 blocks long by about 3 blocks wide. haha It amused me that it got it's own district. The boutique was nothing special but it was cool to see that part of Austin. It's being developed by a Chicago architect so the area looks different than the rest of Austin.
Finally, it was time for bbq.

Holy Wholefoods

I saw that my book (which is Fodor's, not Frommer's as I had previously said) had suggested checking out Wholefoods in Austin. And naturally I scoffed at it thinking why would I check out a Wholefoods when we have a few in NYC? No thanks. I didn't even read the description. Fortunately my wiser friend Jaime did, being the devoted Nutrition Specialist she is, and it turns out this isn't any ol' Wholefoods, this my friends, is the mothership, the mecca, THE Wholefoods. I never would have thought such a wonderful, and natural/organic, store would originate from Texas. Texas?! But once again, as I kept finding out over and over, this is Austin, not Texas. And man was this Wholefoods an experience. I think we were all excited first at parking (and not even one lot, but a parking garage!). Then 2 escalators up the golden gates opened and behold...Wholefoods, all 80,000 square feet of it. From the get go the veggies were brighter, the oranges more orange, the seafood so fresh; it was tantalizing. I think we ended up doing 3 laps of the store and I'm still not sure that we saw everything. They had an entire section of organic clothes! I've never even seen a shirt in our stores in NYC. I stopped by the tea section, yes an entire beautiful section devoted to tea, and talked to a very friendly employee. (by the way, all the employees there were awesome!) We told her we were from NYC to explain the shock and awe on our faces. She laughed and politely said our stores were "fine." Haha Our stores are nothing like this one. We walked some more and almost made a lunch out of samples: mint quinoa, edamame succatash, fresh gouda. Realizing we couldn't bring the whole store home with us and that we had to settle on something for lunch, we grabbed the fresh sushi and headed to the outdoor lunch area to dine in the sun. I don't know how I'm going to return to our Wholefoods now. And ours, at least the one on Houston, is great! But after seeing this, it's a whole other ballgame.

market, what market?

As is bound to happen sometimes, the travel books will get it wrong. I'm a faithful devotee of Lonely Planet and so it was hard to switch to Frommer's for the Austin/ San Antonio book (Lonely Planet doesn't have a Texas one!) Anyways, our book had recommended a wonderful open air market called the "Renaissance Market." We were wide awake, ready for another glorious Austin day, invigorated from another delicious b&b breakfast, and excitedly walking to the market. Except, there was no market. Correction, I suppose there was a "market" of some sort, if you count the 2 people with 2 tables set up. We looked around, walked a couple blocks more and finally asked, where's the market? Surely it can't be those 2 people. .... except it was. So I don't want to tell you not to check out that market if it does in fact exist on some other day in a much grander fashion, but I have a hunch that it's not as big as the book builds it up to be. My advice is skip it. Fortunately we were in the same area as a big Austin toy store called "Toy Joy." This was similar to the Monkey toy store we saw the day before on South Congress, but in a much bigger fashion. It was pretty hysterical to walk around and stumble upon old toys we used to play with. The best part of the experience was finding a Little Golden Books section and my favorite, the Color Kittens! Man I loved that book. Around the corner in the store we stumbled into an old school candy section where I discovered another gem: Pop rocks! I definitely purchased 2 packets of that for the bf.
So despite the market, or lack thereof, the morning excursion was worth it to take a trip down memory lane in Toy Joy.
Up next, the mothership

