recent escapades: Santa fe

Willis (Sears) Tower gift shop, April 2010

Guy buying t-shirt: "Primm? Are you by any chance related to Andy Primm?"

Me: "Not that I know of!"

Guy buying t-shirt: "He's the drummer in my band...."

That's pretty much the conversation beginnings with dear friend Alex Maryol. Since we were all intrigued at this unique last name common bond, Andy Primm became my Facebook friend shortly after. In spite of moves and other life happenings, we've all kept up throughout the past almost 2 years, and the subject of visiting Santa fe has come up on many occasions. Three weekends ago I finally took a flight to the Land of Enchantment. 

In preparation for the trip, I listened to "Santa fe" from the Newsies, "Santa fe" from Rent, and every other Santa fe song I could find in Spotify. That's what you get when you mix music nerd with travel freak. Since I really had no clue what existed out west, I decided to google "best things to do in Santa fe"(oh so original), so I had some sort of idea if my amazing tour guide asked me what I felt like doing. I really didn't need anything that I looked up, though. Alex and Andy showed me the perfect weekend in Santa fe. 

As I peered down from my window seat on the plane as we drew nearer to Albuquerque, I was in awe. I had never seen deserts before, and the mountains were completely different than the mountains on the east coast. It was gorgeous. 

Shortly after I had landed, Alex picked me up, and I was ecstatic that I was getting to see him after almost a year since he had last been in Chicago. We were both starving, so he drove me through Nob Hill, which is pretty much ABQ's arts district. We had a delicious lunch at Flying Star Cafe, coffee at Satellite, looked at adobe houses, then began driving to Santa Fe. We listened to his fantastic upcoming album,  I spotted my first tumbleweed, caught up on life, and he pointed out special places along the way. 

After we arrived, we met up with Andy that evening for dinner at Maria's. This was the first time I had actually met Andy in person. Immediately I noticed crazy similarities between us. We HAVE to be long lost cousins. I experienced red and green chile for the first time there and learned that if you want both on your dish, you order "Christmas". Tasty! Afterwards, we got to see Andy play in a gig at the La Fonda Hotel with musicians Don and Pete. Every single time I thought of La Fonda, I never failed to crack up. You know why? Lafawnduh from Napoleon Dynamite. At the La Fonda, I loved seeing Andy play. He's a great artist overall, and I love his stage presence. Alex got to sit in one the songs and drum, which was a treat for everyone. A favorite reoccurring moment was being introduced by my full name and seeing the looks on their friends' faces thinking briefly Andy had eloped (Once again--the unique last name we share). Later that evening, we stopped by another hotel to hear Alex's friend Matthew Andrae perform. He was so much fun to talk to and his set was incredible. While we were watching, Alex told me about a youtube video titled Sweet Celine that boosted his career amazingly. Watch it!

The next morning started off perfectly. We met Andy for Breakfast burritos at Tia Sophia's which is a Maryol restaurant now run by his brother. The burritos surpassed my high expectations! ;) Alex's brother joined us at the table, too, which was lots of fun. While at breakfast, Andy gave me a signed copy of his album "Mercenary"--so sweet!

In Tia Sophia's menu

Afterwards, we strolled around the Plaza, stopped in a photography gallery--there's art galleries everywhere! It's so cool!-- looked at beautiful copper and turquoise jewelry (resisting the urge to buy it all), then walked up the hill to the Cross of the Martyrs where there was a great view of the city. The hill was quite inspirational, because it was there when we 3 decided that we need to form a band and travel the world. Step one: lock ourselves away for a weekend and write music.  We felt the need for a snack at Rio Chama before our next adventure which was driving up into the mountains close to the ski basin. Breathtaking views. 

Post-mountain time, Alex and I met up with his family at El Meson, a wonderful Tapas restaurant. The occasion was celebrating his parents birthdays the week prior. They are all adorable, and it was such a pleasure getting to have dinner with them. 

One of my requests for the weekend was to view the stars, since you never see stars living in the city. Alex took me to his parents' gorgeous home where we climbed up a spiral staircase to the rooftop. I don't ever remember seeing that many stars ever, and I for sure hadn't experienced that much silence in the surroundings in such a long time. There were 3 shooting stars and even a little bit of coyote sounds! On our way to the star-viewing, he showed me his church, and the Priest just happened to be checking the mail after a trip, and he let us inside to view it! It looks like it's straight out of the Greek countryside. So very beautiful. 

The next morning was departure morning, and we had saved experiencing the cinnamon rolls at Frontier for then. Frontier's cinnamon rolls and orange juice were hyped up by everyone, so I was especially happy to try them. Those plus a breakfast burrito=YUM. It was the best departure meal. 

New Mexico was pure delight, and I'm so glad I got to visit Alex and finally meet Andy. One day when it's warmer I hope to be back for hiking in the mountains fun if our band-formation-locking away and writing doesn't happen before then... ;)