This morning I laced up my shoes and went for a SLOW 6 mile run here in Santa Fe, NM. It’s sometimes nice to do a scouting run when you first arrive in a town for a multi-day stay. You get a little lay of the land, spot a few things to check out or that’s just good to know exists nearby. As is often the case, I feel like you can see more on foot than you can from the car window and you can appreciate the distances a bit more cleanly when you are physically moving about on your own two legs rather than rolling along in your automobile.
I scoped out the grocery store options and the area gas prices (albeit both could have been accomplished with a quick google map and gas buddy app search). Still, despite the slow pace I kept and the seemingly cursed every red light stop-and-go I experienced, it was a nice way to recover from the 14 hour plus drive out this way yesterday.
I was feeling fairly confident of my directional sense upon my return. The Pantry, a restaurant diner the hotel manager suggested last night for a breakfast/lunch option, was half a mile away and quite jumping as I passed by. Always a good sign when the locals eat at a the recommended place. And when Steve and I went to grab an early lunch there, we were not disappointed. His enchiladas suizas looked smothery good and my Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich, replete with green chiles, was very tasty. Besides, we snapped a photo outside the place that is best captioned, “A Tribute To All Nations But Mostly America.”
On foot I knew where the grocery store and gas stations were but thanks to divided highways and road construction, it proved somewhat trying to get there in a car. Despite confidence that the supermarket was RIGHT THERE, just ahead, I couldn’t seem to navigate by wheeled vehicle to RIGHT THERE. Eventually I had to ask Siri for directions and she took me on a roundabount goose hunt that ended at a different grocery store than I had ever seen. But I picked up some Diet Coke to stash in our hotel’s mini-fridge and so at least my caffeine fixes are chilling.
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My GPS got us to the Santa Fe Opera rear entrance. But we’re here, getting ready to see a Spaghetti Western infused La Fanciulla del West. All the ushers are in Clint Eastwoodian serapes. Should be fun.