Ah...sweet sunshine

Waking up from the most comfortable bed on the trip and then stumbling downstairs to the most lovely breakfast felt pretty luxurious. Our lovely b&b owner, Noel, made the most amazing lemon/blueberry scones. It was just the perfect way to wake up to a beautiful and sunny start to Austin. Jaime's aunt and uncle from Sugarland, TX met us at the b&b and were good enough sports to play tourists with us for the day. First we headed over to South Congress to do some shopping. The cute little shops are only about 4 blocks long south of the river, but they were pretty charming. There's a great little toy store (one of 2 great ones we saw here) called "Monkey See Monkey Do." There were a few old gems there and some pretty hysterical magnets and action figures (Edgar Allen Poe, Tesla and of course Jesus). Probably my favorite store on the block was a trading company called "Tesoros." www.tesoros.com It's touristy, sure, but I actually thought it had some pretty cool stuff. One of my favorite things, which I'm now regretting not purchasing, were some really beatiful old light switch plates from Peru that were a brushed copper. Damn, I knew I should have bought at least one but you reach a point in a studio apt. in Brooklyn where you run out of room for cool things like that.
After the shopping we headed over to the Central Market. It's a grocery store, and part of our grocery store tour of Austin as it turned out, but it's considered the "foodie" grocery store for all the wannabe gourmet or actual chefs out there. We had a lovely lunch at the outdoor cafe and even a glass of wine. On some afternoons they have live music playing out there. The store was quite impressive and if I didn't feel so bad for Jaime's poor relatives I might really have lost myself in there. But alas, I limited my time and walked away with some pretty good cheese for later in the evening. Slightly sunburned from lunch we headed over to the Capital. The Capital is taller than the actual Capital in DC, a fact I couldn't stop laughing at. I was convinced that when this capital was built they deliberately made the statue on the tip top raise it's arm just so they could claim height over the national capital. haha I mean, I can't say enough how proud Texans are. They used to be their own country for god's sake. And actually they are the only state allowed to fly their state flag at the same level as the American flag. They were also occupied by 6 different "states" at one point hence the 6 flags flying over the Capital, and yes, the theme park. Ah...it all comes full circle. :) The capital is quite impressive inside but perhaps what amused me the most were the "Texas touches." Door hinges, yes door hinges, said "Texas Capital." Lone stars were pretty much everywhere you looked: on the floor, on the ceiling, in a mosaic of stone outside, and on and on. And my personal favorite, the policemen inside who wore cowboy hats. You're in Texas now! In a way when you stepped in the Capital it felt like Texas, the Texas you always think of. And when you step outside the iron lone star gates you're back in Austin. It's an interesting dichotomy.
We bid Jaime's realtives adieu and headed back to the b&b for a lighter dinner: wine and cheese, the best dinner! It was glorious to sit on that big beautiful front porch in the early evening sun. We tried out our new cheeses, one of which was called Beehive lavender coffee cheese. It was interesting to say the least. A bottle of wine later, from Becker vineyards by the way, we knew it was going to be an early evening. Yes, we were lame that evening, but whatever, it was worth it to relax and soak in a warm Austin evening on that porch.

It's not Texas, it's Austin!!!

Man that saying could not be more true. Austin is not Texas, it's more a blend of San Fran with a dash of Nashville and a touch of southern California. But I mean this in no offense to Austin bec. it certainly is its own city with its own unique identity. We got into town Thursday night just in time for rush hour. :) But having grown up in Northern VA/DC traffic and now NYC this was nothing. We made our way easily over to our b&b in the Hyde Park area, the Woodburn House. www.woodburnhouse.com If you come to Austin, and particularly if you're a couple, this is the most charming b&b! When we pulled up I immediately fell in love with the huge porch that wrapped around the house (both on the first and second level). There were 2 lovely porch swings and a pair of rocking chairs. Oh it was just heavenly. The home was built in 1909 and is designated a City of Austin historical Landmark. I should mention that not only is the home charming, but the neighborhood of Hyde Park is too. The houses are all small ranch houses, but each has adorable front porches and quite a few have cool art work. I got the impression it was a very artsy area full of young families and artisans. Actually, there was a great glassworks store 2 blocks from our place called Blue Moon. www.austinbluemoon.com They have workshops on glass blowing and beading and quite an array of local Austinites work. The people who owned the store were incredibly friendly and took us in the back to watch one of the workshops. One man who worked there, I'm sad to say I didn't catch his name, but he showed me some beautiul work he's doing experimenting with putting photos in layers of glass. It's difficult to explain but looked great.
After checking our our hood some we retreated to our floor, we were on the third floor of the b&b called the "Treehouse" which we loved. :) We had one room with an awesome king size bed, a shared bathroom with a huge jacuzzi (more on that later :) ) and a single room where Steph slept. It was nice having our own floor though at night I can't say we were the only ones who occupied it. The squirrels went insane on the roof launching themselves off from the tree branches and fighting? I think. Do squirrels fight? I don't know, it's hard to say what went on on the roof at night but it was pretty loud at some points and pretty funny. So we settled into the treehouse and decided to sample soome the best stuff Texas has to offer: steak.
I thought it would be easy to find a good steak restaurant in Austin but that's when I had to check myself and realize I was in fact in Austin, not Dallas or Houston. Of course there are quite a few steak restaurants in Austin but in other areas of Texas that's practically ALL there is. We settled on a place called "Austin Land and Cattle." Oh and did it hit the spot. We each had the filet mignon and mine was just the perfect medium rare; melt in your mouth good. There was hardly room for the garlic mashed potatoes and wonderful sauteed spinach. I have to say the steak was a pretty damn good change after all the Mexican food.
Pleasantly full, ok maybe a little stuffed, it wasn't hard to fall into a deep slumber in the treehouse that night. :) save for the psychotic squirrels of course...

