This blog is not being kept in an orderly fashion. For instance, you'll notice that the day of posting is February 11, and that we are way behind. Our 3 nights in Santa Fe was like a dream, mostly because I had a 99-100 degree temperature most of the time, and the beginning of a flu-like cough that had the nasty habit of continuing on and on and on. So I would rest in our casita at the Santa Fe Motel and Inn and watch the snow coming down. Bill would show up with delicacies for lunch and dinner we would heat in our microwave. We managed about one major site a day, so we saw the Palace of the Governors and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. And we hung out at Ecco Espresso and Gelato, where the hot chocolate was truly wonderful and everything else terrific as well.
Tues. morning, January 9, we drove down to Albuquerque where we would catch our train. I was sorry to miss seeing much of the town. Instead we found the Grove Cafe, which I would recommend to anyone, as the menu says, all coffee drinks made with a double shot. The train (Amtrak) was on time, actually it was early--how many times can one say that? We were finally off across the country. The scenery in Northeast New Mexico is stunning. At sunset we arrived at the stop for Raton, where my friend Janine grew up. A lighted star shone from the hill above the town. The next thing I knew it was morning and we were stopped outside Kansas City, which looked a lot like Pittsburgh at that time of day (another stop later on). We spent a few days with Jeanne and Bill in Sleepy Hollow, Illinois, a suburb far west of Chicago that seemed not to have a drop of Chicago blood.
Monday morning, January 14, we followed a beautiful river down through parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, stopped for a bit in Cumberland, MD, and then arrived in Wash. D.C. Had a nice dinner with Karen, Elena and Marina at a nearby cafe in Arlington (Whitlow's), also visited a little with Fede, who was preparing for his classes. The next morning we went to the Edward Hopper show at the National Gallery--and I remember one painting I had never seen before of a young couple preparing to go out for the evening, except the man had just gotten home and was catching up on the newspaper, and the women looked bored and ready to just-leave-the-house this minute, one of those Hopper paintings with a heavy plot.
That day we took the train to Philadelphia, stayed in the Alexander Inn, a nice "boutique" hotel right in the center of town [picture at the top of this entry is taken from our room], found Brew-Ha-Ha, now our favorite hangout for espresso in Philly, and hopped a bus to Melograno for dinner, temporarily forgot it was BYOB, so Bill hopped a bus to the nearest liquor store to buy some wine for his sweetheart (effort duly noted), and we proceeded to have a lovely dinner. My ravioli filled with short ribs in a heavenly jus were memorable.
The next morning we went to Morning Glory for breakfast, another regular stop, got the car, had lunch at Caribou, and headed off to Princeton. Well, slo took a short stop to see the condos at the Western Union building, actually I just saw the office which was in a "display" version of the condos, took away literature, head spinning, great neighborhood, is this us??