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Scenic Fairways R A F TING
Thrilling Rapids MUST- AT TEND
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TAB LE of CONTEN TS 58
42 66
FEATURES The Great Outdoors The Southwest’s epic landscapes have attracted thrill-seekers for centuries. Dorado surveys the region’s best outdoor experiences.
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by Kelly Kramer
58
Rancho Del Sol Summer’s breezy looks find new light in New Mexico, where sun-washed colors, modern prints and organic fabrics mix effortlessly. photography by Wynn Myers
The Art Time Forgot Travel from Santa Fe’s galleries to rural New Mexico and Arizona to discover a land and Native American tradition from another era. by Will Grant
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A Taste of Paradise Check in to Los Poblanos Inn, a food-lover’s retreat where guests can literally enjoy the fruits of the working organic farm. by Jayme Moye
on t h e c ove r : Arches National Park in southern Utah, photographed by Jordan Siemens
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: JORDAN SIEMENS/CORBIS; W YNN MYERS (2)
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MAY/JUNE 2015
Your Collection
Our Guidance
Nedra Matteucci Galleries 1075 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-982-4631 • matteucci.com
All Artists Exhibition Opens August 14, 2015
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36
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DEPARTMENTS OUTDOORS
28 Watson Lake
Escape Phoenix’s summer heat at this otherworldly oasis in northern Arizona.
IN TOWN
32 Jean Cocteau Cinema
Game of Thrones’ George R.R. Martin reinvigorates the coolest movie house in the Southwest.
DORADOMAGAZINE.COM
AT HOME
36 Cabin Fever
A Telluride getaway combines natural materials, industrial accents and lots of glass.
DESTINATION
73 Durango
The crossroads and unofficial capital of the Four Corners, Durango embodies the diverse spirit of the Southwest.
PA N O R A M A A SNA P SHOT OF T HE SOU T HWEST ’ S EV ENTS, C U LT U R E & P E O P L E FESTIVALS
15 Sunny days, fresh air and
spectacular landscapes — ’tis the season for some of the year’s best festivals.
ARTS
18 From textiles to jewelry, Santa Fe celebrates summer with a series of colorful exhibitions.
GEAR
80 M Y
20 Nature’s calling, but DORADO
An Arizona resident finds boundless views and a bit of heaven at Chimney Rock National Historic Site, near Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
there’s no need to rough it with these comfy campsite essentials.
BOOKS
22 Author Peter Heller
overcomes writer’s block to capture the poetic drama of the Southwest.
REAL ESTATE
24 Ready to own a piece of
paradise? Four tips for buying a second home in the Four Corners region.
COCKTAILS
26 British-born Colin
Keegan infuses the New Mexico desert into his artisanal spirits.
8 Letter from the Editor • 10 Letter from the CEO • 12 Masthead • 13 Contributors
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ELIZ ABETH LESLIE; ADDISON DOT Y; JEN JUDGE; MCCARSON LEIGH JONES; NICO MARQUES; DAWN KISH.
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ELECTRIC
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L ET T ER FROM THE E DITOR
A Legend Redux El Dorado was the legendary kingdom of the “Golden One” — a mythical place that seduced Spanish conquistadors throughout Latin America with the promise of wealth and eternal happiness. Since those first expeditions in the 1500s, El Dorado — like Atlantis or Shangri-La — has come to represent a long-lost heaven on Earth.
to Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm for a one-two punch of style and sustenance that showcases summer fashion (page 58) and the inn’s remarkable farmto-table restaurant and shop (page 66). There’s so much more: a modern cabin makeover in Telluride (page 36), a hidden lake in northern Arizona (page 28), and a beloved movie house in Santa Fe that was resurrected by Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin (page 32). As a proud resident of the Southwest, I couldn’t be more excited to share the treasures and stories found in my backyard. El Dorado may be a legend, but the wonder of the Southwest couldn’t be more real.
Jeff Ficker e d itor in ch ie f Dorado magazine
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PARADISE FOUND The Southwest’s grand landscapes have inspired awe and a spirit of adventure for centuries.
JORDAN SIEMENS/GETT Y IMAGES
For many, the American Southwest is El Dorado. Indigenous people have venerated the land for centuries, and Americans have ventured west for generations, lured by the golden mystique of the region. Even today, the Southwest continues to attract travelers and transplants in search of opportunity and a connection to the landscape’s epic beauty. Dorado magazine draws from these deep roots and reflects them through a modern lens. This new publication and its website (doradomagazine.com) celebrate the Southwest, from the tree-covered mountain slopes of Colorado and red rocks of southern Utah to the high-desert terrain of Arizona and New Mexico. Each issue, our writers and photographers will chronicle and distill the Southwest’s unique culture, ideas and history with coverage that embodies its diverse spirit. We want to highlight the creative individuals who flock to its small towns, the thrill-seekers who crave adventure, the ranchers and farmers who cultivate the land. In this, our premier issue, we pay homage to many of the things that make the Southwest so exceptional. Our cover story, The Great Outdoors (page 42), spotlights a few of our favorite getaways. We also travel
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L ET T ER FROM THE CEO
Our Biggest Adventure Yet Welcome to the first issue of Dorado magazine — we’re so thrilled to have you join us here, and hope you enjoy the stories we share as much as we enjoyed putting them together.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH Dorado spotlights all of the great things that make the Southwest so special.
As residents and big fans of the Southwest, we kept searching for a resource that highlighted everything we love about the area and that could help us learn even more about the rugged region we call home. When we couldn’t find it, we decided to create it. While it may seem like a bit of a risk to launch a print magazine in 2015, we believe in the value of print and know that nothing else can quite compare to the feeling of paging through a beautiful magazine on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
But that doesn’t mean we’re stopping there — our vision for Dorado is expansive. Our website (doradomagazine.com) provides timely content about the region, making it a true resource for anyone living in or visiting the Southwest. And don’t expect an onslaught of turquoise and cactus (although those are near and dear to our hearts); we’ll be featuring the untold stories of the places we call home and keeping you up to date on the latest happenings. Our social channels are bustling, too. We’re especially thrilled to share a collection of amazing photographs via our Instagram feed (@dorado_mag), and our Twitter (@doradomag) and Facebook (facebook.com/DoradoMagazine) accounts keep us connected to our communities, while allowing us to share the fun experiences of our editorial team. We’re here to tackle the adventures that are on your bucket list, and we can’t wait to compare notes with our readers about everything from climbing in Moab to sipping suds in Santa Fe. But first, welcome to our biggest adventure yet: Dorado. Cheers to big adventures and refined living!
Douglas Bennett ch ie f e x e cu tiv e of f ice r Ballantine Communications
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KENNAN HARVEY/GETT Y
DROP US A LINE
We’d love to hear from you! Send your letters and comments to editor@doradomagazine.com.
BEAUTY in many forms.
Subscribe to have the landscapes, people and culture of THE SOUTHWEST delivered to your door. Or visit online for exclusive stories, content and inspiration for your NEXT GREAT ADVENTURE. WWW.DORADOMAGAZINE.COM
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The Santa Fe Scout Collection
Handmade in Santa Fe, One-of-a-kind Purses E D I TO R I A L
Made from rescued Navajo rugs, embellished with vintage silver, horse tack, conchos, elk tips, fringe, and stone.
