Poshdeluxe

in the morning on our second day on the road, we walked outside and found blackie covered in iiiiice!

it’s funny to think about how much i freaked out over the ice, when only a day later i would be covered in snow.

anyway!

for the trip, henri bought one of those internet phone things that *supposedly* give you world wide web access anywhere in the country. yeah. well. it was apparently not up to the challenge of finding internet in the middle of new mexico. did you hear that, AT&T? you got SCHOOLED!

occasionally, though, it would work. and then i got to feel super, super high-tech! i mean, look! i am using internet IN THE CAR!!!

that’s how dedicated of a blogger i am. fyi.

part of me wonders if tom tom was somehow interfering with the signal, just so he could insure that he was the only machine we relied upon (well, besides blackie). oh tom tom, you’re so crafty!

we passed by the cadillac ranch, and i made henri turn around so we could walk over to it and take pictures. i mean, you cannot pass up the cadillac ranch! it’s an icon of road trips! it’s on the cover of numerous “quirky” travel guides and “off the beaten path” books.

the only problem was that OMG IT WAS FREEEEEEEEEZING!!!!!!! the second i got out of the car, i wondered if i could, indeed, sacrifice my body for art.

but then i thought about this blog, and how much all of you are probably dying to see pictures of old cadillacs in the dirt, and i persevered. COLD WEATHER, i shall NOT let ye defeat me, even as ye evil winds blow and ye icy fingers creep around my neck in Death’s Grasp!

so henri and i ran around, took some pictures, and then i started screaming and running towards the car, cos it turns out that art cannot overcome cold weather. i’m sorry, but it can’t.

BRRRRR just LOOKING at those pictures makes me cooooold!!!

we got back on the road and saw this random sign:

HA HA HA… eh… um… eh?

finally, we made it to new mexico! where it snows! holy crap!!

we planned to spend the afternoon in las vegas, new mexico, a little town i read about in the ny times. it has over 900 buildings on the national register of historic places!!! that’s insane! and doc holliday had a dentist’s office there!!! and billy the kid hung out there!! i mean, can you get more authentic than that?!

turns out that not much as changed in las vegas, which means it’s absolutely charming, totally for real and a little bit depressing.

here’s the movie theater, which shows a movie every day at 7:30 (except sunday, when it’s at 1:30).

they had excellent street light holiday decor, of course.

i go CRAZY over tinsel holiday street signs, don’t you?

if you need any popular dry goods in las vegas, you are sooo in luck.

we decided to eat a late lunch at estella’s cafe, mostly due to this sign:

that kind of sign only means that there is tasty, fattening food in store for you! you win!!!

the minute we walked in, we knew we had made the right choice. the cafe, which has been in operation for 57 years, is full of nick nacks and old china and family pictures and the virgin mary.

a minute after we came in, a little girl (maybe about 8 years old?) came up to us with two menus and led us to a table. child labor is just so adorable!!! we then watched as she and another girl (her sister? cousin?) bussed some tables and wiped down the counter. seriously, i hope they make minimum wage at least. then they left to get ice cream, which was also precious, because it was FREEZING OUTSIDE. here’s one of the girls, back with her ice cream:

their grandmother came over and took our order for what turned out to be some TASTY TASTY MEXICAN BUSINESS!!!

see that taco shell? that is the best taco shell i have ever had. even our chips were freshly made!!! and not only were the tortillas incredibly rich and yummy, but there was a honey bear on the table that magically transforms tortillas into dessert!

sweet fancy moses, i am so hungry now.

seriously, eating at estella’s was one of the best decisions we made on the road trip. it was such a sweet little cafe with no pretension and no saccharine. it’s the kind of place that typically gets disneyfied, but estella’s has managed to remain original and, well, no frills. it was perfect.

we couldn’t leave las vegas without a drink at the plaza hotel, which LOOKS LIKE A FREAKING MOVIE ON THE OUTSIDE!

i mean, you saw my picture of the main street, right? you go down the main street, and then you see this magnificent, stunning, fancy pants hotel. it’s incredible.

