Last night the sky was amazing. There is no other light in the campground & the moon is getting fuller by the minute. I didn't even need a flashlight to go to the bathroom. This morning the temp is the lowest it's been this entire trip, probably low 60s. Thank God for my Grand Canyon blankie!! We meet some of the neighbors. Next door is a family traveling cross-country with their two young children in a Travel-Lite trailer. It's bigger than ours but still on the small side as RVs go. They are pulling it with their SUV same as us & had similar trouble getting up here yesterday. They took a wrong turn, got stuck & had to have a ranger pull them out. Pretty embarrassing the guy said. They are moving from North Carolina to Portland & are taking about 6 weeks to get there, nice!
Also, there is a mad woman roaming the grounds. She seems normal enough at first, striking up a friendly conversation, but then she wanders off mid-rant to the next campers & I suspect she may just move from campground to campground. We decide to take extra precautions & really lock everything up tight before heading to town this morning.
We get to town about 10:30 & our first stop is to the French Pastry Shop @ La Fonda Hotel. I order my favorite; the Croque Monsieur. We run into Mom & Suzy & agree on a time & place to meet later. After breakfast we checked out a jewelry place across the street; Long John Silver's. They have old & new pieces & I settle on a beautiful turquoise & silver cuff made in the 20s. LJS is a mom & son operated establishment & we learn that the patriarch of the family has just passed away this month. I really admire how they are soldiering on. We also pick up a few trinkets for the folks back home taking care of business. Bryon & our friends Chris & Julia stop by to say, "Hi."
From there we head up to Canyon Road to spend the next couple of hours wandering in & out of the galleries. Santa Fe is the third largest art market in the country after New York & Los Angeles so the variety & quality is outstanding. A day really isn't enough time to devote but we get here a couple of times a year so mainly we get a feel for what's new. And I get the sense things have really picked up since December. As we head back to the town center we stop in at an Italian place for a cold drink & notice that they rent Vespas by the hour. That sounds like a lot of fun for a future trip.
Soon it's time to meet up with Mom & Suzy to prepare for tonight's outing; Tosca @ the Santa Fe Opera. There is a tradition of tailgating for this so we make another Whole Foods run for grilled salmon, chicken, cold salads, olive bread & strawberry shortcakes. At the Italian place earlier I have discovered Pamplemo San Pellegrino (delicious!!!) sodas and I grab a bunch of these to chill. We make the short drive to the Opera parking lot which is situated in the hills on the outskirts of town. We luckily find a spot that is beginning to be in the shade & set up our al fresco "dining room." We have allowed about an hour & a half so we have plenty of time to relax, enjoy conversation & dine before it's time to enter. Just as we are finishing Chris & Bryon stop by on their way in to the show. Once it gets a little closer to curtain we pack up & head in.
We have excellent seats & as the sun begins to set Tosca begins. I don't consider myself to be any kind of opera expert but I have definitely enjoyed the few that I've attended. And it just so happens that this is the one I've seen the most (this will be my third production.) The sets are a kind of cubist version of a cupola & cathedral jutting out at weird angles, almost giving a sense of vertigo. The lighting is subtly highlighting different architectural features onstage but it pales in comparison to the serene beauty of the surrounding landscape. SFO is open air & you can see the gorgeous colors of the fading light in the desert & mountains beyond the stage. I've been here when thunderstorms were approaching, man you talk about dramatic!!
It's really hot. I guess the same factors that contribute to the excellent acoustics also prevent the air from moving. I have a fan in my purse but I don't want to distract my neighbors by flapping so I slip my shoes off & put my feet on the the cold concrete floor. If I get any hotter I'm going to hike my skirt up!! I wish I could understand the Italian. The libretto is conveniently displayed on the seat back in front of me but I find it distracting. However it's impossible to resist reading along to follow the story to its tragic conclusion.
As we are filing out afterward, we run into our friend Chris & his son Blake from OkC. We are happy to learn of our mutual appreciation for opera & agree to get together in OkC. Chris has an apartment in New York & regularly attends productions at the Metropolitan Opera. We talk about coordinating taking in a production there!!
It's late & time to take the girls back to their hotel & for us to head up for our last night on the mountain. I wish I could say I am ready to go home. What I'm really ready for is to grab our dogs, turn around & come right back here!! But, I think this is the best way to end a vacation...wanting more!!
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