On the Road Again

There wasn't too much left to do in San Antonio the second day so we decided, once again, to take our bartender Brooke's advice and head out into the hill country on our way up to Austin. But first, we had to check out the famous pancake place about 15 minutes outside of town: the Magnolia Pancake Haus. www.magnoliapancakehaus.com We could tell as soon as we pulled up that this place was pretty popular. There was a 20 minute wait for 10am on a Thursday. The restaurant is delightful and the pancakes are quite scrumptious. Unless you have a bottomless stomach, do not order a tall stack. We ordered the short stacks and barely made it through one pancake. They were enormous! But, again, quite quite tasty. Pancake craving satisfied we got on the road to hit up some of the small towns in hill country. If you're into antiquing, this is your heaven. Antiquing can kind of be my hell so we mainly drove through the towns of: Comfort, Boerne and Welfare (yes, Welfare). But after an hour we arrived in the German town of....Fredericksburg! www.fredericksburg-texas.com Wait, you mean there's another Fredericksburg other than mine in Va?! ;) This Fredericksburg, or FB dos as i like to call it, is a small town highly influenced by it's German residents for the past 150 years. There are German bakeries, breweries, etc. And once again, there are antiques. But this time we did stop and stroll around for an hour. There's anything from fun wild west type stores to quaint boutiques. Overall FB dos was a cute town, doesn't beat my hometown of course, but it was a lovely stopover. I would have liked to try the beer brewed there, but once again we were holding out for wine. Fredericksburg is nestled between quite a few wineries. I was highly suspicious, to say the least, about Texas wine. Actually I had never even heard of Texas wine before. But once again, as you should used to me saying by now, Brooke the bartender told us to check out Becker Vineyards. www.beckervineyards.com Driving through the hill country it was definitely different to pull up to a vineyard. It's not at all like driving through the lush green in Virginia or New York or even parts of Napa and Sonoma. The vineyard house was really quite beautiful; definitely a Texas-looking structure made of stone with, of course, a lone star above the door. To the side was a huge porch with rocking chairs and tables. We bravely headed in to sample what Texas had to offer. We tried anything from the Viogniers to Chardonnay and over to the Malbec, Cab Sauvs and even a port. I have to say, it was not that bad, not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. That said, it's certainly not the best wine I've had. But, the location is lovely and the wine is tasty enough to make the stop. Actually my favorite part of the winery was that it also has a lovely lavender field. I can only imagine how that looks and esp. smells when in season. I bought some culinary lavender which I'm very excited to try out! I didn't purchase any wine, but no regrets. It was a great stop and it's always fun to test wine, no complaints there. :)
And so our time in the Hill Country came to a close and we headed into Austin in the late afternoon, which was only about an hour away. If you have the time, the hill country is a lovely excursion for a day. Peruse the German town of Fredericksburg, dine on the pastries, sip the beer and then head over to Becker for an afternoon wine while looking out at the lavender fields. Not a bad day.

Adios Mexican Food

Our lovely bartender Brooke had recommended we escape the tourist traps of the River Walk and head over to an artsier part of town to a restaurant called Rosario's for dinner. www.rosariossa.com This was our final farewell to Mexican food (as good as it all was, you can definitely od on it). The restaurant looks like a diner but is actually a kind of hip restuarant with specialties such as ceviche's and margaritas served in martini glasses. So of course, first up, margaritas. We each got a different one but when I ordered mine, the Mexican handshake, our waiter looked tickled to death. Naturally, this left me wondering wht the hell I had just ordered when he walked away. All the margaritas were strong, but mine was by far the strongest. Or as Stephanie put it, "I want to chase your margarita with mine." haha That said, I think it was the best margarita I had on the trip. It was so fresh, or maybe I just got so drunk off the one that I thought everything at this place was the best. hmm... ;) We decided to share 3 appetizers that Brooke had recommended: the ceviche, guacamole and queso with chorizo. The queso was more like mozzarella with sausage so I'd skip that. The guacomole was tasty but the ceviche was fabulous!!! It was pretty simple: white fish, lime juice, jicama, onions, avacados and cilantro. I would highly highly recommend ordering it! and a Mexican handshake since it makes everything taste better. :)
And so our tour of South western Mexican food came to a close. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to eat any for a while but it was worth it. The food is just fresh down in the south west and the sauces are the perfect blend of spicy, savory and simply that homemade touch. As always with traveling, be a little adventurous with the food and always, ALWAYS ask the locals what they recommend. 99% of the time they won't steer you the wrong way.

SA night lights

Post whiskey sours with Brooke at the Menger bar we took a little siesta before heading out to dinner. First we decided to explore the city and River Walk more at night. San Antonio really is a sight to see at night. The River Walk sparkles with all the twinkly lights on the umbrellas reflecting in the water. One part would remind me of Paris and then around the corner it had a New Orleans essence. It's very charming at night, don't miss it! Also, we headed back to the Alamo just to see if it appeared any different at night and I have to say it was actually cooler! Or at least from a photographers standpoint, it was much much more photogenic at night. The huge trees surrounding the Alamo are an ominous presence at night in their inky black and gnarly branches reaching out to almost claw the landmark. It's definitely a fun photo-op. And right behind the Alamo, in front of the Crocket hotel, are a line of horse and carriages waiting to pick up the tourists. But unlike the ones in Central Park, these are disneyfied; meaning they are entirely covered in lights. If you've ever been to Disney World it reminded me of the Electrical parade.
Beyond the River Walk and Alamo, the whole city has very cool old neon signs almost on every corner. It might not sound like something you'd really wander around looking at, but I found them to be quite great. They're a nice middle ground between old San Antonio and the new. And again, a great photo-op.

