Freezing Santa Fly Away

We just got back to Mesa yesterday after 10 freezing days in Santa Fe (Santa Fly Away) and I couldn't be happier!  While Santa Fe is beautiful and has some really cool things and areas, I would not recommend it in February.  Our first day there was beautiful, about 70 degrees and sunny.  We took advantage of the weather and drove out to Bandelier National Park.  It may be one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  Standing on ancient ground, staring up at the canyon walls and just imagining what it looked like it in its heyday with around 2,000 people living there really made me appreciate what I have today.
Did I mention "fly away"?  The reason I call it that is after that first day, the wind set in.....and stayed.  And with it came the frigid temperatures.  We managed to do some fun things but we stuck close to home and the car.  In addition to Bandelier, we also saw Pecos (another ancient Native American site), St. Francis of Assissi Basilica, the old Loretto Chapel (the one that is famous for its winding staircase that is still under debate as to how it was built), the little town of Madrid (that was featured in the movie "Wild Hogs), an art collective called Meow Wolf and we took another heavenly food tour with our new friend, Carlos.  Lastly, we drove up to Taos, visited the ski hill (no, we did not ski) but stayed the night in the cute little town.  Whew! No wonder I am tired!  ;)
Since I haven't really talked about our food tour, I will highlight that.  We first met Carlos while staying in ABQ where we took a food tour there.  Carlos was our guide.  Carlos is a trained chef who practiced his skill in Tucson and then Santa Fe.  He is a very personable and beautiful human who loves to share all his knowledge of food and the area with his clients.  Our tour in ABQ was amazing and the restaurants were SO good and we became fast friends with Carlos, which made us look forward to the next time we could meet up in Santa Fe.
Can I just say, OMG??!!! We have been on food tours in many places in the US and Italy and this was my favorite by far!! Everyone says Santa Fe is a place for Foodies and they are absolutely right!  The most fun thing about this tour was meeting the chefs at all the restaurants we went to.  Because Carlos was discovered in Santa Fe where he was a chef, he knows pretty much all the chefs in town.  That is how we got to meet them.  They each gave us a tour of their restaurant and one of them invited us for a quick look at the kitchen.  SO MUCH FUN!! The night ended at a restaurant where they have a piano man.  He is a Julliard trained pianist who has been with the restaurant for 30+ years.  The whole experience was just breathtaking.  I can't recommend Carlos and Food Tour New Mexico enough!