Our Santa Fe Trip

Tuesday, August 21st Mel and I drove to Santa Fe, New Mexico for our annual "retired Farm Bureau Couples Retreat". We met 3 other couples there: Joe & Marilyn Vaughn, Reggie & Pat Loffelholtz and Bill & Nellie Dry. We stayed at Garrett's Desert Inn on Old Santa Fe Trail. This was a great location because we could walk to all the historic downtown places.
After arriving we gathered in the Vaughn's suite and visited. For dinner that evening the tradition is that the guys walk to Upper Crust Pizza and bring it back to the room for us to enjoy the delicious pizza. So the tradition was continued.
The next morning La Fonda Hotel was the place for breakfast. Everyone gathered there to enjoy a delicious meal. After eating everyone did their own thing of sightseeing, etc.
Mel and I visited the little neighborhood market, Jackalope's, Trader's Joe, and the Fresh Produce Store. Funny, they all seem to deal with food. Haha!!
I had read in the morning paper that this was the time of the year for roasted peppers. I was curious and asked a couple of people about this. We were told that the Fresh Produce Store would be the best place to purchase the peppers; however, many stands are on the sides of the roads roasting and selling the peppers. Large hoppers filled with peppers have heat blown on them until they are roasted. They are cooled and then put in plastic bags and are frozen. We could have purchased 35 pounds of roasted peppers for $20. That was the best price, but we didn't think we would use that many so we opted for 2 smaller bags - one medium taste and one hot taste. Hatch peppers and serrano peppers were the ones we saw roasted. Very interesting and shows you can always learn something new.
Trader Joe's was quite a place. In fact, it was almost overwhelming. I had read about Trader Joe's and finally experienced one. They have some unusual items and their prices are reasonable.
Wednesday evening we had planned to walk to La Cantina Sena Cantina for dinner. Because of rain, we drove instead. This was a unique place as the waiters and waitresses entertained us with the best of Broadway and Jazz while we enjoyed our meal.
Thursday Mel and I headed home. We drove in rain from Santa Fe to the Oklahoma border, then it was cloudy until we reached OKC where the sun was shining and the wind really blowing. At home we had not received any rain. Hopefully the rain was coming our way.
Mel and I had a wonderful time and it is always good to see everyone, but as always, "there is no place like home!"

Our motel


La Fonda


The neighborhood market


Trader's Joe - what an interesting place!


Fresh Produce Store - great prices on their veggies


Roasting the peppers


One of many stands that roast and sell peppers