Available online at www.santafescoutcollection.com
Editor in Chief
Jeff Ficker Creative Director
Caroline Jackson Crafton Associate Editor/Digital Editor
Dana Waldon 505.660.6442
Ellen Ranta Olson Online Design
Chuck Rose, Aaron Heirtzler editorial inquiries: editor@doradomagazine.com PRODUCTION
Creative Shared Services Director
Christy Pollard Senior Design Manager
Todd Bartz Production/Pagination
Suzanne Duke Vice President of Enterprise Marketing
Kricket Lewis Subscription Services
Aani Parrish production inquiries: customerservice@doradomagazine.com ADVERTISING
Publisher
Chad Rose chadr@bcimedia.com Account Executives
Lauren Reidy-Phelan laurenrp@bcimedia.com
Denise Janove denisej@bcimedia.com Marketing Coordinator
Brittany Cupp Chief Executive Officer
Douglas Bennett Vice President of Finance and Operations
Bob Ganley To subscribe to Dorado magazine, visit www.doradomagazine.com. Dorado magazine is published by Ballantine Communications. Creative services provided by Casual Astronaut (casualastronaut.com). Dorado magazine will not assume any responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials. © 2015 Ballantine Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without prior written permission.
1275 Main Ave., Suite 737 • Durango, CO 81301 ballantinecommunicationsinc.com
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JOHN SHERMAN (DAWN KISH)
CONTRIBUTORS
Writer Will Grant (The Art Time Forgot, page 52) was born and raised in Littleton, Colorado. From an early age, he’s suffered an affliction for the outdoors, ranching and horses. He wasted a perfectly good bachelor’s degree in natural resources to live the good life as a Texas cowboy and horse trainer for six years after college. He’s been working as a journalist since 2010 and writes about the people, land and animals west of the 98th meridian.
Photographer Dawn Kish (Watson Lake, page 28) is an outdoors buff. Her subjects usually reflect her surroundings, whether she is rock climbing in Sedona or rowing boats down the Grand Canyon. “Telling stories and traveling is what I do,” she says. Her photographs have appeared in National Geographic Adventure, Arizona Highways and The Wall Street Journal. Kish’s work was included among the best 30 photos in 30 years of National Geographic Traveler.
FAVORITE PLACE IN THE SOUTH W EST
FAVO R I T E PL AC E I N T H E S O U T H W E ST
Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, near Moab, Utah “The Needles District represents what I love most about the Southwest: It’s a rugged, labyrinthine landscape of sandstone and solitude.”
Flagstaff, Arizona “I love my home — the open spaces and beautiful landscapes are a part of me. This land is a part of my spirit.”
Jayme Moye (A Taste of Paradise, page 66) has written hundreds of narratives for more than 50 publishers, including National Geographic, New York, Outside, Men’s Journal, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling and Backpacker. Jayme’s travels have taken her from Afghanistan to Iceland in pursuit of the greatest stories ever told. In 2014, the North American Travel Journalists Association named her Travel Journalist of the Year.
Wynn Myers (Rancho del Sol and A Taste of Paradise, page 58) is a lifestyle and editorial photographer based in Austin, Texas. Myers searches for authentic moments in photography and loves to capture the beauty and joy in the everyday. She has shot for Food & Wine, Texas Monthly and The Atlantic. In her free time, you will find her hanging out with her husband, sipping on espresso, browsing vintage shops and spending time outdoors with her dogs.
FAVORITE PLACE IN TH E SOU THW EST
FAVO R I T E PL AC E I N T H E S O U T H W E ST
Horseshoe Bend, near Page, Arizona “On a cloudless, azure-blue-sky day, I think it’s the most dramatically beautiful landscape on Earth.”
Mesa Verde, Colorado “What I love most about the region is its topography and sense of Native American culture and history.”
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PANORAMA A S N A P S H O T O F T H E S O U T H W E S T ’ S E V E N T S , C U LT U R E & P E O P L E
F E S T I VA L S
Summer Fest
Sunny days, mountain air and spectacular landscapes conspire to create the perfect setting for some of the year’s best Southwestern festivals BY CELESTE SEPESSY
STEVEN J. SHERMAN
Southern Utah provides a stunning backdrop for the Moab Music Festival.
PLUS: 18 | Arts 20 | Gear 22 | Books 24 | Real
Estate 26 | Drinks
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PANORAMA Utah Shakespeare Festival
Land of Enchantment Rod Run
Cap off the excitement with July 4 celebrations at Pioneer Park. highlight: The Fourth of July parade — Arizona’s secondlargest — in downtown Prescott
Land of Enchantment Rod Run FA R M I N GTO N , N M • J U LY 1 8
Billed as the largest nostalgic event in the Four Corners, the 33-year-old Rod Run showcases hundreds of old-school cars in historical downtown Farmington. highlight: Whips from 2014’s host, the Northern New Mexico Street Rodders
Taos Lilac Festival TAO S , N M • M AY 1 5 – 1 7
Stroll down this mountain town’s ancient irrigation networks in a sea of purple. With blooms peaking the last half of May, the annual lilac festival celebrates the town flower with local vendors, crafts and live entertainment. highlight: Free gardening seminars from Los Jardineros Garden Club of Taos
Telluride Jazz Festival T E L L U R I D E , CO • J U LY 3 1 – AU G. 2
T E L L U R I D E , C O • M AY 2 2 – 2 5
In its 37th year, the acclaimed Telluride Mountainfilm festival presents about 85 international films alongside relevant panels, symposiums and music. The event announces annual film selections in early May. highlight: The (organic, of course) picnic and closing awards ceremony
Iron Horse Bicycle Classic D U R A N G O, C O • M AY 2 2 – 2 5
Pick your (healthy) poison: road, mountain or cross-country cycling. The Iron Horse Bicycle
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Taos Lilac Festival
Classic offers bike events for real pros and regular Joes alike, with routes winding through mining country in the Animas Valley. highlight: Sunday’s social, burger-fueled Grassburger Group Ride
Made in the Shade Beer Tasting Festival F L A G STA F F, A Z • J U N E 1 3
Pour one out for northern Arizona’s largest and longestrunning beer festival: Made in the Shade. Held in the Fort Tuthill County Park forest, this festival celebrates brews for a charitable cause. highlight: Take your pick from the 50 local breweries tapping pints
Utah Shakespeare Festival CEDAR CITY, UT • JUNE 25–OCT. 31
This Tony Award-winning festival offers multiple shows every day in July and August, along with tours and seminars. Choose from Amadeus, King Lear, Henry IV and more. highlight: Complete the Canon, the festival’s initiative to produce Shakespeare’s 38-play repertoire
Prescott Frontier Days P R E S COT T, A Z • J U N E 2 9 – J U LY 5
Saddle up for the World’s Oldest Rodeo (128 years, to be exact) and a long run of roping and riding.
