A looong drive through not very exciting territory.
Has anyone encountered a Starbucks that is pure-logo, no name? a store that uses the newish logo sans Starbucks name, no name on the building, on the glass, at top of the menu or other in-store signs, not even on the aprons of the staff. There’s a smattering of “Starbucks” present in product names — “Starbucks Veranda Blend”, “Starbucks Refreshers™ Beverages” — but that’s it. We stopped at such a Starbucks in northern Texas. The woman behind the counter assured me it was a Starbucks, though had no explanation for the lack of label (“huh” was her insightful response). A taste of the future? a corporate experiment in progress?
Unless you want to hear of the cold-brew iced coffees we enjoyed as the temperature climbed during the drive, there is nothing more until we arrived at the home of our friends Jeffrey and Jared in Albuquerque, here represented by their children Pepper and Sadie:
Their home was generally accessible with minor car placement strategies and minimal furniture movement, all but the small bathroom on the first floor (compact footprint, narrow doors). But we coped easily.
Day 1 of our 2 day stay was an outing to Santa Fe where we rendezvoused with Lynne Sinclair, who would be with us for the remainder of the trip. Since both days involved Lynne and me wandering about shops and galleries, Jeff generally sat in the shade with John, entertaining each other or absorbed in their iPhones. Alas, no new art procured this visit despite seeing a lot of great southwestern paintings. We particularly liked the dramatic landscapes by contemporary artist Ed Mell — his best (and least affordable) works were already sold at an exhibition at the Owings Gallery, example
We ended that day trip with a visit to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral near the plaza, a lovely Romanesque structure from 1887.
Day 2 was in Albuquerque. At Jackalope we were fortunate to spot one of the rare creatures in the wild, one of their young from the looks of it.
and a few hours in Old Town were mostly spent on seeking out cold beverages and hanging out. Nearby we were treated to a local specialty, chocolate elixers — intense flavored chocolate drinks sipped like espresso.
Evenings John would go to bed early while I stayed up to talk and watch science fiction movies with the boys (check out Snowpiercer, a rather strange post-apocalyptic ice age allegory where the survivors of humankind circle the globe endlessly in a train powered by a perpetual motion machine. Then it gets weird.)
Here’s a final group selfie as we departed for the last leg of our trip:
