L.A. Visitor

Outside Santa Fe Airport

 My friend Maria came from L.A. for the Thanksgiving weekend, and it was like a fresh wind blowing through town. First discovery: our fabulous Santa Fe Airport (http://www.santafenm.gov/index.aspx?NID=177), where she flew in. It’s an old-fashioned, beautifully tiled, sleepy little airport with just one line for security check-in, mere steps from the restaurant and lone boarding gate. Parking is just outside the only terminal. So convenient! Second discovery: Maria’s little red Fujitsu Lifebook P Series computer—under two pounds.

We hiked every day on trails near Old Las Vegas Highway and Glorieta with Maria’s friend Peter Weiss, a terrific tour guide and photographer (http://www.peterweiss.com/), as they caught up on mutual friends in Bhutan, including one described by a Buddhist as having “expired,” which seems a gentler word than “died.” Peter drove us to Chimayo, where Maria gathered dirt from the Santuario, we bought heirloom chile from El Potrero Trading Post, and Peter showed us an ancient walled village. We visited retablo artist Roger Montoya, who painted a retablo in his studio as Warren Zevon’s final CD blasted away and we all pondered life’s passing. On Black Saturday, we hit the sales at Simply Santa Fe. Lunch was turkey chile at the popular Café Pasqual’s (http://www.pasquals.com/). We roamed Border’s, buying “Shantaram” and “Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, 2011.”

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Airplane boarding at left, restaurant ahead

Our final dinner was at Vinaigrette (https://vinaigretteonline.com/), where I had White Bean and Andouille Soup, Maria raved about her Italian pino white wine, and Peter told us where Cormac McCarthy and Murray Gell-Man have breakfast. On Sunday, just after Maria took off in her 44-seat small jet returning to L.A., it got super windy. Wish those planes were a bit bigger.

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