Moab Music Festival M OA B , U T • S E P T. 3 – 1 4
Musicians and aficionados flock to Moab’s red-rock canyons for two weeks of first-class chamber music, jazz and more. highlight:: The festival’s post-music raft trip down the Colorado River
SUMMER FUN
For more tips on what to see, eat, drink and do this summer, visit doradomagazine.com.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: K ARL HUGH; MARKUS SPISKE; LENNY FOSTER
Telluride Mountainfilm
This citywide festival spans Telluride’s most scenic views for a multisensory jazz performance. And don’t forget about Jazz After Dark, when the shows migrate to the city’s legendary clubs. highlight: Sunday’s New Orleans Day brass band parade
EvEning CommutE
FarmingtonNM.org M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 5 • D O R A D O
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ARTS
Summer of Color
From orange-winged butterflies to crimson rugs and turquoise jewelry, Santa Fe celebrates the season with a boldly hued series of exhibitions across the city
T
BY ERIC WYBENGA
he mere mention of the Southwest evokes a world of intense color. Beginning Memorial Day, Santa Fe celebrates this distinctive palette with Summer of Color, in which the city’s museums will feature specific Southwestern colors in their exhibitions through Labor Day. Museum Hill serves as the focal point. At the Museum of Indian Arts &
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Culture you’ll find Turquoise, Water, Sky, highlighting the museum’s collection of turquoise jewelry. Next door, the Museum of International Folk Art features The Red that Colored the World, a visual exploration of cochineal, an insect dye responsible for the brilliant red of traditional Southwestern textiles. The Santa Fe Botanical Garden takes the color outside, with a profusion of orange plants and blooms honoring the endangered monarch butterfly.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BL AIR CL ARK /NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF ART; ADDISON DOT Y/ WHEELWRIGHT MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN; COURTESY THE MUSEUM OF SPANISH COLONIAL ART; ADDISON DOT Y/ WHEELWRIGHT MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN; BOB SMITH/INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART MARKET; SONNY TUCKER /SANTA FE BOTANICAL GARDEN
PANORAMA
Clockwise from top right: Billy Schenck’s Coming Down from the Mountain at the New Mexico Museum of Art; a bolo tie at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture; a Navajo blanket, c. 19th century, at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art; silver spoons, c. 1890, at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian; Peruvian artist Zenovia Paricela at the International Folk Art Market; a monarch butterfly at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.
Many of Santa Fe’s more than 200 galleries are also organizing shows around colors of their own choosing. The New Mexico Museum of Art, meanwhile, puts the full spectrum on display with Colors of the Southwest, from the chamisa yellow and sage green that punctuate the desert floor to the brooding purples of twilit canyons. Drawn from the museum’s extensive permanent collection, the exhibition represents artists, from the early 20th century to the present, who have found a muse in the region’s unique qualities of color and light. “I’ve tried to show different times of day and different times of year,” says curator Carmen Vendelin, “but also just work that really has a strong visual impact and is very beautiful.” That beauty manifests in a surprising variety of media and subject matter, from more traditional landscape painting by artists such as E. Martin Hennings of the celebrated Taos Society of Artists to the works of ceramicist Eddie Dominguez. “Growing up in the desert Southwest, I was always influenced by the color that surrounded me,” says Dominguez, who cites the extraordinary range of greens, blues and pinks he finds here. His sculptural ceramics reflect that variegated landscape in bright, contrasting glazes. A persistent theme running through the show is the Southwest’s power to transform artists. “The high desert views and colors are mind-blowing to anyone arriving there for the first time,” attests Mitchell Johnson, whose Cerrillos (Clouds IV), painted in New Mexico, represents a dramatic departure from his more abstract work. In the Southwest, Johnson, like so many before and after him, has discovered “the drama of the broad bands of earthy reds and yellows, foiled against the ocean of sky, challenging all artists’ ideas about color.”
T E L L U R I D E ’ S O N LY F O U R D I A M O N D F U L L S E RV I C E L U X U R Y H O T E L Telluride, CO | (844) 497-0557 | madelinetelluride.com
DORADOMAGAZINE.COM
#MyDorado
WEAR Peruse our favorite vintage shops, from Santa Fe to Tucson.
EAT Learn why we’ll drive to a teeny, tiny mountain town for tacos.
Photo courtesy of Telluride Golf Club
DO
Show us everything you love about the Southwest.
Tackle the Moab Ancient Art climb from the comfort of your desk.
Tag your photos with #MyDorado and we’ll share our favorites.
ESCAPE Rethink the ski town— Telluride’s summer weekends are calling your name.
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DROP US A LINE We’re dying to hear from you! Send your love letters, your hate mail and everything in between. editor@doradomagazine.com
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PANORAMA
GEAR
Happy Camper
No need to rough it with these comfy campsite essentials BY DINA MISHEV
Safe and Sound
Is the Braven BRV-1’s best feature its ultraruggedness — waterproof and shock-absorbent — or its sparkling sound? $150, backcountry.com
CO L D FEET ?
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Stout Fellow
Klean Kanteen’s new stainless steel growlers are the rad way to transport your beverages in bulk. From $45, backcountry.com
TOP: TG STUDIOS/THINKSTOCK
Bison down is softer than cashmere and warmer than wool. United By Blue spent years making the perfect sock from it. $38, unitedbyblue.com
Bug Off
ThermaCELL’s newest lantern is nearly as bright as a car headlight and provides a 15’ x 15’ area of mosquito protection. $60, thermacell.com
Tool Time
Gerber’s MP1 is a full-size workhorse capable of tackling just about anything. $130, gerbergear.com
E AT O U T
Cook up to three different dishes at once on Coleman’s propane-powered portable stove oven.
Beauty Sleep
Pendleton’s National Park Blankets honor our most beautiful outdoor spaces; 100 percent virgin wool keeps us warm. From $199, pendleton-usa.com
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Bright Lights, Big Tent
Big Agnes’ new mtnGLO tents include LEDs integrated into their construction. Best for families? The Chimney Creek. $450, bigagnes.com
PACK IT IN
Looking for backpacks that go beyond the trail? We share our top picks at doradomagazine.com/backpacks.
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PANORAMA
BOOKS
The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful Inspired by a friend’s past and the beauty of rural New Mexico and Colorado, Peter Heller overcomes writer’s block to capture the violent, poetic drama of the Southwest BY STUA RT M I L L E R
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JOHN BURCHAM
P
eter Heller’s debut novel, The Dog Stars, just poured out. “I wrote by instinct,” he says. Heller listened for a voice, then just wrote 1,000 words a day, six days a week. “I go 100 mph.” A Brooklyn boy-turned-adventurejournalist and environmental writer, Heller wanted to be a novelist “since I was 11.” He quickly found a publisher and his editor trimmed just two pages, he recalls. “I thought, ‘This is how fiction goes. How easy is that?’” Not always so easy, as he learned with his second book, The Painter. Just published in paperback, the book, set in Colorado and New Mexico, is narrated by Jim Stegner, a painter with a passion for fishing and a penchant
for almost justifiable violence. Its stunning prologue opens with three simple sentences: “I never imagined I would shoot a man. Or be a father. Or live so far from the sea.” After Stegner kills a man, he becomes enmeshed with the vengeful family even as he seeks love and redemption — and sneaks away to fish as often as possible. Heller seeks Hemingway’s spare language, a journalist’s realism, a poet’s line breaks and lyricism, and an Elmore Leonard-like suspense. The New York Times praised the novel’s “pure heart,” The Boston Globe heralded the “beautiful, near-visionary descriptions of the American West” and Publishers Weekly said Heller is as “equally skillful at describing the creation of a painting as he is at describing the thrilling details of a gunfight.” But this time the road to success was anything but smooth. The first roadblock
was Heller’s realization that Stegner — from his year in prison to the fly-fishing lure in his cap — resembled his friend, painter Jim Wagner. Heller nervously told Wagner. “There was a pregnant pause but then he said, ‘Wow, that sounds awesome,’ and I was so relieved,” Heller says. While Heller likes when his writing leaves him “surprised or sometimes shocked,” The Painter was more painstaking. Both his agent and his editor requested three rewrites. The prologue, epilogue and “white-knuckle scene 80 percent of the way through” that give the book its emotional heft and biggest thrills were only added belatedly at the suggestion of the agent and the editor. Some novelists might balk at the intrusion but Heller simply took their advice and revved back up to 100 mph. “It was a wonderful collaborative experience,” he says.
First lines: “I never imagined I would shoot a man. Or be a father. Or live so far from the sea. As a child, you imagine your life sometimes, how it will be. I never thought I would be a painter.”