Drinking with the Rough Riders

Ok so I know I said we didn't try the tequila at Mi Tierra, but that's really bec. we were holding out for afternoon cocktails at the Menger Bar. mengerhotel.com The bar is part of the historic hotel built adjacent to the Alamo in 1859. I would definitely recommend heading over late afternoon and exploring the hotel a little. It's really quite gorgeous, especially in the lobby, and quite easy to imagine all the history it must hold. And the bar is certainly no exception. After passing by the tobacco room (yes, it's old school Texas) we found our way to bar. It's extremely dimly lit, floor to ceiling dark wood and a distinct smell of whiskey and cigars. Actually when we first walked in it was so dark and appeared so old that when I saw only men at the bar I began to fear women weren't even allowed. No worries, the bartender was a woman, Brooke. And man, if you're lucky enough to stop in for a drink on her shift you'll get some pretty damn good stories. Tradition behind the Menger bar is that Teddy Roosevelt recruited his rough riders there. And along with Roosevelt there were numerous authors, athletes and stars who used to frequent the place. The minute you walk in you can definitely imagine Teddy saddling up to the bar or Mae West holding her own in a bar full of men. Brooke has been serving up drinks at the Menger for around 15 years or more. She had us cracking up over her stories of pilots conventions in town or packs of military men; essentially any large group of males where her chances of getting them drunk and getting a date was higher. haha She also has some "stalkers" as she fondly refers to the men who visit her frequently. We were lucky enough to meet one of them, William. He looked like a homeless santa claus when he walked in. Brooke told us he used to be a famous Mexican radio dj in San Antonio. And I want to say he was one of the first in town to have his own Mexican radio show. William happily obliged us and started quoting old promos he used to say on his show. And you know, he's still got it. But as he told us "the man" started to mess with him and he wanted nothing to do with the man so he quit his show. I have no idea what he does now, other than visit Brooke at the bar drinking his afternoon Tecates. But it taught me a lesson I learn over and over again, never ever judge a book by it's cover. You never know what kind of an amazing person or story lurks beneath a surface that might suggest otherwise.

Savoring San Antonio

After the museum we headed to the classic San Antonio restaurant, Mi Tierra Cafe and Bakery. www.mitierracafe.com If any of you have seen Rolf's at Christamas in NYC then this restaurant would resemble it, except it's decorated floor to ceiling year round! Colorful pinatas coat the ceiling, lights are splashed everywhere and in the front strethes a huge glass case stacked full of colorful pastries. The restaurant is a San Antonio staple and has been open since 1941 when it began as a small cafe for workers in the Mercado. Now it seats around 500 I believe. We were told to get the Enchiladas Verdes de Pollo and they did not disappoint. After eating our way through enchiladas in New Mexico I have to say this one was my favorite. Whatever's in the sauce is magic. Even though there was no room for dessert we had to try their sopapillas. And once again, they did not disappoint. You could taste that homemade family recipe flavor in it, which is always appreciated. Stuffed, we managed to escape without sampling their tequillas, though our waiter did his best to try and persuade us. If it had been later in the afternoon maybe....:)

The pride of Texas- Alamo and Mrs. Adams

Our first full day in San Antonio and naturally the first stop had to be the country's...ehem..i mean state's pride and joy: The Alamo.  It was a quick walk from our hotel and then suddenly there we were, face to face with the state's pride and joy.  Now, no offense to Texas or their Alamo, but I have to say I was a little underwhelmed.  Maybe it would have been more fun to check it out with a Texan, I'm not sure.  But there just wasn't much to it.  It's not really that big and takes an hour max to check out.  I guess the highlights for me were seeing that two of the heroes of the Alamo were Johnson's and watching other Texan's visit what they consider to be their Mecca.  I think I saw a groan man weep.  Obviously if you're in town you have to see it, but don't worry about spending a lot of time there. 

