farmers market – AHAmoments

R, L, and myself took a long weekend a couple of weeks ago to visit our friend V at her new place in Santa Fe. Our mutual friend K was also there which made it all the more special. R and I had never been to Santa Fe before, but this trip was more for us all to get together again and have time together as it has been years since we have been able to do that.

Spoiler alert: a special time was had!

If you ever make it to Santa Fe, we did some things that you might enjoy.

I have been to New Mexico before while I was in college, but it was a different experience entirely as we were mapping, hiking, and camping. I will tell you, waking up in the trees at elevation with the nip in the air and an elk bugling will remain one of my favorite memories. I am a Texas gal through and through, and no skyline will beat the great state for me, but I do like a full spectrum experience!

V bought her house in the historic district of Santa Fe about a year ago and it has been ~~under construction~~ a work in progress ever since. She has been doing a lovely job of restoring it to its glory and it was really fun to see her in her element giving us a tour of the house and explaining all of her plans.

We arrived at the house midday on Thursday after flying into Albuquerque, renting a car, and making the short drive to Santa Fe. After we unloaded our bags and got settled, we had sandwiches for lunch at the house and made a plan for the coming days.

The first thing we did was explore Canyon Road. Canyon Road is full of art galleries and shops. We began at this art store where they make their own paints and then worked our way down.

The street views were quite pretty and there it a lot to explore. It always fascinates me how different every city and town is. No two are the same even in the same state, much less the same country.

In addition to the main Canyon Road, there are little side streets and alleys with shops nestled here and there. You could really spend quite a bit of time exploring if you wanted. There are galleries of all kinds (some with live music) and shops galore.

None of these pictures show it, but the fall colors and leaves were quite pretty. If we had come a little sooner, there would have been more yellow leaves. Many of them had already fallen. On the flip side, if we had delayed our trip a little later…we could have experienced a white Santa Fe. V just sent us some photos of Santa Fe covered in snow, and it looks nothing short of magical. While I am most drawn to more green landscapes, I think Santa Fe is probably the most pretty under a fresh, heavy snow.

Rachel and I did buy ourselves some jewelry while we were exploring.

We found a wine bar in the back of one of the galleries and enjoyed some local red wine as we explored their courtyard patio. The people were very nice everywhere we went and there are dogs everywhere! You can see one here in the wine bar. As you can imagine, I missed my Merley bob. Luckily, V’s two dogs at the house made me feel better.

I probably broke a rule by taking this picture, but I ~~wanted~~ want it really bad. Who does this look like to you??? Maybe only long time readers will be able to name it, but this looks like my Lito as a baby! Thank you to Gregg Albracht for taking this stunning and inspirational photo! If I was made of more money, I would have purchased it to enjoy for the rest of my life. Gregg, if you’re feeling charitable, I would love this for Christmas!

The city has a strong Spanish Catholic history and there are Saint Francis statues everywhere. I even bought myself a little Saint Francis (and a Christmas ornament) at one of the consignment antique stores we went to. Do yourself a favor and see the chapels at night and go to the store called The Raven. You will wish you had a lot of money and a house to fill. This is a common problem for me.

On Friday, after a leisurely morning talking over coffee while it lightly snowed, we went and explored Meow Wolf. There is no photo evidence of this as it is meant to be experienced, but it was definitely an experience! An art installation experience. I was very impressed even though I was overstimulated and got a little claustrophobic. I would definitely recommend going, but maybe try and go when there might be less people? I am not sure how you accomplish this, but I think there were too many people there and it took away from the experience for me. Meow Wolf was started in Santa Fe by Santa Fe artists and there are now installations in Vegas, Denver, and Grapevine, Texas. There is one to open in Houston sometime in 2024.

V, L, and K had to retire early to go sit in the cafe while R and I continued on. When we felt we had explored enough, we met them in the cafe and sat for a little bit with coffee before we left to head to lunch. It was also snowing very large flurries at this point. None of it stuck, but it was a precursor for what was to come after we would be back in Texas.

We were able to get into La Choza for lunch and if you ever make it to Santa Fe, you MUST go here. The food is AMAZING. They have goofy hours and do not take reservations, but it is worth it. Go here.

On Saturday morning, we hit up the farmers market. This was my favorite part as you can likely imagine. When I went to France, my favorite day was when we went to the local farmers market. It is my scene and you guessed it, this is a must do!

