Monday, May 12, 2014

Day 7, Monday, May 12, 2014: Santa Fe special day

Word for the day was going to be "Fenn," but I'm not so sure it shouldn't be "snow."   The snow part was indeed an adventure, but the visit with Forrest Fenn was the highlight so we'll stick with "Fenn."

For those not familiar with Mr. Fenn, he's an author, entrepreneur, collector,  retired USAF fighter pilot (in 'Nam) and the creator of the treasure hunt that many (including us) have been chasing for several years.  We met him in person last year (see our blog post from last Fall)  and were invited to visit him when we had a chance.  After an exchange of emails, we arranged to be at his house at 10 AM today.

Sandra & Forrest talking

Our problem wasn't getting there on time, it was not being too early.  We went downtown to take pictures of the pigeons (hey, you never know what will do well in a contest), then drove up Old Santa Fe Trail and killed some more time taking pictures of the SF Trail bronze installation at the entrance to Museum Hill.  When the time came, we showed up at the gate to announce ourselves.

Statue at Museum Hill - that wheel mule looks kind of armadillo-ish to me

We talked about his relics, his library, his artifacts from San Lazaro.  He gave Sandra a sherd from a post-1300 pot found at San Lazaro from among the ones lying under a tree, a well as a couple of his books.  Guess we owe him a LOT of Grapette on our next visit!

Forrest Fenn with  Sandra's sherd

A closeup of a sherd under the tree

Our visit lasted about 1 1/2 hours, then we returned to the Plaza area for our now-traditional blue corn taco/enchilada at The Shed and a text "nyah, nyah" message to our friend Sandy back in Missouri - it's a tradition started when she & husband Mark ate there at our recommendation on a trip a few years ago.  Then we decided to head up to see what we could see at Hyde Memorial State Park and beyond to a ski area, then take a back road back down to Tesuque.   Ski areas are generally at higher elevations than cities, and weather tends to be a tad chancier at elevation - this time we hit a hard snow & sleet storm and it was sticking.  About face, head back down to the motel to plan a light supper and a trip down the Turquoise Trail to Albuquerque.

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