Afterwards we ventured over to the Mercado, or the big market, about 15 minutes away.  It's full of chintzy type stuff but fun to check out for a few minutes.  The day was gorgeous, 85 DEGREES suckas!! haha sorry to torture but it was awesome.  So we hated to go inside but there was a museum that seemed to be really cool and was free for the day so how could we pass that up?  The Museo Alameda, www.thealameda.org  It's a pretty new museum, opening in 2007, and it's also fairly small.  There were only two exhibits.  One was called "Dichos" about graffiti on cars in Latin America.  The exhibit was pretty great and hysterical.  It's all photos of various vehicles in Latin America with sayings as romantic as "My love" to raunchier ones like "My girlfriend is no longer a virgin" to the absurd "why are you staring at me? I haven't changed."  Great exhibit!  I was cracking up the whole way through.  On the other side was an exhibit called "The African Presence in Mexico."  This was a collection of photographs documenting the lives of Africans in Mexico.  Beautiful photos.  But by chance, and extreme good fortune, it just so happened that as we arrived the museum was having a q&a with a 102 year old woman who just happened to be in some of the photos they were exhibiting.  Mrs. Audrea Adams was born in Mexico and grew up there.  She ended up getting her masters at Columbia and went on to lead a pretty amazing life.  Now, for 102 and this woman was sharp!!!! She would switch between English and Spanish with the greatest of ease and tell hysterical stories about her blind date with her husband. ("he could not dance! and when he tried to kiss me i said "no! I don't even know you!")  She had a book of photos from when she was young and her daughter happened to read about the museum's exhibit in the paper only to realize that her mother was in a few of the photos.  It was just so amazing to stumble upon such an amazing woman.  I think one of the funniest things she said was how she was having some dreams about Obama that her husband would not like. 102 YEARS OLD!! hahaha  God I would give anything to have that spunk and be as sharp as her some day.  I also found it interesting that she never felt discriminated against by Mexicans only Americans, and specifically people from Alabama she said.  Wish I could say that was shocking.  In any event, it was a true pleasure to meet her and hear her talk.  What a tremendous individual. 

If you're in town check out that museum!! I thought both exhibits were great and the people were very helpful and friendly.

San Antonio- it's a bird, it's a plane, no it's a plant coming at your head

After the long long drive we finally made it to San Antonio and humidity. But no complaining here, esp. considering what we'll be going back to in NYC.  Since we got into town around 9pm we only had time to catch a late dinner.  We headed down immediately to the River Walk, since that's the big draw in town.  We found pretty much the only restaurant that was open so late that night and sat down to eat.  Now, before I tell this story I will say that you should eat at the River Walk bec. of the ambience.  But be forewarned that it's a huge tourist trap and not necessarily the best food.  Also, make sure you eat somewhere with an umbrella over your head! why? oh let me tell you why.  The whole time we were sitting down by the river you can see people walking on the street overhead. I kept turing to the girls and saying how it felt like New Orleans and that at any minute I expected someone to throw beads at me.  About half way through dinner I was beginning to develop a fear of being pelted with beads.  (My back was to the street)  A few minutes after that I heard some noisy teenagers up above and I said to the girls, "you know, I really think they have a problem here with people throwing stuff. It's so easy." BAM!!!! Flying plant zips by my head missing me by a little under a foot.  A little bit of dirt in the hair, on the lap and near my water.  Yep, we had a teenager plant assault.  And as I had presumed it must be a problem bec. out of nowhere this man in a suit with a walkie takes off running to chase them.  I had to laugh, only bec. the plant missed me. It definitely would NOT have been funny had it landed on me or worse in my food.  I felt even better when our waiter said a few days ago a drunk man peed off the street down to the river walk almost hitting one of the waitresses.  I will take a plant any day over pee. ugg..... 

Anyways, this is by no means a way to deter you from checking out the river walk.  It's really qiute lovely and romantic, esp. at night.  Just eat under an umbrella.

The Trek- Pt. 4- The Great Unknown

Leaving behind Vereena and Marfa we continued on into the great wild west of south west Texas.  And while some people warned us of being bored, I have to say I was anything but.  The landscape is just so vast it's kind of incredible.  You start to wonder how people really live out here. What do they do, where do you shop, how do you know neighbors....  I was left to believe you either have to be partially insane or you just really enjoy that isolation from people.  I can't imagine doing it myself. God knows that's why I love NYC.  But in a way I had to stand back and admire the sort of true cowboy life these people experience out there.  

Before we hit Del Rio, the sun began to set over the vast land and it was simply spectacular.  The clouds swirled almost into a tornado-like shape and the red sun cast this beautiful orange and pink glow all over the place.  As usual I took a million pictures, of which I'm sure only a few will come close to doing it justice.  But the view was just amazing.  I'm not a religious person but there was something pretty damn spiritual about seeing the land spread out like that with nature putting on her show.  It kind of humbles you.  

After our beautiful sunset show it became pitch black, i mean pitch pitch black, as we headed into the final trek towards San Antonio.  This is where we saw the "Prison area. Don't stop for hitchikers sign." haha  Which of course made you wonder if they had to put up a sign did that mean they've had a problem with escapees? I'll assume yes and lock the door.  Naturally this was around the time our "maintenance" light came on in the car.  Perfect timing.  Just where we want our car to break down. haha  Fortunately nothing broke down and we kept on driving.  We survived the prison area but I can't say the same for the hundreds of bugs who were killed by our windshield.  sorry guys.  

After a long long day of driving we finally arrived in San Antonio around 9pm.  

A long trip yes, but worth every second of it.