I did wish we could have had a another day so I could have purchased some local foods to cook a fun meal, but alas, we did not. We will have to do this next time. About a third of the market is art and the rest is local produce and foods etc. I bought a few gifts here as well. The weather was really amazing as you can tell by these stunning blue skies.

I really loved all the wreaths made with the chilies and I almost bought some to bring home, but I did not want to have to carry them on the plane along with my other purchases.

After the farmers market, we grabbed a quick lunch before going to see the Loretto Chapel and the Plaza.

The Loretto Chapel is another must in Santa Fe. I am not going to share pictures of the inside because, to be honest, it felt kind of wrong to take them in the first place. Even still, I did get some very special ones to share with a friend who has a connection to the chapel. There are pictures on the internet to give you the feel, but you really should go and experience it in person. This is another one I would suggest trying to go to when there are less people. I am not sure when that would be though. I would have liked to sit and appreciate it more.

Do not hate on me, but to me the Plaza is a skip item for me. I was shopped out at this point and maybe I would feel differently at another time, but I just did not feel like it was worth it. I am also not a big shopper and especially not for big name labels. I would have rather done Canyon Road again. It looked like there was a nice place on the square with a patio to stop and sit and have a drink or a meal, but I was also very distracted and uncomfortable as a protest was going on.

After the Plaza, we went back to the house for a little rest before a very fun evening to come.

If this fits your budget and schedule, GO DO THIS.

I did not ask many questions when both V and K said this is quintessential Santa Fe. I knew I wanted to go.

The Flamenco Dinner Show was very special. Partly because it was all of us together, yes. But the food was amazing. The drinks were great. the flamenco, well, that was moving!

Drinks and a three course gourmet meal capped off by magical Santa Fe flamenco music and dancing. Now do not get me wrong, the food was fabulous and not to be missed, but this was all about the performance.

The musicians and dancers change I think from dinner to dinner according to V and K, but here is a little taste. I do not want to share too much video to take away from the experience, but I was very impressed and our whole group agreed.

I have not had very much exposure to flamenco previously. I knew it was passionate. What dancing and music and art is not? What I did not know though, was how varied flamenco dance can be. I very much enjoyed each of the ladies’ versions and feelings during their dances.

This show was more than just a few songs and some dancing. They all left their feelings out there on the stage. The performance began with each dancer dancing an introduction to a short song. Then each dancer got to tell a complete story on center stage. This is the part that really got me. I felt like I had a history lesson of flamenco in addition to a passion lesson! Each dancer’s style was as unique as their look. At this point, I thought that would be the end of the show, but there was more! The dancing was then in twos as each dancer danced with each of the others. The finale was the perfect ending of all three dancers dancing together. The audience was enthralled and completely captivated for the entire performance from start to finish and there was not an empty seat.

We were the last ones to leave the restaurant and we were sure to thank the performers on our way out. They thanked us for our attention and participation!

We were all exhausted at this point and were happy to get tucked into bed before our early departure back to Albuquerque. I myself was ready to get back to Texas and my animals.

I will be back to New Mexico one day. There is quite a bit to explore outside of Santa Fe and we all hope to have a reunion once V is finished with her house. And one day, Lito and I will go there to ride in the mountains. One day.

Walk in love, dear readers! Have you gotten your Christmas spirit on yet???

The only thing I knew about Thursday when I woke up was that there was a local farmers market happening in Chateau Gontier and I wanted to go. I love markets. Especially with other people who also love markets.

We skipped the croissants at the house in favor of having one near the market so we could get there early and find all the things we wanted to find. Namely mussels to prepare for lunch later that day at the house.

All of the eager market goers hopped in the car and set off. We parked and set off on foot to a bakery for the first order of business.

We were all suffering from croissant withdrawal and we needed to remedy the situation. What we found in this bakery was a basic gold mine. If only I could remember the name of it. Everything was beautiful and looked as though it actually tasted as it looked. Each pastry was an individual art piece. While we all acted like we had never been in a bakery before, a few people jumped in front of us in line to order because we could not figure out what to do. At the end of our ogling, we each ended up getting multiple things to sustain us throughout the day. With our buttery, delicious finds safely tucked away in a bag for later (we were too excited to eat them just yet), we continued on our route.

As we approached the beginning of the market, I began to get giddy.

We passed by the bird and rabbit section rather quickly to get to what was happening farther down. We were not in the market for that kind of dinner or in need of any breeder stock.

