Magical White Mesa
This past weekend, I took the opportunity to escape the Front Range. It was time to bask in the enlightening and inspiring presence of my dear friends Jen and Aaron ... and visit them in their newly built home ... and to bask in the light of soulful Santa Fe.
Thank goodness I escaped. Even tho Jen and I had originally planned on working out our respective "Creative endeavor kinks" (visiting a number of studios), we ended up playing all day in the sunshine on the ponies instead. Hum. Wonder how that happened? ;-)
So after our first leisurely breakfast, we loaded up the ponies, and headed South -- then West. We visited the land of the enchanting and magical White Mesa.
Aaron promised a 2 hour ride with spectacular views, no people, and one rock thing to roll with a wee bit of adrenaline.
What we got was a 3.5 hour ride, with spectacular views, people we passed in the first 15 minutes with no people thereafter, miles and miles and miles, and playful, powerful vertical feet worth of absolutely PERFECT singletrack Bliss. And yes, one adrenaline-inducing rock pile to boot. Yesssir, I love my cake with frosting and ice cream .. and cookies and donuts and a cup of essssspresssooooo, too.
And the best part: my brilliantly beautiful friends.
I lent Jen my TiNy dancer pony, and I continued on my WeakSSauce Mitigation plan by riding my Ss humblePie pony. I still have a lot of work to do ;-)
We rode and rallied and basked and brilliantiatied and blissed our single-track starving souls to a most perfect state of contentment. I'm not exactly sure what else to say about it.
Afterwards, we made a quick pit-stop at a yummy place for a "quick bite". We entered the establishment, and were greeted most abundantly with the largest display case full of pastries I think I've ever seen. Not a bad place, post-ride.
Upon careful deliberation, I decided to re-introduce my fine friends to one of the best foods on the planet: Macaroni and Cheese. Ohhhhhhhh..... (please don't send me emails telling me how horrible this food is for me. Thank you in advance).
We also indulged in Red Velvet Cake Cupcakes, and some sort of ChocolateBliss Cupcake that is beyond words. So much for the 3,000' of climbing.
We ended the day back in Santa Fe. We lounged and chatted and discussed and looked at pictures. Then we headed out to a lovely late night dinner of tapas and wine. (Don't ever let me get used to this lifestyle. Please).
Sunday morning I was treated to the best Waffles I've EVER had. Aaron made them out of some sort of sourdough stuff that he had to prep the night before and finish in the morning. Something about fermenting. With the added delights of syrup, nectarines, strawberries and ...... whipped cream... it was a breakfast heaven.
Since breakfast was so divine, there was absolutely NO sense in hurrying it.
So, we missed the ride time, and headed into Santa Fe to check out a few of the things I was looking for.
Most of the things I was looking for were unavailable. But that is ok. I found things that I wasn't looking for;-)
And, to boot, we had a casual late-lunch in the center of an atrium with the soulful Santa Fe light pouring down on us.
The Malbec + White wine we chose didn't disappoint. And we all marveled at the occasion.
Why? Because it just NEVER happens like this -- when you're out out out playing playing playing hard hard hard.
It was a nice time for stillness and reflection. Peaceful in yet another way.
After lunch, it was time for me to roll back Northwards. Siiiggghhhh.
There was a half hour space of time in there - between the lunch and the final launch back North - that I seriously considered calling in ... for the WEEK. But alas....
jj