The Trek- Pt. 3- Hello Marfa

A little outside of El Paso we decided to venture off highway 10 and jump on 90 which took us into Marfa.  You might recognize Marfa from such movies as Giant, No Country For Old Men or There Will Be Blood.  It's a bizarre little town, sort of like a little liberal enclave in the middle of the wild west.  One of the more hysterical things we saw driving in was a Prada store in the middle of nowhere, literally.  I'm not entirely sure it's a functional store (it might be some sort of artistic statement) but regardless it was amusing.  Once in Marfa we stopped in the El Paisano hotel to get a lunch recommendation since it was beginning to look more and more like Subway.  Fortunately we were sent to a little sandwich shop called Squeeze.  www.squeezemarfa.com  And as has begun to be the theme on this trip, we met quite the character here, storeowner Verena Vollenweider.  Not quite a Texan type name? Yep, you're correct. She hails from Switzerland. Not even she could really explain to us how she ended up in Marfa.  But she was a trip.  The restaurant is an adorable sandwich shop with fresh smoothies, hummus, baked goods and coffee.  Plus she has a wonderful selection of her brother's Swiss chocolate that he ships to her.  It was pretty comical that this existed in Marfa.  She made a point to tell us right off the bat that not all Texans like Bush and that in fact Bush is not a Texan; something she and the other workers in the store were very proud of.  She had wonderful stories of Daniel Day Lewis eating at the restaurant while filming "There Will Be Blood" and staying in character.  haha, which came as no surprise to us.  She also unfortunately told us that "No Country For Old Men" is a true story.  I say unfortunately bec. after watching that movie the only thing that stopped me from truly freaking out was that it was fake.  Now the bubble is burst and I will go back to being haunted by Javier Bardem and that freakish haircut.  Anyways, apparently that sort of things happens quite often in border towns such as Marfa.  Verena herself has had quite a few run-ins with border patrol when friends of hers from Italy, Holland and so on come to visit.  Yet none of this would deter her from staying in Marfa.  I think all in all we talked to her for about an hour on the subject of Texas, border patrol, politics, travel, chocolate, New York, etc.  I actually wanted to come back to Marfa after we left just to talk to her some more!  Now I don't know how you'd end up in Marfa really, but if you ever find yourself there you must go say hello to Verena.  She's a gem.

The Trek- Pt. 2- You know you're in Texas when

you see the following signs:

*anything Pro Life

*"Warning, Prison area.  Do not pick up hitchikers." 

*"This is God's country.  Please don't drive through it like hell."

*anything with God

 

The Trek- Pt. 1- The story of Linda and Jerry

Oh the big road trip day: Las Cruces to San Antonio.  It was a long long day, but worth it.

On this morning our lovely hostess Linda's husband, Jerry, greeted us for breakfast.  They were kind enough to have one of their employees come in a little earlier to make huevos rancheros for us before we headed out.  And consequently, they were the best huevos rancheros I've ever had.

Anyways, Jerry had heard from his wife that he should talk to the "3 gals from NY." haha But as in Linda's case, it was us who did the listening.  Jerry turned out to be quite the character.  He was raised on a reservation in North Dakota and grew up going to Native American schools.  He later moved to Phoenix went to school and became an architect.  He met Linda when he'd moved to Las Cruces and she lived in the same apt. complex as him.  As he tells it, every day he'd hear these heels clicking outside and finally one day he peeked out his door to check out who they belonged too.  Naturally, he was smitten with Linda and only slightly dismayed to hear she liked wealthy older men.  It didn't deter him at all, and before you knew it they were dating and married.  From there Jerry told us all about buying the Inn and designing it himself.  He was truly a very interesting man.  He transitioned from architecture to the lack of confrontation with most people in society and over to the Stimulus plan.  He was a hoot.  Probably my favorite thing he said over breakfast was how you're either awake or asleep as a person.  I'll have to ask Jaime and Steph to make sure I get the rest of his thoughts on that correct. But it was some deep thinking over huevos rancheros.

And so a very sincere thank you to the Lundeen Inn of the Arts for the fabulous conversation and overall delightful stay.   

Nightlife in Las Cruces

Well there's really no nightlife to speak of, or none we saw. Though to be fair we were really just looking for a good meal after a long day of running around in dunes. 

Our lovely Inn hostess Linda had recommended La Posta, a mexican restaurant in an adobe type house a few miles away in the town of Mesilla.  www.laposta-de-mesilla.com    The food was delicious and exactly what we needed after such a long day out in the sun.  I had an delicious margarita which I wish I could have enjoyed more but the sleepiness was overtaking my body.

We went back to the Inn and had a very uneventful, aka no hauntings, night at the Inn. 

