Santa Fe Travel Diary

Word Pictures # 5 from Santa Fe

by Mike Clay

Turquoise Trail

The ride down the Turquoise Trail is the best one-hour trip you can take when you are in Santa Fe. Head south on Cerrillos Road and within 10 miles you will find yourself in the midst of winding mountain roads, gorgeous canyons and steep mountainsides. A few miles more and you will come to Cerrillos, New Mexico where "Young Guns" was filmed. It is worth the stop to ride the dirt roads and see the old church and store front. Then back to the paved road and continue to Madrid. Madrid is a great place to get away for a short while. It is lined with funky antique and clothing shops and is an artsy kid sister to Santa Fe’s art colony. Often you can spot celebrities when you are in Madrid but we didn’t. We had a good visit and headed back to Santa Fe.

Our daughter was craving Italian food and we had read about a trattoria in the Design Center downtown. We had a unique and wonderful dining experience at Pastability, an Italian trattoria located at 418 Cerrillos Road. The food was as good as advertised. We had Caesar a salad that was excellent. Our entrees were Penne Pomodoro with fresh basil, Rigatoni Bolognese with red meat sauce, and Rigatoni Pomodoro with mozzarella. They were large servings, freshly made, and served with conversation. As we ate, a roving accordionist played Italian songs. It was a family experience similar to eating in a real Italian trattoria in Rome. We gave it a thumbs up and hope to get back there someday.