Yes! We successfully escaped the snows of Colorado today! Here is our parting picture of Pikes Peak as seen from our niece and nephew’s house.
Last evening we celebrated Pat’s 84th birthday with a dinner of steak, chicken, or hamburger (eater’s choice), roasted brussel sprouts, cheesy potatoes, a wonderful cabernet sauvignon from Napa, and caprese salad! It was topped off with a flourless chocolate cake – chocolate on chocolate. I’ll bet you can’t guess Pat’s favorite.
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- Blowing out the candles.
Here’s a hint: for a birthday present she also received a box of See’s chocolates from Seattle and a box of gourmet cookies (many chocolate). Jean also gave Pat one of her paintings of flowers.
This morning we enjoyed a big breakfast and hit the road at 11:00. The drive down I-25 over the Raton Pass into New Mexico was wet and windy. We saw lots of antelope and one herd of elk along the way. Once the road turned west we hit a headwind that reduced our mileage to near 15 mpg. Normally we make 25-30 mpg. Once again we were forced to act quickly to find gas about 20 miles from Santa Fe.
Dinner tonight was in our favorite Santa Fe restaurant, Casa Chimayo. I had green chile pork stew with corn tortillas and Jean had pork tamales. We finished with a goat cheese flan that was fantastic! We may have to make another trip down here for dinner in the next month.
Tomorrow we take up residence in our rented home near Abiquiu, the starting point of the Old Spanish Trail. Then it will be painting, playing ukulele, and relaxation.
Paul
Travels With Picasso 
I am following your adventures in and out of Colorado. I see you had to rough it up with chocolate and wine and what not that seems quite sinful but yummy. Enough eating and drinking. We are expecting to see some art work to come out of this trip! To your easels! I don’t know, but I surmise that, Wash DC being in the 90s, I am not in immediate danger of being snowed in. Just a guess. Enjoy what’s coming your way in this trip.
On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 10:50 PM, Travels With Picasso wrote:
> Paul posted: “Yes! We successfully escaped the snows of Colorado today! > Here is our parting picture of Pikes Peak as seen from our niece and > nephew’s house. Last evening we celebrated Pat’s 84th birthday with a > dinner of steak, chicken, or hamburger (eater’s cho” >
Yes, we have been roughing it with the food and wine. Now we will be on restricted rations in the wilds of New Mexico. Such rigor will no doubt inspire new artwork. So far our art bags have not left the car. However, when we settle into our rental today the car will be emptied and painting will commence. Of course whether we share those efforts on these pages is another question. One must be discriminating in what is shared. 🙂