the bar was populated by locals, which was cool, except part of me was hoping it would be full of dashing, debonair cowboys and women in fancy dresses with corsets and a devilish spark in their eyes. oh and also, doc holliday (as played by val kilmer).

oh well. at least i got to pretend that henri had antlers. that was fun.

as soon as we walked outside, guess what? it started snowing!!!!!!! and it wasn’t the punishing, ugly kind of snow. it was the light and airy and magical kind of snow! look!

i felt like i was in a snow globe! just shake me!

of course we had to take a “xmas card” picture, which makes me go squee.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snooooow!

ok, now stop. STOP! IT’S TOO COLD! STOP SNOWING!

we got back on the highway and into the mountains, then henri realized… we were low on gas. um. ruh-roh. we asked tom tom about the next gas station, and he said 25 miles. WHAAAA?!!

we panicked for a few minutes, then saw a sign for gas at the next exit.

this is one of those moments when i berated tom tom and wished i could punch him in the screen. TOM TOM. YOU ALMOST GAVE US A HEART ATTACK! stupid dumbhead!!!

we turned off into a little town, and i got to see another christmas banner!

here’s henri, who has never been so excited in his life to pump gas.

the snow eventually cleared, and we witnessed a gorgeous sunset on the way into santa fe.

i’ll talk more about santa fe in the next entry, but um, did you know that the entire city is adobe? with luminaries? like, even the home depot is adobe!

anyway, we drove around and found a motel that was close-ish to our restaurant for the night. i had made reservations in advance at trattoria nostrani, this posh deluxe italian place with a NO SCENT RULE. do you know what that means? it means that if you walk in wearing perfume, THEY WILL KICK YOU OUT!! i am not kidding! apparently perfume and cologne can inhibit yr enjoyment of the smell of the food!!

these are totally my kind of people.

we decided to walk to the restaurant, cos the roads were icy and we thought it would be fun to see downtown santa fe on foot.

oooh, ye foolish texans!

you guys. it was SO FRICKIN’ COLD. so cold, in fact, that no one else was on the streets. NO ONE. plus i slipped several times and would’ve hurt my booty/back/arms/legs/head/pants if henri hadn’t caught me (so chivalrous!).

here’s a picture henri took during the walk. my (extremely red) face says it all.

we found brief respite in the town square, which was bedazzled for the holidays. yay! trees with lights! i don’t know why a tree with a simple strand of lights is so enchanting, but it always make me happy and feel all glow-y inside.

here’s the pretty church on the square:

fortified by some holiday squeeing, henri and i managed to make it to the restaurant. which, it turns out, was SO WORTH IT (although i was worried they would smell my desperation, as in, I MUST ENTER THIS WARM PLACE BEFORE MY TORSO FREEZES OVER AND CRUMBLES INTO SHAVED ICE).

i didn’t take any pictures of the food (i really wanted to!!) cos it just seemed so, well, gauche. this place was faaaancy. but we had some really incredible artichoke soup with flan in it (sounds weird, tastes amazing) and salted beets (mom! i ate beets!) and then i had this BRILLIANT butternut squash ravioli. and then we had cheese for dessert!!! i always feel so high class when i have cheese for dessert.

and then we got a cab back to the motel, cos, um, i didn’t feel like dying after such a magnificent meal.

and that is the end of day two.

happy weekend, everyone!

coming on monday: i attempt to snowboard and end up crying on the mountain. good times!

LINKS

the iowa caucus happened, and you should probably know about it.

you GUYS!!!! remember those chocolate chip bacon cookies i posted about? my friend todd made them!!! todd, you are sooo my hero. i would vote for you in the iowa caucus, hands down. except i really think you should’ve made the maple glaze.

whoah, check out these blue people. i wonder if there’s a genetic disorder that would explain why my face is always pink?

if you’ve seen “juno,” then you must be in love with ellen page. did you know she lives in a haunted whorehouse?

i really, really enjoyed this column calling for a “return of the bitch.” favorite quote, from joan crawford in “the women”: “there’s a name for you ladies, but it isn’t used in high society, outside of a kennel.”

whoah. a guy fell 47 stories and LIVED. just like in the movies!