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PANORAMA
R E A L E S TAT E
Own a Piece of Paradise Four tips for buying a second home in the Four Corners region BY JODI HELMER
F
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y N AT E PA D AV I C K
orget renting a condo or checking into a hotel room. Buying a vacation home allows you to take advantage of all of the recreational activities in the Southwest, no reservations required. “Buyers come here looking for more than a home — they want a lifestyle,” says David Dougherty of Santa Fe-based Dougherty Real Estate Co. A robust second-home market is attracting buyers from as far away as New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, according to Dougherty — but that doesn’t mean finding real estate in the Four Corners region is as simple as arriving in town
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and making an offer. Follow these tips to turn your favorite vacation destination into your home away from home. 1. Focus on Location: In the Four Corners region, the real estate market is as diverse as the landscape. Before touring homes, decide whether your ideal second home is a historical condo near restaurants and galleries, a lodge on the slopes or a ranch in the desert. “Think of the life you want to have when you’re here and let that guide your home search,” Dougherty says. 2. Ask the Experts: There is no substitute for local expertise. A real estate agent will help identify suitable properties, negotiate the best price and make
recommendations for home inspectors and other professionals to help ease the transition to owning a home in the area. 3. Run the Numbers: Look beyond the purchase price when budgeting for a second home. Although 38 percent of buyers paid cash for vacation homes, according to the National Association of Realtors, there are still annual costs to consider, including taxes, insurance and maintenance. You may also need to hire a caretaker to monitor the property when you’re out of town. “Insurance companies don’t want to insure vacant homes because of the liability,” Dougherty says. 4. Assess the Rental Potential: Renting out your second home can help offset the cost of owning it. Remember, though, the rental market in the Four Corners region is seasonal: There is more demand in Durango during ski season while summer is peak rental season in Santa Fe. If you plan to rent, you may need to sacrifice a few weeks during high season to accommodate rental requests.
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PANORAMA
DRINKS
That’s the Spirit British-born Colin Keegan infuses the New Mexico desert into his artisanal brandy, gin and whiskey B Y S A M M O U LT O N PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEN JUDGE
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I
n 2010, with the local housing market still stalled out, Colin Keegan’s phone stopped ringing. The local, British-born architect and developer had been making batches of cider for friends with apples from the small orchard at his home outside of town, and “with more time on my hands, this little hobby took over everything,” he says. Fast-forward to today: His awardwinning microdistillery, Santa Fe Spirits, now operates two tasting rooms and handcrafts five different spirits from predominantly locally-sourced ingredients.
Silver Coyote Pure Malt Whiskey Unlike most American “white dogs,” as distillers call white whiskeys, the unaged Silver Coyote isn’t corn-based. Instead, it’s crafted with 100 percent malted barley to create a slightly sweet and dry flavor profile more reminiscent of the pure-malt whiskeys found in Keegan’s native U.K.
Expedition Vodka Distilled six times, this smooth and clean vodka is processed with local water from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, making it the ideal mixer for Santa Fe Spirits’ Ginger Lavender Lemon Drop, one of
SMOKEY MANHATTAN • 4 oz Colkegan Whiskey • 1 oz sweet vermouth •4 -5 dashes Fee Brothers Barrel-Aged Whiskey Bitters Served “up” and garnished with a Luxardo cherry
Clockwise from far left: Architectcum-distiller Colin Keegan; the science (and pressure) of distilling; a smokey Manhattan made with Colkegan Whiskey; Santa Fe Spirits uses New Mexican botanicals to flavor its gin; a copper pot/still from Germany; tasting the barrel-aged Manhattan made with Silver Coyote Whiskey.
the downtown tasting room’s dozen or so signature cocktails.
Apple Brandy Crafted from a blend of apples from northern New Mexico, including some from Keegan’s small orchard, this dry, Calvados-style brand is one of the distillery’s simplest spirits. While the flavor is big and bold, it’s made using only fruit juice and yeast, with no sugar added.
Colkegan Single Malt Whiskey Double-distilled and aged for a minimum of two years in a combination of
old and new white-oak bourbon barrels, this single malt is smoked with local mesquite wood instead of the traditional peat. The resulting smoky and mellow flavor “reminds people of the outdoors and campfires,” Keegan says.
Wheeler’s Gin Named after Wheeler Peak, the highest peak in New Mexico, this dry and remarkably fragrant New World-style gin is made with a host of local botanicals, including juniper, white desert sage, osha root and magentacolored cholla cactus blossoms that flower in the spring and early summer. M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 5 • D O R A D O
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OPEN WATER
Watson Lake, near Prescott, offers Arizonans a reprieve from scorching summer temperatures.
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OUTDOORS
WATSON L AKE Escaping Phoenix’s triple-digit summer heat, Peter O’Dowd explores an otherworldly oasis in northern Arizona P H OTO G R A P H Y BY DAW N K I S H
ourists and pickup trucks formed an unbreakable clot in Prescott’s main square. My heart sank. I’d driven two friends, who’d never been to the city’s famous Whiskey Row, straight into a late-summer festival that no one had accounted for. From an idled vantage point on Gurley Street, I could see vendors lined up beneath their tents in the shadow of Yavapai County’s 100-year-old courthouse. The belt-buckle makers and fry-bread bakers must have made a killing that day. Every ice cream shop and bar stool in downtown Prescott was full of people who had the same idea we did. Escape the heat. Drive north. Except in this traffic, we weren’t going anywhere. With lunch on Whiskey Row now off the day’s agenda, I needed an alternative. There was no way we were making the two-hour drive back to Phoenix until after dark, when temperatures retreat below the century mark. I considered the moonscape of Watson Lake. I had seen it on the drive in. The Precambrian granite spires appeared just off Route 89, 5 miles before we reached the crowds of downtown Prescott. How many times had I sped past that mirror on the desert floor? After so many years of crisscrossing northern Arizona’s highways, I’d become too focused on preplanned destinations. I rarely stopped anymore to take an impromptu step into the vast Western portraits that develop on the other side of the windshield. The view I had seen of Watson Lake from the highway earlier that day was confounding. In a place where it seems there should be neither towering rock nor water, there
is both. It was the kind of desert magic that makes you ask yourself, almost seriously, “If I tried to touch that, would it vanish?” As the de facto tour guide of this afternoon excursion, I figured it was time to find out. I made a U-turn on Gurley Street and drove back toward the water. The lot at the entrance to Watson Lake Park was nearly full, but nothing like the scene we’d left behind. A few sunburnt teenagers, whose day on the water had just ended, came lumbering up the hill. Each had a hand on one side of an empty cooler. A girl sat on a tailgate waiting for her mother to finish tying a lure. We carried nothing appropriate for a day at the lake, but my friends are the kind of people who tend to be up for anything. Elizabeth once spent two months hiking the Appalachian Trail. The only obstacle that stopped her from finishing was the
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ON THE ROCKS
Rock climbers scramble to Watson Lake’s Granite Dells for expert routes.
