Our basic assumption is that every place is special; the challenge is to discover what makes it so. Here's how we go about it.
Tip 1. Set the stage.
On long car trips, we like to listen to audio books, especially books that are set in the region where we are headed. The same holds true for books we take along for reading pleasure and music we listen to along the way.
On our last trip to the Four Corners (Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado) we listened to Tony Hillerman's Listening Woman, part of his Navajo mystery series. Not great literature, but the story takes place in the towns we were visiting and the story is compelling enough to make the desert miles fly by.
On this trip, Ed was reading Still Wild: Short Fiction of the American West 1950 to Present, edited by Larry McMurtry. On our last trip to Ontario, I read a collection of short stories by Canadian writer extraordinaire Alice Munro, while Ed was into Escape: In Search of the Natural Soul of Canada, by Roy McGregor.
Often Ed will create a playlist on his i-pod that features location-specific songs: cowboy songs for out west, Canadian songwriters/folk singers for our trips up north; lovely French tunes for Paris. Nothing is more fun that strolling down the Champs-Élysées listening to Charles Trenet singing about strolling down the Champs-Élysées.
Tip 2. Take the back roads and stop often.
We much prefer to drive on our trips (as opposed to flying so you don't have to take your shoes off) and often we will set our GPS to exclude interstate highways. We find the back roads are almost always more interesting. We try hard to keep our itinerary flexible so we can stop along the way. On our most recent trip, we took the winding high road from Santa Fe to Taos through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the route Native Americans and early Spanish settlers took.
We stopped a half dozen times on what was supposed to be a two-hour trip. Our first stop was at the Santuario de Chimayó, a shrine built in 1814. The story is that a villager saw a light coming from the ground, and when he dug away at it, he found a cross. He carried the cross to a nearby church where it was stowed near the alter. The next morning, the cross was gone and was later found at its original location. This happened three more times before they decided to build the Santuario de Chimay where the cross was. Word quickly spread of the mystical powers that cured illness. Today, busloads of pilgrims stop to scoop up a bit of the sandy soil from where the cross was found to rub on damaged limbs or other body parts that need healing. For good measure, I applied some holy sand to my achy knees and dumped a bit down my bra, rubbing the rest on Ed's sore shoulder.
After visiting the shine, we walked around the town, checking out the jewelry, weaving and pottery crafted by local artists.
Our next stop was the tiny mountain town of Cordova where we sought out the woodcarving art of Sabinita Lopez Ortiz. Sabinita is a wood carver like her father and grandfather. She uses white aspen and cedar in her primitive folk art, which has found its way into the Smithsonian Institution. A small sign directed us to her workshop – a converted garage – where Sabinita's husband enthusiastically welcomed us. In addition to showing us Sabinita's carvings, he also was anxious to show us his chili pepper garden located under an apricot tree in the front yard near two kiva ovens.
I fell in love with one of Sabinita's santos pieces featuring SanYsidore el Labrador, patron saint of farmers and rural communities. Chris, Sabinita's husband, explained that Ysidore was visited by an angel who took over his plow so that Ysidore could attend Mass.
This piece is now at home at Farm Dover. I like the thought of a patron saint watching over our little farm.
From Cordova, we wound our way through a number of other villages, before entering the Carson National Forest with its towering ponderosa pine, aspen and cedar groves filled with song birds; its valleys and vistas offering views worth remembering.
Fifty-six miles after leaving Santa Fe, and five hours later, we checked into the Hotel La Fonda, on the central plaza in Taos.
Tip 3. Eat where and what the locals eat
Eating and drinking are central to our travel enjoyment. It takes a bit of on-the-road research to figure out the best places to eat. We cross off any chain restaurant (with the slight exception of a Starbucks, see below). Our goal is to figure out where the locals eat and head there. While Ed is at the wheel, I'm at the i-pad, searching for our next meal. I tend to start by googling restaurants in ___ city, and then select the Urbanspoon listing or OpenTable – seems to me these two sites have more reviews by locals, whereas Tripadvisor tends to focus on traveler reviews. Urbanspoon offers the ability to filter restaurant searches by neighborhood, type of food, special features (such as gluten-free), and price.
I look for restaurants that feature local farm sources or quirky menu items. I read the reviews, both good and bad ones.
On our trip home from Ontario this summer, we were passing through Eau Claire at lunchtime and I stumbled on a restaurant called Ray's Place: 92% of reviewers liked it (55 reviews) and almost all of the reviewers raved about the bean soup, the ham sandwich and the roast beef sandwich, many mentioning the mustard that is served alongside. We keyed the address into our GPS and got hungry. The outside of Ray's was a bit sketchy, but we parked and went in anyway. There were a number of tables in the dimly lit dining room, but it looked like most of the patrons were at the bar, so that's where we took a seat. We soon discovered that the only things on the menu were: bean soup, ham sandwiches, and roast beef sandwiches. Oh, and they had small packages of peanut M & M's for dessert. About three minutes after ordering, our soup and sandwiches were served up by the bartender. Each meat-piled-high sandwich was served on a small paper napkin. The guy sitting next to us, slid down the extra-hot mustard and then watched in great amusement as I slatered it on my ham sandwich and took a big bite. Over lunch, he became our new best friend, telling us how he had been coming to Ray's for nearly 50 years. We parted with him following us outside to give some very specific driving instructions on how to get back on the expressway, but then he decided to drive us to the on-ramp. If you find yourself in Eau Claire, find your way to Ray's Place.
We have also found locally-owned coffee shops to be great places to find. We get better coffee than from a gas station and usually a freshly baked scone. Only if we can't find a local shop will we stop at Starbucks. And, if we find ourselves in a big college town, we make our way down to the student hangout part of town, where we can almost always find an incredible burger or pizza. In Albuquerque near the University of New Mexico campus, we were treated to free orange juice and a sweet roll just for being first-time visitors to the Frontier Restaurant.
Given a choice, we will order items on the menu that are special to that particular area. On our most recent trip out west, we sampled traditional New Mexican cuisine, including Navajo fry bread, green chili rellenos, fish tacos, enchiladas, and huevos rancheros. We drink the local craft beers or locally produced wines. On our southwest trip, I felt obliged to try the local margaritas -- the prickly pear one was the best.
We love to seek out local farmers' markets and have done so from Santa Fe to Paris, with other stops this year in Madison, WI; Mirepoix, France; Eau Claire, WI, Tifton, GA, Omaha, NE, and Springdale, UT. Nothing entertains me more than wondering up and down the aisles checking out what's in season in that particular place. In Paris, it might be truffles and trout; in Madison, cheese curds and apple cider; in Santa Fe, it was chilies, and more chilies.
And some very beautiful wool yarn...
We make a point of buying a small jar of honey at these various markets. In our pantry right now, we have honey from France, Germany, Spain, Georgia (the state), Utah, and my favorite: Farm Dover. Our latest purchase was some tamarack raw honey from the Springdale, UT market.
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| Tamarack Honey |
In addition to our honey purchases, we each have our eyes out for something small to add to our collections. I like to pick up wooden kitchen utensils on my travels, both for myself and for the kids. They are not expensive and easy to pack.
Ed likes to find unusual pocket or kitchen knives. He just has to remember not to pack them in his carry-on luggage.
We both stay on the lookout for pieces of one-of-a-kind pottery -- vases, bowls or pitchers. Once back at home, I get a kick out of using them and recalling where we found them.
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| My favorite vase, purchased in Wilno, Ontairo -- Canada's first Polish settlement. |
To be continued...
You will have to wait until tomorrow for tips 6-10. I'm tired of writing and I'm sure you are tired of reading. Stay tuned.