This is where the action was happening. The fresh produce, goods, and all the people! So many sights, sounds, colors, and tastes. I am not typically a fan of crowds of people, but that is part of what makes a market a market.

All the locals were catching up and sharing stories. Smiling. Playing music. It was fabulous. Did I mention the weather was fabulous? Because it was. It reminded me somewhat of the markets we would go to in Mexico while spending summers there growing up. Not quite the same, but similar.

I spied some beautiful cherries and circled back around to buy a kilo of them. I said si instead of oui. I had actually done this multiple times already, but who is counting. Spain was not all that far away, right?! What can I say, old habits die hard.

We opted to start our walking breakfast of croissant as we continued on. I had to quickly stop as I realized how good this croissant was. Seriously. I am not kidding in the slightest. This one croissant was seriously the best one I had enjoyed yet (and was the best one the whole trip).

Once I was able to walk again, I found something to really got excited about. Local goat cheese! I LOVE goat cheese. Well, any cheese, but put goat cheese on anything and I will eat it. The same can be said about queso and vanilla ice cream. Anyway. Her case had already been depleted and there was a line, so you knew it all had to be good.

I purchased a round of plain and a round of fresh ground pepper corn crusted to take back to the house. I said si to her as well.

At this point, we decided to power through to the other side where the mussels were to make sure we got some and then stroll back through the rest.

The powering through only lasted so long as we had to stop at this stand with all kinds of dried sausage.

Anything you could imagine as a sausage, this man had it. Someone in our group bought some kangaroo sausage, just to give you an idea. One of the things I love about these types of markets, is the tasting. They all have little delicate tastes of their offerings to passers by. This man had slices of pork sausage with walnuts to offer. Naturally, I had to try, and just as naturally, I had to buy. I already had the goat cheese! How could I not!? Then I saw something even better. Pork sausage with figs! Do you want to know what I also really love not only in addition to goat cheese, but with goat cheese???!!! FIGS. So I bought some of the fig sausage as well.

We continued on and bought some potatoes and the mussels we came for before turning around.

On our stroll back through the rest of the market, I kept an eye out for the local honeys I saw at the beginning to go with my goat cheeses and sausages. All of that combined with a fresh baguette, I was going to create the best cheese board some time in the next couple of days.

We found a lady with different kinds of honey and she was willing to let us taste them all. This was a very interesting and enjoyable experience. If you like honey, and maybe even if you do not (you might find you indeed do like honey based on how different honeys can be), I recommend you try doing this. They were all really different. We tried four or five different kinds based on what the bees were pollinating on. Some were lovely and balanced and one in particular was straight up medicinal (in which all three of us made a face after we tried it). After deciding on a honey we thought would go well with the cheeses and sausage, we made our way back to the farm.

A large, late lunch and a nap had us all ready for the evening’s activities.

A ride along the Mayenne River at sunset.

Y’all, I can not imagine that I can fully describe this experience in words, so I figure I will let the photos do most of the work. This ride alone was worth the whole trip.

There were five riders and two horses, so we took turns with two people riding and three walking. The plan was to ride from the trailer to a cafe down the river where the rest of the non horsey part of the group was enjoying dinner, at which point I would hop on and ride with one person past the cafe, turn around and come back. Then I would ride with another person from the cafe to the trailer.

I turned around while I was walking to see this chateau.

When I hopped up on Top Girl (which was comical because I have not had a leg up in many years), she was ready to go. That Top Girl has top, big girl walk when she wants to! She was happy to be out and about, and so was I. Just another reason we got along so famously.

France loves their hedges and so do I.

The part from the cafe to the trailer was really and truly fabulous.

A great horse.

Stunning scenery.

A nice new friend and good conversation about horses.

We trotted for a little bit and if I thought Top Girl’s walk was nice, her trot that day could have gone into any ring and won the blue ribbon.

The money shot here. Not surprisingly, this was the best sunset of the whole trip.

As if all of the above was not enough. The evening just continued to get better.

All of the horse group met at the horse trailer to head back to the farm while the non horsey group finished their meal at the cafe.

Now, I could have done without dinner that night, but why would I do that?! I had all this cheese and sausage, so after settling the horses in their paddocks, we all went up to the house to enjoy some wine and my finds under the starlit sky, around the outdoor garden table. Good food, wine, horse talk, and laughter.

I do not like to use the word perfect, as you well know, but this day was rather perfect.

Walk in love dear readers, and stay tuned for more!