Adventures in New Mexico

Performing in New Mexico was something of a homecoming for us Claremontians...New Mexico is where the three of us first got to know each other (at the Taos School of Music) in 1999. Seems like ancient history now! But I was thrilled to go back to such a beautiful state.

As we waited to board our flight to NM, one of the presenters called to say they were expecting a snow storm and that we should rent a 4-wheel drive car and take special care on the roads. Coming from the northeast, we've all driven in snow before and imagined that these people were just a bit cautious. Nonetheless, we rented a Ford Explorer and felt like kings of the road (and a little silly when our first day there there was only an inch of snow).

As we drove to our first concert in Corrales, NM (a suburb of Albuquerque) we were greeted by this unusual publicity!

























But things got more interesting (and spectacular) when we drove up in the mountains to Los Alamos, NM, site of the national laboratories where the atomic bomb was developed and first tested.
























The concert went well, and we were sitting down to dinner with some fascinating people (Los Alamos is filled with extremely talented scientists) when it began to snow in earnest. In an uncharacteristic move, we left before dessert ;-( to try to get down the mountain before the roads became impassable.


(Note - all these pics are from the drive up the mountain - we didn't start down until after dark...and at that point we were in no mood for photo ops!)

We were shocked at how quickly the snow had accumulated and how it was drifting all over the roads. After 10 minutes of inching along, we decided it was unwise to continue and turned around. Luckily our Los Alamos angels, Judy and Don Machen, came to the rescue, leading us down the "back route" which was less treacherous. All's well that ends well, and we made it home safely. But boy were we glad to have that 4-wheel drive!!!