was going out to dinner but unfortunately this time the one night we are transiting through that town we’ll be experiencing an Art Opening followed by the world premiere of “Oppenheimer” in a format not intended by its director at CCA. Hopefully there’ll be food trucks in the parking lot although I’ve been warned that that’s a little too West Coast for such a sophisticated venue…meanwhile in anticipation we had a brief round of quiet, a bit of Max Disrupt
[days of internet cafe and an evening or two entertaining including the night before leaving]
and Friday were off to the highway, over Raton and down
the Interstate
past Maxwell
and the rest
to Charlie’s Spic & Span in Las Vegas
for some of that old time adovada before the unlikely sighting of not one
but TWO 1939 Chevy sedan deliveries in the wild livened up the highway to Santa Fe after which
the Wide Open changed to four 80 mph lanes bumper to bumper [not shown] from there
to Albuquerque where the thermometer read 108 on the pavement though it was most pleasant in John and Roberta’s backyard…and so on to an evening of elaborate food and
conversations, a leisurely breakfast by the fountain and late morning visit to the Albuquerque Museum of Art for Danny Lyon’s epic show of a lifetime lived on the margins. I was most
surprised by the recent landscapes, being utterly unfamiliar with that aspect of the oeuvre in
an exhibition so all-encompassing as to leave us utterly exhausted but after that and a light
lunch it was back to those 80 mph lines heading north until, abandoning our ambitious
intentions to see Bruce Nauman at Site and explore the Railyard, we pulled in to our motel and
became temporarily comatose, emerging just in time to take in Meridel’s well-attended opening
at the resuscitated CCA, ostensibly to be followed by that “Oppenheimer” screening but, despite
being told that the sound mix was immeasurably better as well as visually more interesting in
the 35 mm version, we were subsequently lured happily off to dinner once the crowds thinned
out with just Ben and Meridel at the Jambo Cafe, then [despite missing the turn to the motel necessitating a sketchy maneuver to recover] had another wakeful night into Sunday at which
point it was back to Las Vegas and Charlie’s with its excellent service and vibe for breakfast
before driving the long road home, mostly not shown as L. had a bad hand and couldn’t.
Despite the empty open roads the truckstops were mobbed, often as not with four bedroom motorhomes towing six-passenger side by sides [not shown but always left at the pumps].
The same situation prevailed in Walsenburg where after shopping at Safeway we nonetheless
returned to wait in the sun behind a Minnesota SUV whose driver, after fueling, laboriously washing windshield, back window and – tailights ! – waddled off for her Big Gulp, refusing to
move. We drove on to other errands, fortunately finding the Loaf ‘n’ Jug empty so finally fueled, abandoning town and Summer Driving Season at last for Linny’s Laundromat and Slow Internet
Cafe where we unloaded and stumbled around until a last supper with Luz, Izel and Christine which went well well into the evening…home at last, though still overly warm.
Beauty and pain all in one peripatetic adventure. Hope your hand feels better, Linda!
The adovado looks so good! I make a good curtido but homemade pupusas have yet to appear.
Interesting to see the artwork…especially touched by Meridel’s efforts. The Iraqi swamp project is a good one.
Enjoyed your description of the SUV lady event!
Once we distanced ourselves from the salt assault of restaurant foods the hand did quiet down, yes…and Charlie’s adovada did not disappoint though sadly the rellenos were definitely lacking…a puny pasilla overwhelmed by fried dough and mountains of cheese, oh well…
All Meridel’s “Eden in Iraq” needs now is water, purified or not; apparently there’s a real crisis there at the moment…but what a wonderfully ambitious and generous project!
The SUV event had even more to it; between washing windows she would stop to stare at the gas pump very like someone of similar age and circumference might regard a slot machine and after refusing to maneuver around the truck in front of her as advised I did, went went around the block and back onto 160 east to park but L. found it impossible to cross so, back in the car and across Main to turn around, head west to inquire at the liquor store for Luz’ Tito’s and after all that went west again past where Minnesota Bitch was STILL parked at the pumps…she may be there yet!
Quel Adventures! And in heat! Next to last pic he seems to be praying at the motorcycle. I would guess Key Lime Pies, topped with lime, a pretty good glue….to the goo. 👍 and a Golden Continental is always a treat.😎
Didn’t sample the pastries at Charlie’s but the Key Lime pie at Jambo’s was beyond the beyond!
That drive between Albuquerque and Santa Fe had me in a nostalgic mode, having done it frequently with Katie and Randy when she lived there. There was a Trader Joe’s in Santa Fe and none in Albuquerque until a couple years before they left.
An excellent op-Ed piece in the NYTimes written by a woman who grew up south of where the test bomb was detonated. Her family and other residents were all assured there was no danger…in spite of numerous people coming down with cancer. As for Barbenheimer or whatever they are calling it, you can imagine what I think!
The same assurances were made to all those residents of southwestern Utah all those years of Yucca Flats “testings”, two-headed sheeps and rampant cancers [including among many of the Hollywood people who made movies out there in the fifties and sixties].
For another perspective on the secret world of Los Alamos find “The House on Otowi Bridge” which was what inspired a lot of Meridel’s work for “Critical Mass”…and was sadly left out of the Oppenheimer film.
Wow! I think you crammed more into your Santa Fe trip than we did in four weeks to Michigan and back! You certainly scored better in the food department; I’d like to try those adovadas some day. Thanks for all the photos & documenting the exhibitions; great stuff (esp Danny Lyons’ landscapes and your various “roads with clouds”).
Well not really, though a lot less of that interstate traffic that’s for sure!
The final deep blue evening shot is spectacular.
F