We awoke to rain. Cold rain. But we still love Santa Fe. Perhaps that tells you something about how *comfortable* this city feels! I hate rain - and I REALLY hate cold, but I could live here. We just put on our *long* pants - and kept our sweatshirts ready, and forged on.
I took advantage of a nice desk in the Red Roof Hotel room - and the reliable wireless internet connection - and banged out some Blog entries, then made up a couple of DVD's of photos - for folx who don't have internet (I *still* don't understand how ANYBODY can survive without the internet these days...), and then we packed up and headed out for our latest on the list of "Food Network's" "Diners, Drive-In's, and Dive's": Tecolote's:
It's right on the "main drag" so we'd passed it a few times already, but it's really only open for Breakfast and lunch, so we hadn't gotten to eat there yet. The parking lot was full - on a *Wednesday* at 10:30AM. It's a popular place! The staff was very friendly and helpful with menu suggestions - and they instantly knew which items had been featured on the TV show. So. I ordered the Atolé Piñon pancakes with pine nuts - and Kathy had the Huevos Yucatecos. Green chile and a banana on the side. Trust us. The banana is an excellent compliment: the sweetness of the banana taming the chile a bit. They were both very tasty - and Kathy's was quite hot. To the point that we ultimately decided that my pancakes also made a good compliment: combine the Huevos and the pancakes to tame the burn a bit. The prices were quite modest and we enjoyed the experience and do, indeed, understand the recommendation from the TV. But do remember that I had a not-inconsequential amount of Kathy's eggs - with the hot green chile. Keep that in mind....So. Pack up and head for a Post Office to just quick mail the DVD's before continuing with the gallery tour. I had failed to ask a person where a Post Office was - so I asked Leila.
Ummmm.... Leila is pretty-literal in her searching, so she didn't find any Post Offices nearer than 17 miles. OK. No big deal. We'll just drive the 17 miles. We got on the road, and the 17 miles stretched out. She tells you how far things are *straight-line* distance - until you actually say to GO there. Once we actually had her calculate the route, it turned out to curl around quite a bit so that the actual distance was 30 minutes' drive. So we drove. And drove. Out of Santa Fe - out into the beautiful, rainy, surroundings - and found ourselves at the *Los Alamos* Post Office. OK. So. I screwed up in finding a Post Office, but the postman there was *very* helpful and got our DVD's mailed off - and, well, gee, we had wanted to see the Science Museum there anyway - since it was the site where the whole Manhattan Project development of the Atomic Bomb had been done, so... maybe it wasn't a mistake after all to pick that Post office.
No problem finding the museum:
We read history and tried interactive displays and watched movies and learned some new things about "the bomb" and its development and deployment. Like... I hadn't known that the US *tried* to end the war after the *first* one was dropped, but the Japanese government refused to negotiate - saying that it was an unrepeatable fluke. So. Bomb #2 was dropped - after a campaign of leaflets to warn Hiroshima residents to evacuate - to prove that it was *not* just a fluke. The museum also has a history of supercomputing and a nice treatise on the large herd of *Elk* which has developed around the lab. Quite important and interesting - and the museum is *free*.
The day was still overcast as we followed Leila's direction back to Santa Fe and to the State Capital building. We parked, then walked around the building - not sure it *was* the Capital - until we walked inside and confirmed. It is a *beautiful* building - marble and granite - and very-much in keeping with what *I* think is a wonderful Southwestern feel and motif. We walked thru the main rotunda - then walked up to some big doors that said "House of Representatives". I just tried the door - and it opened - so we walked right in. Nobody else was there, but the chamber was publically accessible - and I think that's *wonderful* that it can be totally accessible. We absorbed the view and the atmosphere - then continued on around the building - to walk thru the Senate as well. It really made us feel that there was an appreciation that the government is *for the people*.... to have it unlocked and just available for viewing.
By that time, it was after 5PM when the galleries close anyway, so we headed back to the Red Roof and, with the thoughts of the Capital Building in our minds - Kathy spent a few hours on the web looking up candidates and issues and we made our choices for the General Election, filled out our absentee ballots, and exercised *our* right to vote. It *did* take *hours* to pore thru all of the Florida decisions. But it is *done*.
Then we celebrated by asking Randy (our very-helpful front-desk-front) where to go for an Italian dinner and he recommended a great place: Pranzo's - which even happened to have special low prices on Tuesday nites.
Good food.
Good company.
Back to the hotel to sleep.
3947 miles.
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