Land of Enchantment

The morning dawned bright and cold in Santa Fe and we were glad for our fireplace and for the breakfast burritos awaiting us in the dining room.  All the requisite Santa Fe options were there, eggs, potatoes, tortilla, meat, and two kinds of salsa (red and green).  As a Californian I am always hoping for guacamole, but made do with too much cream cheese.  After our hearty breakfast we made our way to the famous plaza.

Flanked by St. Francis Cathedral at one end, the historic plaza of Santa Fe is a mix of museums, shops, restaurants, and the usual high-end amenities a modern traveler of a certain age has learned to expect (Starbucks! Eileen Fisher!)  We focused on window-shopping; although in a fit of indulgence (stupidity) I bought John a drum.  The rest of our tour was punctuated by a fluxuating rhythm.

We then headed for Ten Thousand Waves, the greatest Japanese bath on earth.  I must say, Ten Thousand Waves in and of itself is a reason to come to Santa Fe, but I assumed that children would not be welcome and thus we would be unable to go.  Much to my delight, the Ten Thousand Waves web site declared that they are an “inclusive” community so children are welcome and that if people don’t want children to be part of their bathing experience then they ought to consider renting a private bath.  I’ve never seen this anywhere else.  It’s the sort of thing that makes you love New Mexico.

So off we went.  Our $18 per person (half price for people under 4 feet tall), got us everything we needed for unlimited bathing including robes, sandals, shampoo, towels, tea, and use of all the public spaces (women’s bath, common bath, foot bath, saunas, relaxation room, fireplace room, and the like).

I have to start the description of how heavenly this place is with a tour of the toilets.  A well-known fact is that the Japanese people have taken the toilet to a whole new level.  Never mind the duel flush – Japanese toilets also have heated seats, a variety of built in warm water cleansing functions (front, back, different pressure settings and warm air-dry afterward).  John had to try it.  “Yikes!  Help! Oh!  Let’s do it again, Mama!”

Then to the baths. 

All the baths are outside with open-air seating and ample towel service.  We elected to use the women’s bath exclusively and enjoyed the tub and sauna about as well as we enjoyed cooling off on the deck wrapped only in towels.  Only John braved the cold plunge, much to the approval of the local women enjoying the baths alongside us.  I felt right at home when one woman saw my #8 locker key and commented, breezily “You have infinity.”  They have hippies in Santa Fe too!

We tried out the foot bath by the koi pond and the relaxation room (John loved the goose-necked light fixtures), and after picking up a few Japanese necessities, we headed back in time for lunch.

Actually, we weren’t in time for lunch.  Having left the baths at 1:50PM we missed everyone’s lunch closing time. Especially the Japanese places that Deena wanted to try.   In fact, the only place we could find that was open was the La Fonda buffet.  Deena gamely suggested I get a margarita since she would take the first driving shift, and proceeded to eat the three meatless things available. 

We hit the road.

A Santa Fe local at the bath suggested an alternate route to Amarillo, which was both hauntingly beautiful and disturbingly devoid of people.  I think we saw less than a dozen cars the hour and a half (and 110 miles) we were on it.  “Who lives here?” Deena wondered.  “Zombies” I concluded.  But that couldn’t be.  Zombies would starve to death in that vast, beautiful, unpeopled landscape.  While we enjoyed the drive, we were glad to finally rejoin the 40 and proceed into Texas.

Deena was determined to find vegetarian food, and did locate Calico Corner, a well-rated southern cooking eatery.  We arrived an hour before closing and were greeted enthusiastically by a young waitress who called us “Ma’am” as she gazed at us through cracked glasses.  Deena was eager to try any and all vegetables – alas – almost all of them contained meat – the turnip greens, the cabbage, the beans, even the mashed potatoes which, our waitress told us, “Are roasted with the meat.”  Needless to say, everything was exceptionally delicious and real.  Deena did find some vegetables she could eat and was suitably impressed.  I ordered the turnip greens on the side of my potpie.  John declared the corn the “best I ever ate.”

Well fed, we went home to bed.