Eeek! Has it been two months already? Goodness me! Well, my excuse is that I was waiting for the Fred Harvey History Weekend in Santa Fe October 27-29. https://fredharvey.info/event/history-weekend/
I flew into Santa Fe on October 26. I did not know that airports such as this one still operated. They say it has two gates. Oooookay ... sure. They wheeled a ramp up to the door of the plane, we all exited, then walked around to a temporary building (looked like a cargo container) which is serving as baggage claim. It has a square hole in one narrow end with a long roller table extending through from outside, angled down. They just shoved each bag through the hole! We passengers were laughing so hard, it took a minute or two for us to start pulling the bags down the table to make room for more!
This is THE event for anyone and everyone interested in Fred Harvey, Harvey Houses, the Harvey Girls, the Southwestern Indian Detours, and even the Santa Fe Railroad. The La Fonda and the Old Santa Fe Inn offer special room rates to FredHeads for the entire weekend! The lectures/presentations/film showings are all in the auditorium of the New Mexico History Museum on the Plaza in Santa Fe. "The Harvey Girls" with Judy Garland was shown Thursday afternoon and Sunday morning. I was surprised to discover that I had never before seen it!
Topics covered included Fred Harvey (natch), the architecture of the Castañeda (where was this when I was writing my novel? I wasn't far off, but I didn't know about the lunch counter and the actual configuration of the kitchens. Aw, well, it is historical fiction, after all), Harvey Girls, the discovery of new material about the Couriers (!! they found Thomas' original materials in, of all places, Wyoming), and a special sneak peek at an upcoming documentary on the Railroad Station in American Life.
This year there was a reception on Friday night with pulled pork (did I really travel all the way from Baton Rouge for pulled pork? 😂) and shredded beef sliders, coleslaw, black bean empañadas, and, unexpectedly, ratatouille. Also beverages. I have to admit that it was rather crowded, as something like 350 people attended this year's event! That's a good problem to have.
Saturday night's gala banquet was amazing, if noisy due in part to the open bar and mostly to the auction. Gorgeous red wine at the table. Also a white, but I didn't taste it. Our gift of an exclusive Mimbreno pottery spoon rest.
Passed hors d'oeuvres included duck pate and fig jam on brioche, Little Orange pancakes with smoke salmon and caviar (just pass that tray this way and set it down in front of me), and tiny shot glasses of lobster in what I think was pico de gallo. I'll take a tray of those, too. Dinner was a filet mignon (I think -- I'm not an expert on cuts of beef) that almost cut itself, roasted cauliflower and broccoli (I'm forgetting ... ) on some kind of puree. Dessert was what they called chocolate mousse, but ... not any mousse I'm familiar with. A thick layer of chocolate ganache over a chocolate pudding. A bit grainy, if I'm honest, but it was dark chocolate. It was rich and decadent and who cares what it's really called?
When I left the La Fonda to head back to the Old Santa Fe Inn, the first Santa Fe Day of the Dead parade had begun at the Plaza. It was magical! A long procession of Santa Fe-ans with painted face, many in costume, holding lit candles walking slowly around the Plaza. Also, several Big Heads (Cabezudos) on stilts. I stood and watched as long as I could, then promptly got lost on my way back to the Inn. Thank goodness for GPS! And a data plan! Because I wasn't going back to the Inn. I was going in precisely the opposite direction.
Sunday morning was the "Harvey Girls" feature, lunch at the Plaza Cafe (https://www.plazacafedowntown.com/), then a free concert at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, courtesy of a new FredHead friend (not sure she wants her name here on my blog).
Monday was more sightseeing -- revisiting places I've been before -- and lunch at The Shed (https://sfshed.com/). I should note that I had lunch at the Pantry Rio (https://www.pantryrio.com/) on Friday. All places I'd eat again.
Return flight on Tuesday was again a time warp experience. I was "randomly selected" to have my carry-on searched and my electronics tested, and when I got home, I discovered that my checked bag had been searched, as well. Hmmm ... Still, the flights themselves were uneventful.
The real struggle now is to focus on my "real" research and put off the book on the Couriers that I am now determined to write until next year.