Don't wait till the water runs dry

Today was the big White Sands day, an event I have been waiting for since, yes I'll admit it, I saw the Boyz II Men "Water Runs Dry" video as a kid. haha  I've held that in for too long so I'm out with it and that is what sparked my interest after wondering where they filmed that video.  If you think less of me I'm sorry.  I still love Boyz II Men btw. :)

But first we had breakfast at our Inn after surviving the haunted night.  The lovely owner, Linda, came right over to us at breakfast and dubbed us her "mystery girls" since we arrived so late. I didn't think 7:30 was too late for a Sunday night but at an Inn with 7 rooms maybe it is.  Regardless, Linda was an absolutely lovely hostess.  She was very curious to know where we came from, why we were here, what our interests were.  It's funny because it was really her who was far more interesting.  She had family who you could trace back to the founding of Long Island and a mother who was born in Louisville.  Linda was dressed very nice and commented on how she just can't bring herself to wear jeans bec. it's how she was raised. She likes to dress nice and look nice and that's just how it is.  She truly entertained us over breakfast with stories of the Inn, the art work, her adopted children for a local tribe, some celebes who had recently stayed at the Inn ( whom she said we were far prettier than the actresses since they were anorexic. haha)  And best of all she gave us some round saucer sleds to take to White Sands for sledding down the dunes.  AFter a delightful conversation with her we headed off on the 1 hour drive to the park.

www.nps.gov/whsa

On the drive out from Las Cruces there is nothing but desert, the Chihuahua desert to be specific (one of 4 deserts in the US I believe).  Part of the drive takes you through the White Sands Missile range, which can actually shut down the park on days when they're testing out the missiles.  freaky, yes.  But fortunately for us Monday was not one of those days.  It's a $3 entrance fee to the park which will last you 6 days. A steal if you ask me.  We got to the park around 10/10:30 in the morning and stayed till 6:30 and used up every single second of it.  Our weather was perfect as I can't imagine going there in the unbearable summer months.  65 was perfect.  When you pull up you still can't imagine this massive area of white sand, but then suddenly about a mile out from the entrance to the park, there it is.  Much like my blogs from last year of Peru and Chile, it's hard to put into words how beautiful the park was.  It's simply an ocean of white sand as far as the eye can see and surrounded by the 2 mountain ranges on either side. It's spectacular.  There are various hikes you can do there. We did the 1 mile hike first which takes you through the dunes with some vegetation on them and then later in the day we did about half of the 4.6 mile hike.  We didn't leave enough time to do all of it but I think we all agreed that what we did see exceeded our expectations.  Basically White Sands is like one big playground.  THere were tons of families with kids letting them run wild in the sand or sled down the dunes.  And we were no exception like that.  We jumped, we ran down the dunes, I even made a sand angel; it was exhilirating! The sledding in particular was a blast, once we got the hang of it. At first I was convinced kids had the advantage bec. of their size.  we kept crawling down the hill in the sled while these little brats flew by us. ;)  But once the kind woman at the visitor center tipped us off to the tricks: waxing the bottom and leaning back with your legs out, it was a whole other ball game.  In the end my top speed was going down on my stomach.  I flew!!!  Oh so much fun.  Around 4:45 we headed over for the Sunset Stroll.  A park ranger takes you on a short walk and explains the history of the park, the animals, vegetation and then leaves you at the end to watch the sun set over the desert.  And it was gorgeous.  The thing about sunsets is they change every few minutes. One second the sand is white, then 2 minutes later it's gold, and then blue and then purple. The colors of the sand and sky were gorgeous.  I took entirely too many photos but I just couldn't be stopped.  Every time I thought I was done I would turn around and the sky would look completely different.  

Now I really can't do this park justice in the blog, but seriously folks, you HAVE to check it out.  It might seem a little out of the way but it's really not; especially if you just make it into a New Mexico road trip.  The dunes are just so beautiful and pristine.  I definitely had one of those moments where you think how lucky am I to live in a country with this much beauty in it? pretty damn lucky

Drive to Las Cruces

First I have to say that I am a tremendous fan of the 70, and even 80 in some spots, speed limit!  Granted this is all open road pretty much in the middle of nowhere so it would never fly say in Virginia or NY. But man is it fun.  

The drive from Santa Fe took about 4 hours.  And with the exception of Albuquerque there's not a whole lot to see on the drive down.  We left Santa Fe around 3:30 so for about half of our trip down we were in the dark.  We finally arrived to Las Cruces around 7:30 and found our next hotel, the Lundeen Inn of the Arts. www.innofthearts.com   I will say that in the end I really enjoyed this place, but on that first night I was skeptical.  When we got there, no one was there.  At first we thought we were locked out only to find the main entrance on the side with the door open.  There was a key laying out with my name on the paper but we had no clue where the room was.  Finally after walking through a huge dining room area full of paintings we found a girl in the kitchen (who turned out to be the owner's granddaughter) and she led us to our room.  There are only 7 rooms in this Inn and each one is named after a famous artist.  Ours was of course, Georgia O'Keeffe.  The room was fine, a double bed and a twin with a huge mosquito net covering it (or "the canopy bed I always wanted" as i referred to it.)  At this point I had begun to convince myself the place was haunted (still not entirely convinced it isn't) or that it was reminiscent of the Shining.  haha  But I swear I heard sounds where no people were and lights flickered and paintings appeared to stare at you.  Despite all the "haunting" we did make it through the night and awoke to what felt like a different Inn in the daytime.

