Notes from New Mexico
Desert sun, posole, hot springs (& lots of photos!)
Hi, all! I just returned to New York from a trip with my mom to New Mexico — a state I’d long wanted to visit due to its vastness and vibrancy, and how different it seemed from home. As a public school teacher in Massachusetts, my mom had the week off of work, and as a freelancer, I had the flexibility to join her. We planned it many months ago, and the timing turned out to be good for me: a much-needed dose of desert sun and a reprieve before a busy summer.
We flew in and out of Albuquerque, but spent most of our time in Santa Fe, in a charming adobe casita with a blue door and yellow walls. Almost every day, we drove our rental car out of the city to visit national monuments and parks. I quickly understood why Georgia O’Keeffe, an artist so attuned to beauty, fell madly in love with New Mexico. It boasts the most striking, elemental landscape I’ve ever seen in the United States, with swooping hills and sharp plateaus, jagged snow-capped mountains and deep valleys. The area’s natural color palette has little overlap with that of New England; New Mexico is all orange, pink, purple, tan, and red, with a big, blue, limitless sky. New England feels orderly and quiet in comparison.
My mom and I are far from New Mexico experts, but we are diligent researchers and good travel partners. I’m on food; she’s on culture; we’re both on logistics. Today, I’m sharing the highlights of our trip. Keep reading for my recommendations, and click here for a Google Maps round-up of everything mentioned below.
Food
La Choza
For a New Mexican lunch in Santa Fe, La Choza is the place: casual and colorful, with high-quality staples like posole, graced with avocado and red cabbage, and sopapillas, pillowy fried dough served with honey to drizzle on top. The margarita list looked stellar, too.
Paloma
A buzzy Mexican restaurant with an impressive list of mezcals. I drank a paloma (when in Rome!), and my mom and I split a few small plates, including a spicy Baja sea bass ceviche and tuna tostaditos with avocado and salsa macha. Great food and great service.
Cafe Pasqual’s
We went to this Santa Fe institution twice: first for dinner, where we sat at the communal table and became friends with two delightful people (hi, Bruce and Deborah!), and once for breakfast, because I needed to try the huevos rancheros. Both meals were excellent, but the huevos rancheros were out of this world: bathed in chili, half green and half red, Christmas style.
Bread Shop
A top-class bakery in a minimalistic space. We loved the fudgy brownie with whole toasted hazelnuts and the plush focaccia with green olives and preserved lemon. I followed them on Instagram to keep up with their creations, and I’m already itching to go back. The ham-Comté sandwich! The tahini-chocolate chip cookie! The frangipane toast!
La Mama
A bright, airy all-day café and grocery that becomes a natural wine bar and restaurant in the evening. We didn’t try the food, but we loved our time there, browsing the retail section and sipping cold glasses of wine on the patio.
Campo
An elegant restaurant beside a fancy hotel on a lavender farm in Albuquerque. We didn’t stay at the hotel, but we ate at Campo on our last night in town (it was the one reservation I made far in advance), and it turned out to be our best meal in New Mexico. My favorite dish was the memela, a griddled masa cake, topped with pork, local beans, and a mountain of quick-pickled red cabbage. Ooh, or the cavatelli with lemony chicken sausage, green chile cream, charred carrots, and chicken skin breadcrumbs (a revelation). We also drank our first New Mexican wine of the trip, and it was delicious: an expressive, mineral white.
Nature / Culture
Bandelier National Monument
Ancestral Puebloan dwellings are preserved here, just an hour north of Santa Fe. The dwellings are carved into cliffs like an ancient apartment complex, and you can climb ladders to explore some of them. We probably said “wow” five hundred times.
Rio Grande River Gorge Bridge
We happened upon this bridge when exploring Taos, and couldn’t believe the view (see below!). We got out of the car to walk the bridge on foot, and while I don’t consider myself scared of heights, 650 feet above the water on a skinny bridge is a bit much. Eek!
Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs
A secluded resort with geothermal mineral hot springs! My mom and I went for a quiet afternoon of soaking in the springs, and it was so soothing.
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
I liked how this museum not only shows Georgia O’Keeffe’s art, but also offers insight into her life and creative process. It seems like she was very brave and funny and smart. She once said, "I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from a single thing that I wanted to do."
Shopping
These three recommendations are all on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. It’s worth a walk!
Homefrocks
I couldn’t afford a thing in this shop, but I loved their stuff: soft, sophisticated clothing made with natural materials like linen and silk.
Cielo
An arts collective dedicated to artists and makers from New Mexico and Peru with all kinds of gorgeousness like ceramic mugs, woven handbags, and sagebrush-scented perfumes.
L'Ecole Des Beaux Arts
I loved this store, which sells art supplies, journals, and artist wear like work jackets. Luckily for me, it turns out that this store is in Brooklyn, too!
Thank you for reading! More soon.
xx Phoebe
Ralf and I made a similar trip out there many moons ago and this brought back many fond memories both of the sights and the food!! I am so happy you and your mom could share this experience.
I highly recommend the book The Light Possessed - it’s a novel loosely based on the the life of Georgia O’Keeffe and her love of the light in New Mexico ❤️