Most days I’ve chosen the opportunity
highway couldn’t be far behind us. The rock formations blocked the view above. They piled up along the jagged contours of the shore and created quiet little spaces that, of the city over the peace that comes if we had thought to bring anything with us, would have made for a perfect place to picnic. with open air. Now that I was free of the My mind was on things other than food, anyway. The wilderness of Arizona brings quiet to my life. I’ve spent gridlock, I was free to daydream. hours on trails that snake down into canyons or climb up to fire-lookout mountaintops. But on most days I’ve bone that had finally cracked in her foot. We could handle chosen the opportunity of the city over the peace that this. We set off toward the water wearing street clothes. comes with open air. Now that I was free of the gridlock, I Watson Lake exists today because the Chino Valley was free to daydream. Long before this walk through the Irrigation District put a dam on Granite Creek in the early granite fields around Watson Lake, I knew changes were 1900s. Today, the Peavine Trail, once a trackbed of the coming to my life that would take me away from the skies Santa Fe Railway, runs along the eastern edge of the lake and desert of my home state to some place much bigger, and attracts mountain bikers year-round. The trail begins but also, more closed in. Maybe Los Angeles, or more disat the Watson Woods Riparian Preserve, a 125-acre park tant still, Boston. Watson Lake grew closer with every step with towering cottonwoods and willows that lay down we took, but Arizona seemed to be in retreat. It delivered shade and solitude. Look closely, you may find a greena punch of nostalgia even before the loss arrived. backed heron scouting its next meal in a shallow pond. At the granite platform that marked the water’s edge, I The Peavine connects with smaller trails like the one took off my shoes, and then my shirt. A pair of ducks had that we had chosen. Those smaller trails form a loop waddled up beside me. The rock was warm beneath our around the lake. If we kept walking to Watson’s north feet. I would later learn that swimming isn’t allowed in shore, we’d find rock climbers scaling the Granite Dells. Watson Lake. Health officials fear a bacterial bloom that They spider crawl their way up technical routes with comes from too many people in the water. But at the time names like Huckleberry Thin and the Crack of Doom. there was nothing that could keep me from it. Fifty yards The rocks they conquer have been rounded off by eons of from shore a boulder island, still and solemn, rose up from wind and weather. the lake like a silent steamship. Its inverted portrait of color Our path from the parking lot was and shape reflected perfectly on the undiseasy enough to follow. We made slow but turbed water. DIVE IN! steady progress scrambling over boulders That rocky strand was my target. I took For more of our favorite ways to and plodding through puddles from a several strokes toward it before slipping beat the heat this summer, visit doradomagazine.com/divein. recent monsoon rain. Soon, any sign of beneath the water, re-emerging on my civilization vanished, though we knew the back, eyes open to the sky above.
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IN TOWN
JE AN COCTE AU CINEMA Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has reinvigorated the coolest little movie house in the Southwest. Sam Moulton finds art house flix and live performances accompanied by Amish-grown popcorn and whiskeyritas in Santa Fe PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEN JUDGE
ust before last Christmas, during the height of the kerfuffle surrounding the release of the controversial low-brow comedy, The Interview, an unlikely voice managed to rise above the national chatter. Infuriated by the news that after threats from hackers several major theater chains had decided not to show the film, Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin wrote on his personal (and immensely popular) blog that “the level of corporate cowardice here astonishes me.” Noting that he hadn’t seen the film, and that it might very well be “stupid and offensive and outrageous,” Martin stressed that whether or not it’s any good was beside the point. “For what it’s worth,” he concluded, “the Jean Cocteau Cinema will be glad to screen The Interview.” Martin is referring to Santa Fe’s Jean Cocteau Cinema, the tiny art house theater he purchased and restored to great fanfare in 2013. Many famous, creative types call Santa Fe home (Gene Hackman, Cormac McCarthy, Tom Ford) but news that the author of A Song of Ice and Fire (basis of runaway HBO hit Game of Thrones) was reopening the town’s beloved indie theater, shut since 2006, caught Santa Feans off guard. Even though Martin was named by Time magazine as one of the “most influential people in the world” in 2011, many Santa Fe locals didn’t even know they lived in the same town as the famous writer. That’s because Martin keeps a pretty low profile in town. Although he’s lived in Santa Fe since 1979, and is generally sociable and enjoys traveling and chatting with his legions of fans at conventions, when he’s home, he’s usually writing. But like a lot of Santa Feans, when Martin wanted to go to
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the movies, he liked to go to the Collective Fantasy Cinema, as the theater was originally called. (It was renamed the Jean Cocteau in 1983.) “It was always his favorite place to see movies,” says Jon Bowman, the theater’s programmer and a longtime friend of Martin’s. “It’s close to his house, it showed all sorts of arty movies, and they had the best popcorn in town.” During the seven years it was closed, Martin kept telling friends he wished someone would purchase and reopen the theater. “Then one day he called me up and said he wanted to buy it,” Bowman says. “I told him not to, but he was determined, and said that even if I didn’t help him he was going to do it anyway.” True to his word, Martin wasted no time and spared no expense restoring the single-screen, 120-person-capacity theater. Almost immediately after it opened its doors in August of 2013, Martin began delivering on his promise to make it “Santa Fe’s most eclectic movie house.” In addition to screening nearly every stripe of movie, from sci-fi to vintage films to the occasional new release, Martin has also helped transform the Jean Cocteau into an interdisciplinary event space, art gallery, bookstore and bar. Special events regularly include everything from book readings to live musical acts to the occasional magic show or live broadcast of a classic Shakespeare play. “A lot of what works for us really reflects Santa Fe,” says theater manager Melania Frazier. “Martin’s personality permeates the entire place. It’s totally different than what you’ll find anywhere else.” A few blocks from the town’s colonial-style plaza, in the city’s Railyard District, the building, which dates back to 1910 and was originally a brewery,
FANTASY WORLD
Santa Feans and visitors alike head to George R.R. Martin’s Jean Cocteau Cinema for vintage films, classic concessions and Game of Thrones-inspired beer in a one-room theater.
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MARKETPLACE
VISIT ONLINE Shop for the products, places and experiences featured in our magazine. Products chosen by our staff and select advertisers. WWW.DORADOMAGAZINE.COM/MARKETPLACE
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LINDA CARFAGNO
remains a unique mashup of art decofrom Cooperstown, New York-based meets-adobe. The marquee has been preOmmegang Brewery. (Valar Morghulis served and the decor remains thoroughly translates to “all men must die” in High mid-century modern. While Martin had Valyrian, one of the languages spoken in the original 35 mm projector overhauled the Game of Thrones series.) and also added a digital projector and While the drinks and movies are sound system, the viewing experience always in flux, there’s one important detail remains charming and intimate. that never changes: the seriously good The lobby still retains its cozy lounge popcorn. Martin is a noted connoisseur feel, with a combination of tall tables and of the classic concession and, after a long A RARE SIGHT comfy chairs, but it now also doubles as search, he and the staff finally found some Martin is making fewer visits to the Cocteau these days the art gallery, bookstore and bar. The corn that was both organic and tasty. “We while he finishes up the latest artwork rotates monthly, and features get it from an Amish farmer in Indiana,” installment of his book series. mostly local artists, while the shelves are says Frazier. “It took us four months to lined with Game of Thrones figurines, trinkets and coins find.” (And, yes, it’s topped with real butter.) and an unusual selection of books. In typical quirky The other constant: pilgrims. “They come from all over fashion, the theater sells only signed copies of books — the world,” says Bowman of the Game of Thrones fans and only those penned by Martin or the various authors who buy books, snap pictures, and then … linger, hoping who have stopped by to do a reading. to catch a glimpse of Martin in his trademark suspendThe full bar features a rotating variety of beers on ers and fisherman’s cap. These days, that’s increasingly tap and signature drinks, including Martin’s favorite, unlikely. While the author still catches the occasional Burning Tumbleweed, a spicy take on the whiskeyrita film, he hasn’t been coming around as much lately, as he (a popular local twist on a margarita that’s made with races to finish The Winds of Winter, the second-to-last whiskey). For several months last year, before the beer — and much-anticipated and now long overdue — installwas officially released, it was one of the only places you ment in the series. If you’re a serious Game of Thrones could get a draft of Valar Morghulis, a hearty dubbel fan, anxiously and impatiently awaiting its arrival, that’s ale and one of five Game of Thrones-inspired beers probably music to your ears.