Santa Fe and driving day

After a blissful 8 hours of sleep I was able to spend almost the whole day in Santa Fe before shoving off for Las Cruces.  We stayed at the Inn on the Alameda, www.innonthealameda.com

Our book had recommended the Inn and Spa at the Loretto but after seeing that hotel I'm glad we chose otherwise.  Loretto looked like a gigantic fake adobe hut hotel you'd see in Disney World.  I'm sure the spa was lovely there but I much preferred our place.  The location was great; just about a 5 minute walk to the main plaza in town.  We checked out some of the merchants in the square and stores, as I obsessed over the Day of the Dead items. (no worries, no skeletons were purchased...yet)  I'm in love with all the tile out there though and did purchase a beautiful mirror which will have to find a home in our studio apt. back in Brooklyn. :)  After perusing the shops I headed over to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum by myself (Jaime and Steph had seen it already).  If you love or even like Geogria, you MUST check out the museum.  www.okeeffemuseum.org/home.aspx  It's a fairly small museum but there's a really lovely collection of her paintings there. When I rounded the corner and saw some of the Evening Star series I teared up.  It's like I was sitting in 9th grade art all over again discovering my love for her paintings.  I was overjoyed to a few of my favorites in person.  There's also a great 15 minute film on her life that's a must.  It has a few clips of interviews with her and some of the photos Alfred Stieglitz took.  I enjoyed hearing her speak on how she came to consider New Mexico her home and the joy she took in the solitude out there.  I spend a little over an hour there and emerged ready to paint again. :)

We grabbed a late lunch and then headed over to this fabulous chocolate shop called Kakawa.  www.kakawachocolates.com  A local had tipped Jaime and Steph off about it and thank god! They make all their own chocolate and truffles with very interesting flavors such as pear cactus, chili, goat cheese, etc.  I'm a sucker for chocolate and chili so I had a truffle with a mix of that and some fruit and it was delicious. But their mexican hot chocolate was my favorite. It was absolutely delicious! Extremely chocolatey with just the right amount of spice.  mmmm... the perfect beverage to start the 4 hour road trip to Las Cruces.

The long road to Santa Fe

Greetings folks! I apologize for being a few days delinquent on the blog. Too much fun to be had I suppose. ;)  

Saturday was a long travel day for me but overall great. Quick shout out to Bolt bus.  If  any of you ever need to get to Philly or DC from NYC, I highly recommend it! I've taken it twice now, once for the Inauguration and then this past Saturday down to Philly, and have loved it both times. You can sometimes find tickets for under $10! free wifi, really friendly drivers, clean bus, what more can I say.  Maybe I'm missing the bus transportation from my past 2 trips to South America, but I have become a Bolt addict. check it out at www.boltbus.com

So after my early morning bolt down to Philly (thanks for the breakfast Eric and Brit!) I flew to Atlanta and then to Albuquerque. Great flights on both ends. Arriving in Albuquerque I hopped on the Sandia shuttle up to Santa Fe.  Another great method of transportation if you don't want to do a rental car in Santa Fe.  Very friendly staff and clean van.  So you can see after bus, plane, plane, shuttle how tired I was finally arriving in Santa Fe at 9pm.  But I rallied and we headed out to the Cowgirl bbq, www.cowgirlsantafe.com.  It's a famous bbq joint in town that puts a feminist twist on the whole wild west/bbq theme. So obviously, I loved it! (And Andrea Horner, I could not stop thinking of how much you would love this place)  There were old pictures of cowgirls everywhere and the waitress' outfits were pretty hysterical. From pink rhinestone cowgirl hats (with a hole for a pony tail I might add) to hats with strands of lights on them and on and on.  If I hadn't been so exhausted I would have taken pics. Damn.  Anyways, we were definitely not in the minority for an all female table on Valentine's night if you know what I'm saying. :)  I think we only threw them off a little by being 3 instead of 2.  crazy New Yorkers.  ;)  I decided to try a smoky margarita which at the time I thought I liked but now I'm not so sure. That said, I've been sampling quite a few margs on this trip and I think had I foregone the smokiness that would have been the best margarita.  I ate a delicious quesadilla with bbq brisket on the inside. I was pretty skeptical of this too but it had been recommended so I thought why the hell not? and, I tell you what, it was pretty tasty.  So if you're ever out that way check it out, the restaurant, quesadilla and margarita: the smokiness is up to you.  Be forewarned though that if you want a cab to take you home it took about 40 minutes to get ours! 

Day 1 done and a pretty good start.

T minus 1 day

The rundown:
New Mexico
2.14 Santa Fe
2.15 Santa Fe/ White Sands
2.16 White Sands
2.17 the big drive, White Sands- San Antonio with a quick stop in Marfa
Texas
2.18 San Antonio
2.19 San Antonio
2.20 Austin
2.21 Austin
2.22 Austin and back to NYC!

Coming Soon

Southwest Road Trip! One week trekking across New Mexico and Texas. Guaranteed to be full of adventure, fabulous food, small town America and the best margaritas in the country.