Anniversary New Mexico Trip

We flew into Santa Fe and spent the first few days galivanting in different directions within 100 miles of the city. Day one was spent in Santa Fe, getting our fill of the smells, sights and taste of the city. We had dinner at the place we dined the night we got engaged 17 years ago, even though it changed hands and names since then. The second day of our stay we drove to Cerillos Hills State Park and hiked trails to former ore mines. We had our main meal of the day at the Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid, where we were reminded that some things never change. That evening, we went to our favorite piano, where we had our favorite entertainer practically to ourselves. The third day of our trip we toured the Pecos Monument and drove through the Pecos Wilderness almost to end of the road. When we got back we had dinner at the hotel, where we were entertained by a performer named John Wayne. He has a voice like butter. He looks like ZZ Top crossed with a reclusive gold miner. When he was finished for the evening I asked if he had written some of the songs he performed. He confirmed he had written about half of them but he didn’t have a CD. Lou bought him a drink and we were hoping he would sit with us awhile so I could get some of his back story. Someone else came along and monopolized his attention so we never did get to have that conversation. I’m disappointed, but like I told Lou, “If you don’t tell me about yourself, I’m happy to make shit up about you for my novel.” When we got back to our room we looked him up and discovered a treasure of a character. I can’t wait to start weaving him into my next story.