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AT HOME
CABIN FEVER How do you transform a dark, dated log cabin into a contemporary retreat? Erinn Morgan discovers a Telluride getaway that combines natural materials, industrial accents and an abundance of glass PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICO MARQUES
hen Jeff Moody stumbled upon a “tired, old log cabin” for sale in Telluride’s Mountain Village, he knew it had the makings of a uniquely modern vacation home for his Toronto-based family. Built in 1980, it was one of the only two original log cabins in this enclave. But it had pristine views and spectacular ski-on access located 50 yards from the front door for this ski family. “It was a weird six-bedroom cabin that looked like a ski dorm,” says Moody. “But it was on a sunny lot with great views and great ski access. We loved the logs and wanted to keep them but give the house a mountain contemporary feeling. So, we tore everything out but the logs; that was the start of it.”
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“One of our goals was to bring the outside in, see all the views — and when it’s snowing, be a part of the mountains.”
With a fast-paced lifestyle as an executive at a boutique wealth-management firm, Moody savors his time off in the mountains. And, after making the rounds vacationing with his family at the West’s best ski towns, Telluride became the clear favorite. “It’s a very special place,” Moody says. “We love that the locals and the visitors all get along there. It’s not about ‘What do you do?’ It’s about ‘What did you do today?’” Which is exactly why the Moodys chose Telluride when they decided to set up a more permanent vacation stop. “When I decided to buy something I told the real estate agent to send me everything that no one was interested in,” says Moody, who was focused on finding a property to remodel into a vacation home that suited his family’s style — and lifestyle. When they purchased the cabin, the Moodys had also
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received an architect’s remodel plans for the home. But, when Moody flew into Telluride to look at the plans, he knew they were not heading in the right direction. He then started interviewing architects. “The house was a real little, simple, single-gable roof structure with logs,” says architect Luke Trujillo, owner of Telluride-based TruLinea Architects. “I remember pulling up to the driveway and thinking ‘Oh, my. Am I really going to interview for this job?’ But it was serendipitous, and I got a client that became a friend.” In fact, Trujillo and Moody recently returned from a motorcycle tour of the Italian Dolomites on Ducatis. The two also worked well together on the cabin remodel, which was focused on maintaining the character and integrity of the log home while infusing it with a modern, livable look. “We wanted to design a house that was like a watch
VIEWS FROM THE TOP
Clockwise from far left: Telluride-based TruLinea Architects transformed a “tired, old log cabin” into an expansive, open home; the Moodys have ski-on access just 50 feet from their front door in the winter and mountain biking options galore in the summer; weathered steel accents, slate floors and steel beams give the cabin a modern feel.
with hands on it — not a digital watch,” says Trujillo. The project involved adding on a huge wraparound deck on the exterior and building on an entire second floor with a master suite. This brought the original 2,500-square-foot house to 3,200 square feet. In addition, Moody wanted to open up the dark cabin with lots of windows. “You got inside and all you could see was the log,” he says. “One of our goals was to bring the outside in, see all the views — and when it’s snowing, be a part of the mountains, not in a dark log cabin.” It is one of this remodel’s defining features. TruLinea designed a unique, contemporary log home with an abundance of glass. The cabin also taps into urbanity with weathered steel interior accents, slate floors, steel beams across all the trusses and a large, steel kitchen commissioned from Aspen.
With the idea of creating a modern family-friendly space, the cabin’s interior was also opened up with a loftlike design. “It’s big and open and airy — and it’s everything you don’t expect from the outside,” Moody says. Trujillo says this unexpected surprise is his favorite feature of this project. “You pull up on the street and there is this little benign cabin sitting there,” he says. “And, every person that I bring there opens the door, and they say ‘Whoa!’ The best feature is the unexpected.” Trujillo adds that this home truly fits Jeff and Joanne Moody’s personalities — while they live a high-profile life in Toronto, he says they are “very humble and great, normal folks.” “The cabin had this great personality for them because it was this humble thing in the middle of all these gargantuan structures in Mountain Village,” Trujillo says. M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 5 • D O R A D O
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LIGHTEN UP
From top: Sunlight now floods the entire home; the cabin’s remodel added a wraparound porch and a second floor, bringing it to 3,200 square feet.
He adds that the overall aesthetic kind of “just happened” through pragmatic decisions about the project’s details. The million-dollarplus remodel also placed a focus on green building. “We always try to limit waste and also incorporate passive solar and good mechanical and structural systems,” says Trujillo. “We designed the house to last a long time and take a beating from the weather.” The Moody family also tapped into Telluridebased Studio Frank for their vacation home’s luxe and modern interior design. As the Moodys have spent more and more time in Telluride — they now vacation there at least two months throughout the year with their two teenage children — they found they needed additional garage space on the home, which originally had a one-car garage. True to form, TruLinea is currently planning a notably unique two-car addition that will be accessed from
“Our whole family is a big outdoor family. We like to ski, snowshoe, mountain bike and hike. And, we’ve just fallen in love with Telluride. Now, it really is home.” the home via a tunnel. “We wanted to fit some motorcycles, plus we have ATVs and a couple of cars — we just decided we needed the space,” Moody says. Since the new structure had to be placed away from the house but the Moodys wanted it accessible in all types of weather, they decided to employ a tunnel to connect the two. Two bedrooms will also be built on top of the tunnel. This new addition will bring the home to approximately 5,000 square feet. But with an eye to more time spent in Telluride during retirement, this addition will come in handy. “Our whole family is a big outdoor family. We like to ski, snowshoe, mountain bike and hike,” says Moody. “And, we’ve just fallen in love with Telluride. Now, it really is home.”
COLORADO ON MY MIND
Discover our ideal itinerary for a weekend in Telluride at doradomagazine.com/tellurideweekend.
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S pringtime in the Rocky M ountains YOUR OWN SLICE OF PARADISE IN DURANGO, COLORADO
CASCADE POINTE at WINDOM RANCH Completely turnkey estate with everything imaginable for your comfort and entertaining in elegant style. This estate has 35 acres of the most captivating, unblemished views of the San Juan Mountain range and Electra Lake in a very private and pristine setting. The 11,700 SF home is decorated with luxurious finishes, upscale Ralph Lauren furniture and fabrics, pieces from American Country Collection, many antiques, and one-of-a-kind paintings. This expansive yet cozy home has 5 bedrooms including an upstairs guest suite/apartment, 3 full baths and 3 half baths, gourmet kitchen, sewing room, office and workout room, wood-burning and gas fireplaces. The attached heated workshop has all tools and 6-wheel Ranger included, plus there is a 5-car heated garage and separate wood storage house. Native landscaping features 3 ponds each highlighted by tumbling waterfalls. This is a spot of exceptional beauty and charm! $11,750,000
ELK PARK RANCH 1,008 acres of dramatic mountains and rolling meadows within a lush river valley only 10 minutes from historic downtown Durango. Over 13,000 SF of recently remodeled rustic log, timber and stone residential and ranch improvements can accommodate generations of family, friends and staff. Nearly a mile of carefully restored Florida River frontage along with six stocked ponds make for a true “fisherman’s paradise,” while being surrounded by towering aspen, spruce and ponderosa trees that frame ancient cliffs, distant peaks, and tens-of-thousands-of-acres of public lands. It’s called Elk Park Ranch due to the number of elk that call it home, establishing it as one of the best elk hunting ranches in the region. Very special offering at $17,500,000
47 PINNACLE VIEW DRIVE Live the experience of a lifetime. This spectacular 7,852 SF, 5 bedroom, 6.5 bath custom log home sits on 11+ private acres with a combination of seclusion and mountain, cliff, and water views. Built by a native Texan using standing dead timber from trees that were alive when Lewis and Clark did their Tour of Discovery, it’s a great house for entertaining small or large groups. From the massive barbedwire structural details to the jail-cell bar in the great room to the majestic logs, this is a true “western” log home. Each season has its delights: osprey and kingfishers in the spring, trout rising in the lake eating blue damsel flies in the summer, bugling elk in the fall, with golden aspen contrasting the dark green pines, and the intense beauty after an early winter snow storm coats the trees and cliffs, putting a soft blanket of quiet over the whole area. Amazing. $3,595,000
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Zach Morse
970.769.8989
970.391.2600
legacypropertieswestsir.com
Experienced representation Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated.
