Now We Can Drive Our Boxster Here, Too

A few weeks ago, a guest arrived at our neighbor Maggie's casita in his brand-new Porsche. Horrified at the condition of the dirt road (our beloved Mesa Sea), and not wanting to risk further damage to his car, he told Maggie that he'd have to cancel his stay. But after a few margaritas and a sunset soak in the casita's hot tub, he had a change of heart. He decided to rent a car for the week, and when it was time to leave, he hired a tow truck to haul his car back to the main road.

Had that guest delayed his visit for a few weeks, he would have been delighted to find a newly-paved County Road B-007 leading to Mesa Sea:
And the deeply-rutted, close-to-impassable Mesa Sea is now a navigable thoroughfare, thanks to a mysterious road-grading fairy who kindly leveled the road and created a drainage ditch in anticipation of the runoff from next spring's snowmelt:

Although drivers on Mesa Sea may still encounter some problems (due mainly to heavy construction vehicles on a less-than-100%-dry surface),  the road is greatly improved.  After the successful paving of B-007, residents are hoping to convince Taos County to take over the maintenance of Mesa Sea, making that Sea of Mud a thing of the past.

A Tree Grows in Española

Today we went to the Faraway, Georgia O'Keeffe's word for the area around Abiquiu, New Mexico, the site of her home and studio. On this lovely fall day, we were glad to have made reservations weeks in advance for the guided tour of her home. Like all O'Keeffe fans, I was thrilled to see the actual patio door that inspired her to buy the house and was later the subject of twenty-some paintings. Our guide led us through her 200-year-old adobe home and gave a thorough history of the home's origins and the artist's life. We couldn't take notes or carry purses, much less take pictures, so our memories will have to suffice.

As we were leaving the area, we drove by the Chama River, which O'Keeffe captured so perfectly. Our photo doesn't quite do it justice:We worked up an appetite after hiking the Chimney Rock trail at Ghost Ranch, so we headed to El Paragua, a restaurant in Española that had always intrigued us. It's just off the main road, and every time we'd passed it on our way to Chimayo we wondered if it was still in business, since it had the forlorn look of a place long past its heyday. But when we arrived at 6:30, the place was jumping with people crowding around the bar and families, couples, and large groups vying for tables. The noise level and warren-like arrangement of rooms reminded us of our local Buca di Beppo in St. Paul, but even Buca's over-the-top decor couldn't compete with this, which we discovered on our way to the restrooms:The verdict on El Paragua? The margaritas were strong, the salsa hot, and the enchiladas just right, but we still prefer the treeless Guadalajara Grill in Taos, where we can have fabulous Mexican food for half the price.

Obamanos

Last night we watched the third and final presidential debate at the home of our friend, Ann, along with several other Taosenos. Ann is the only one among us who has a working TV, so we prevailed on her to let us come to her loft in town. To thank Ann for providing a TV, we brought food and drink and had a lively pot luck dinner while Obama and McCain slugged it out.

Four thousand new voters recently registered in Taos County, and we're pretty sure that most of them will vote for Obama. In fact, northern New Mexico is the source of the new slogan for his campaign aimed at the area's Hispanic voters: Obamanos! We've seen the signs everywhere, including this one in Arroyo Seco:The yard signs are hard to come by, but our neighbors Kris and Ginger managed to score one at Taos Paint. It's not the official one (Spanish speakers will note the lack of the upside-down exclamation point before the O), but it'll do:K & G kindly gave us the sign to take back to Minnesota since they live in Houston and know that it will be absolutely useless there. We're happy to display it in our yard; the neighbors on our blue street will appreciate the sentiment.