.....Overlap Atlas.....: 7/11/10

After bunking in beautiful Clinton, OK, Jess and I headed west. We were excited to cross into Texas and were even more impressed with the first rest-stop that we found there – this bunker-like structure (an official tornado shelter) was nestled in a hill in the Panhandle, just where the geography began to become somewhat deserted and the topography a bit more rugged and pocked with small but dramatic hills and mini-canyons. Here was the first hint of the larger mesas and buttes we would see as we entered New Mexico.

After passing a very smelly and depressing feedlot we vowed to never eat fast-food beef again. Before heading off to NM, we stopped at the Midpoint Café, a very cute kitschy little restaurant at the official midpoint between Chicago and Los Angeles on Old Route 66. Although we really wanted eggs, we arrived at 1PM, prime lunch time, and treated ourselves to soup and a 6 buck grilled cheese sandwich (the soup was Campbell’s Alphabet soup we’re pretty sure). The highlight, however, was the miraculous and very large piece of lemon meringue pie we shared for dessert. Fueled up with sugar, the courageous travelers continued on, passing suspicious road signs and amazing desert vistas along the path towards Albuquerque. We were absolutely flabbergasted (no really, this is the appropriate term) by the beauty of the desert. We’ve decided we would love to live in NM or AZ as long as we have a non-chlorinated swimming pool in the backyard.*

Upon arrival in the capital of NM, we made our way to our friend Nina’s home, close to the campus of University of New Mexico. Nina lives with a roommate, a rabbit, and 95,000 cats, well really just 5 that we could count: Mama Bitchface, Black Kitty, Badger, Oona, and Sheepy. Even with our allergies, we loved them, especially Black Kitty. Nina - we’re still thinking about adopting the male cat, Sarah Jessica Parker. THANK YOU Nina for our amazing stay. We MISS you!

We were happily amazed to find an Ayurvedic vegetarian restaurant literally 3 blocks from Nina’s home, where we had the most amazing food during our stay: carrot ginger soup, bowls of chana masala, and a mouthwatering ABT sandwich (Avocado, tempeh bacon, and tomato on chipati bread). These were paired with cups of homemade soy chai and cool glasses lavender mint tea. The owner and chef of Anapurna’s comes to NYC to offer cooking lessons, so we’re hoping to find him back home. While we were at Anapurna’s we also came across a jolly woman from Alberta blissed out by her unexpectedly long stay in New Mexico and multi-day visit with Amma. We learned through her enthusiasm that the owner of the restaurant had also met the Mother that week, and had a private meeting in his native dialect with her to talk about food. That and his list of other gurus he had spent time with, plus the food and our wonderful squirrelly host Nina, made us instantly fall in love with the city. We also had some great watermelon tuna ceviche at the Standard Diner and excellent gelato at an unnamed location on Route 66.

In addition to the great food, and countless old-school camera shops (including Kurt’s Camera Corral), Nina was generous enough to take us to the top of Sandia mountain, where we meditated and looked out over the vastly gorgeous views. The experience of Nina driving us up the mountain, around switchbacks in her mid-90s Toyota Corrola was enlivened by the radio blasting the greatest hits of the Smith College Glee Club. As Nina and Jenny sang nostalgically along (at the top of our lungs), Jess smiled tentatively and held on for dear life. We weren’t sure if her emotional response to the top of the mount was a result of our deafening harmonies or just the sublime altitude. The morning before we left, Nina and I took a lovely morning walk around the campus, enjoying the early sunlight, one of the best things about the Southwest.

*Jenny’s more concerned about the swimming needs.