On September 11th, I'll turn 60. I haven't looked forward to a birthday like this since I was a little kid, or maybe a young woman, about to turn 21. In July I began trying to figure out how to celebrate. 60 is a watermark, and I wanted to do something special, but what? At first I thought maybe I'd fly to Paris, but that was prohibitively expensive. Alex suggested I go to Santa Fe.
"Not Santa Fe!" I said grumpily, "I don't want to go to Santa Fe!"
"But you talk about retiring there," Alex said, quite reasonably.
As usual, she had a point. I looked at Santa Fe online and remembered why I love New Mexico. It's not called Land of Enchantment for nothing. There's something about the air and the light....
"Santa Fe it is!" I told Alex, who laughed. If I'm going to Santa Fe, there's one place to stay: LaFonda. I immediately subscribed to their newsletter, and shortly thereafter, I received notice of a couple of special rate sales this fall: to my dismay, when I clicked on the site, everything around my birthday was already booked. It didn't take much thinking to realize that I'd be quite as happy staying just a short distance from Santa Fe, at Taos. One of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen, San Francisco de Asis, is in Taos. Mabel Dodge Luhan went to Taos, and D.H. Lawrence not only visited her there but is buried there.
Temperatures in September are in the 70's during the day, dropping down to the 40's at night. I've booked a room with a working fireplace in a beautiful B&B, here. It's a 12 hour drive, so I'm leaving very, very early Thursday morning.
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7 comments:
It looks like a dream. Happy Birthday, and have fun!
Wow, that sounds like a blast! I got to see Taos for the first time ever this past summer, but I didn't get to see Sante Fe. I loved NM and I really miss it. I want to go back next year so badly! Happy Birthday, Judi!
Oh, and I've been meaning to send you a personal invitation to write a letter for my new baby, The Letter Project: http://theletterproject.wordpress.com/
You can write a letter to anyone about any literary topic. There are 20 great letters up already. I'd love to post one of yours!
Happy Birthday! I hope your trip is wonderful.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around your having a birthday on September 11th.
Happy birthday! Enjoy your trip!!
Sante Fe, highest state capital in the US! (Learned that trivia a few weeks ago over a recipe)
ENJOY. Man, right this very moment you're 60? ;) Happy Birthday
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