Santa Fe, Hot Chocolate and Ibuprofen

A week after Vegas, it was off to Santa Fe, this time with Rachel, Sherri's daughters. (At the office she goes by "Rach" to avoid confusion with Rachel Wright.) On previous trips to Santa Fe, it was hard to find the local eateries and galleries with the limited time and because all of the adobe-style buildings are modestly obscure to the common tourist. After eating at the usual chains and frustrating drives looking for places to stop, Sherri and Rachel just knew they were missing the real experience of Santa Fe.
All that changed this time with an awesome iphone app called "Urban Spoon." One of the top choices, according to the Spoon, was a small cafe called Pasquals. The Spoon was right one. It was so good they ate there twice, and even took pictures of the food. Pasquals is also a feast for the eyes. The dining room is lined with hand-painted tiles and murals by Mexican painter Leovigildo Martinez, and there is an art gallery on the second floor.

Their other favorite food find was a chocolate shop called Kakawa Chocolates. Sherri said it was the best hot chocolate she's ever had, which is really saying something. Trip Advisor led them to the Sage Inn, and it was a clean, economical place to stay. All three of these locations are on the itinerary again next year.

Of course the reason for the trip was a busy teaching schedule at Interweave's Bead Fest; no room for a spa treatment this time. There were eight big boxes to unpack, made more complicated by the fact that Sherri had injured her thumb on a flight the night before leaving for Santa Fe, and then she added head and back injuries from a fall on slippery tile just hours before getting on the plane to Santa Fe to teach. Luckily, her husband Dan was with her, and since he anticipates such accidents before trips, was ready with ibuprofen. The hot chocolate also went the distance in helping Sherri feel better.

On day one, Sherri and Rachel taught students how to transfer images onto Faux Bone and then set the pieces in fine silver clay. Day two was copper etching and glass enameling was last. This class is especially fun because of the magical effect of the color on metal. The class used shades of pink and red leaded enamel colors.

Sherri was accident-free the rest of the trip, and she and Rachel went home happy with souvenirs and treats for the family filling their suitcases. They brought this home for your truly, because they said when they saw it, they both thought it looked like me:

Hmmm. Only people you love could get away with that!