for buyers and sellers of fine homes and estates M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 5 • D O R A D O 41
B Y K E L LY K R A M E R
THE
G R E AT JORDAN SIEMENS/GETTY
The Southwest’s epic landscapes have attracted thrill-seekers for centuries. Its geographic wonders and natural resources are among the richest in the world. So it’s little wonder the Four Corners region is still luring adventurers. Dorado surveys the area’s best outdoor experiences.
OUTDOORS
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One of the Southwest’s great geological wonders, Arches National Park in southern Utah offers hikers inspiring trails and panoramic views.
M OAB , U TA H
Named for the natural stone bows that dominate its landscape, Arches National Park has long been a destination for hikers and climbers. But thousands of years before modern adventurers began flocking to the park, Ancestral Puebloans lived in villages in and around it. No ruins of their dwellings remain today, but their visual diaries, petroglyphs, are one of the main attractions along the trails. Well, the petroglyphs and the thousands of red-rock spires, pinnacles, balanced rocks and fins that give the park a wild, otherworldly feeling. For beginning hikers, several short, flat trails lead to some of the park’s most notable features — Balanced Rock, Double Arch, Landscape Arch and Skyline Arch among them. What’s more, a 1-mile-long segment of the Courthouse Wash trail meanders past one of the Puebloans’ rock art panels. It’s a simple stroll into history between some of the park’s prettiest canyon walls. Experienced hikers, though, will revel in more strenuous trails. Ranging in length between 3 and 7.2 miles, they climb across narrow ledges and dunes to the park’s more remote arches (think: Tower and Delicate). And then there’s the Fiery Furnace, a mazelike scramble over broken sandstone and loose sand, and into and through narrow gaps. Although it’s possible to hike it on your own (with a permit), park officials recommend ranger-led tours.
THIS PAGE: JORDAN SIEMENS/GETT Y (2). OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: JORDAN SIEMENS/GETT Y; JORDAN SIEMENS/CORBIS; THINKSTOCK; JORDAN SIEMENS/GETT Y
HIKING ARCHES NATIONAL PARK
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Clockwise from top left: Nightfall at Arches National Park; the stunning Delicate Arch; trail running Devil’s Garden; fireside after a day on the trails; ancient petroglyphs; the Colorado River winds its way through southern Utah.
Clockwise from left: With rapids ranging from Class II to Class V, the Rio Grande offers adventure for all skill levels; Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep along the Rio Grande’s banks; a quiet moment in the sun.
TAOS, NEW MEX ICO
PADDLING THE RIO GRANDE At 1,885 miles long, the Rio Grande is the fourthlargest river system in the U.S. With its source at Canby Mountain, just east of the Continental Divide in south-central Colorado, the river flows to the Gulf of Mexico and serves as a natural border between Texas and Mexico. But a small segment of the river also separates Texas and New Mexico, and that’s where rafters can conquer some of its finest rapids. Nine different segments of Class II to Class V rapids comprise the Upper Rio Grande and Lower Rio Grande gorges. New Mexico River Adventures takes DORADO participants on a daylong trip into Taos Box. M AY / J U N E 2015 Some 800 feet below the Rio Grande Gorge’s rim, the box begins in calm water before it opens up into choppy waters. Among the rapids you’ll encounter in the box are Power Line Falls, the Rock Garden, Rio Bravo and Sunset — all Class IVs known for their splash factor. In addition to time on the water, of course, the trip includes opportunities for wildlife watching. Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and several species of raptors are known to drink and hunt, respectively, at water’s edge. LEFT: ERICH SCHLEGEL /CORBIS. RIGHT, FROM TOP: FLORENCEMCGINN/ THINKSTOCK; NEVADA WIER /CORBIS
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S EDONA, ARIZONA
GOLFING SEVEN CANYONS Although Sedona is best known for its red rocks and spiritual vortexes, it’s also one of the Southwest’s premier golfing destinations.
Deemed “the IMAX of golf ” by Golfweek’s architecture editor, Seven Canyons seems deserving of the comparison, thanks to the idyllic setting and red-rock features that give the course its 3-D feel. Tucked away in Boynton Canyon and surrounded by thousands of acres of the Coconino National Forest, the club is exclusive both in terms of its environment and its amenities. Designed by PGA legendturned-architect Tom Weiskopf,
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the links are open to members and residents of Seven Canyons, as well as guests of the nearby Enchantment Resort. There, it’s possible to book a package that includes a 60-minute spa treatment and a round of golf at Seven Canyons for each day you stay. The course itself is short, with a par of 70 and a length just shy of 7,000 yards from the championship tees. It’s known for its small greens, natural water features
and elevation changes, and, much to the delight of what the club’s website heralds as golf purists, the course is “very walkable.” But whether you walk or cruise Seven Canyons in a cart, you won’t be disappointed by its surroundings — though you may be a bit distracted. Flanked by ponderosa pines, fragrant junipers and a variety of desert shrubs, the course is a study in the contrast of green against Sedona’s famed spires.
F RUITA, COLORADO
MOUNTAIN BIKING THE ROCKIES Between March and November, countless people descend on Fruita, and they’re all after one thing: the conquest of the town’s amazing trail system. Tucked along the western slope of the Rockies, Fruita offers riders 18 road trails, as well as a range of terrain on what’s known as the Kokopelli trails. These black-diamond runs cross nearly 150 miles of earth that vary from pavement to rugged old Jeep road. The entire route runs from Fruita to Moab, Utah, and includes several
water sources for extreme bikers looking to tackle an extended adventure. With a high elevation of 8,589 feet and a low of 4,124 feet, Fruita’s Kokopelli trails are an exercise in ascents, descents and shifting gears — perfect for the seasoned mountain biker. Unless, of course, you’re chicken.
ADVENTURE CALLS
Join us as we tackle Moab’s Ancient Art rock climb. See the view from the top at doradomagazine.com/moabclimb.
JORDAN SIEMENS/CORBIS; OPPOSITE PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: JORDAN SIEMENS/CORBIS; KEN BARBER /GETT Y; ISTOCK
In the 1950s, a story about one Fruita resident became legend: A farmer by the name of Lloyd Olsen selected a rooster named Mike to prepare for dinner. As farmers do, he swung his ax and relieved Mike of his head. But Mike didn’t seem to notice. According to the story, the headless rooster went on pecking for food for another two years. The rooster tale lives on through the town’s annual Mike the Headless Chicken Festival, held each May, but it’s not the only legendary thing about Fruita — so, too, are its mountain biking trails.
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Clockwise from top right: A mountain biker navigates a singletrack trail at sunrise; Rim Rock Road, one of 18 road trails in Fruita; the popular North Fruita Desert trailhead; Kokopelli trail overlooking the Colorado River.
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A RT TIME FORG OT Navajo sheepherders have been raising churra sheep since the 16th century, forming a sustainable partnership despite a harsh environment and centuries of change. Will Grant travels from Santa Fe’s galleries to rural New Mexico and Arizona to discover a land and tradition from another era
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LOOMING HISTORY Dating back hundreds of years, Navajo blankets are true relics from the formation of the American West.
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ehind a storefront window on the Santa Fe Plaza John Andrews unfurls a scarlet Navajo blanket from the 1860s priced at $125,000. The blanket was designed to be worn like a shawl, and when Andrews wraps it over his shoulders, the weaver’s design becomes clear: a blue-and-white stripe runs down the back, two stripes run down either side and geometric patterns decorate the front. “Navajo weaving is an art form that’s as distinctly American as jazz,” Andrews says. He owns and curates Native Jackets, a gallery and store selling Navajo textiles, Pendleton blankets and jackets made from blankets. “This is a true aboriginal American artifact.” Another blanket that’s about the same age costs $48,000. The blankets are relics from the formation of the modern West, a time when the great changes that had begun with the arrival of the Spanish were about to crank into high gear as the region fell under U.S. sovereignty. The Navajos migrated to the Southwest in 1200 A.D. and met the Spanish, and their Old World Iberian sheep, when the newcomers wandered into range in the late 1500s. By the late 1800s, the Navajos had developed a pastoral nomadism that became the first livestock-based culture in North America. The sheep thrived in the high-desert climate of the Colorado Plateau, and the Navajo people developed financial, dietary and environmental sustainability around life with sheep. Wool “wearing” blankets, like those in John Andrews’ gallery, began to trickle east to the Anglos, and because the white men didn’t wear blankets, they were used as rugs. Trading posts started showing up in Navajo country when the U.S. established the reservation in 1868. The posts were marketplaces for the textiles, serving both the off-reservation demand and as a source of income for local weavers. As the art of Navajo weaving developed in the 19th and 20th centuries, U.S. dollars encouraged the practice and influenced designs, mostly by a weaver’s preference to make what the Anglos would pay the most for. The traditions of herding sheep and weaving rugs
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declined in the last quarter of the 20th century, and today only a few trading posts serve their historical roles. Along the east slope of the Chuska Mountains on the Arizona-New Mexico border, Mark Winter operates the Toadlena Trading Post. He acquired the lease to trade from the tribal government in 1997, and at that point he’d been buying Native American and Mexican textiles for 30 years. He could see that the weaving community was shrinking, that older weavers were dying and that the community lacked young weavers. To reverse the trend, he started buying local blankets and building looms. He convinced a handful of local schools to offer weaving classes, and he hired professional weavers to teach the classes. Hardly a blanket came out of those schools that Winter didn’t try to buy, and now he has more rugs for sale than any other post on the reservation. “What we’re doing here has a negative cash flow but positive results,” says Winter, sitting on a stack of folded rugs. “We started this movie, and we feel an obligation to continue it. So we buy a lot of rugs, which is how we got such a big inventory.” The Toadlena Trading Post is in an area called Two Grey Hills, and rugs from the area are considered among the finest contemporary Navajo textiles. A high-quality Two Grey Hills rug can easily cost $5,000 and will be made of fine, undyed, hand-spun wool. Winter supports about 170 weavers who live within a 14-mile radius of the post. He encourages them to weave bigger rugs with more complex designs so they can ask higher prices. But he’ll buy just about any rug that’s well made. He holds up a rug the size of a doormat. “I call these car-payment rugs.”
THIS PAGE CLOCKWISE: PAUL CHESLEY/GETT Y; WILL GR ANT (2); OPPOSITE: EDWARD S. CURTIS/LIBR ARY OF CONGRESS. PREVIOUS SPREAD FROM LEFT: WILL GR ANT; DAWN KISH.
AS AMERICAN AS JAZZ Clockwise from top: Tending sheep in Canyon de Chelly; weavings sell in galleries and trading posts like Toadlena for thousands of dollars; a vibrant assortment of weaving patterns; The Blanket Maker, Navaho, c. 1904, by Edward Curtis.
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: NICK NICHOLSON/GETT Y; WILL GR ANT; DAWN KISH.
WILD AND WOOLY Clockwise from top: In the late 1800s, the Navajo became the first livestock-based culture in North America; a mother tends to her newborn lamb; a Navajo rancher.
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Master weaver Violet Brown, 79, sits in front A cow could never find enough to eat in this country, of a loom that reaches floor to ceiling and has shims but the sheep have done well in the high-desert environpounded in at the top to prevent its falling over. She’s ment since they arrived with the Spanish conquistadores. been weaving since she was 10 years old, and over the The Spanish brought a breed of sheep called churra, and years, has furnished her home and her family with a the name was a derogatory term made in reference to truck, horse, washing machine, stove, groceries and a the highly revered merino sheep. Eventually the churra source of income, among other things. sheep became the modern breed of Navajo-churro “I want a new tractor. That’s why I do this rug,” she says, sheep, thanks in large part to Lyle McNeal of Utah State and laughs. She laughs easily and often. “You can never University. He undertook the mission of restoring the hurry, though. People hurry. They don’t get the good price.” genetic profile of the historical churra in 1972 through Back and forth between the vertical threads, Brown selective breeding at a Utah State University facility. lays in the various colors of wool. The threads are not tied; When the lambs of his new churra sheep hit the ground, natural barbs on the wool fibers hook into each other like he gave them to herders throughout the reservation. Velcro and hold the rug together without knotting. Navajo “Sometimes at the risk of my own life, I got these sheep rugs feature symmetrical geometric patterns along both out to the people,” McNeal says. “They’d look through the long and short axes, with the excepthe rails of my stock trailer and say, tion of pictorial rugs, some of which are ‘These are the real sheep, these are HOW LONG done in the sand-painting style, most the real ones.’ The elders, people in DOES A RUG LIKE with mythological representations. If their 80s and 90s, would cry when you fold a geometric rug in half and they saw them.” THIS TAKE? THE slowly peel back the top half, the design Bennalley’s sheep are a product of mirrors itself until the rug is fully open. McNeal’s efforts. She walks her herd The same is true if you diagonally unfurl of shaggy, Old World-coated sheep it by either corner. “I don’t know how about 3 miles before turning them to DEPENDS ON MANY they do it,” trader Mark Winter says. walk home. The sheep know the drill FACTORS — BUT Mothers pass the skills of preparing and move easily. A mile or so from NOTHING HAPPENS the wool and weaving a rug to their home, a ewe turns against the flock, daughters and sons. Children begin baying. She walks in a few distressed with rugs the size of place mats. They circles and lies in the mud beside a take designs from their teachers. The mound of bunchgrass. “She’s ready to WITH NAVA JO RUGS. rugs grow in size and complexity until lamb,” Bennalley says. The ewe stands, they become so large they must be and a lamb drops out of her back end. folded double over the loom. The ewe turns to its baby and begins to clean the lamb. Before the loom is tensioned or a thread is laid in Bennalley pulls off strips of afterbirth. The white baby weft, raw wool undergoes a preparation process that smeared with yellow placenta blinks to life. “Maybe an can take months. A common question at galleries and hour or so, she’ll be able to walk behind her mother.” trading posts is, how long does a rug like this take? The The herd has moved on. The ewe bays at her departanswer depends on many factors, from the productivity ing companions and wants to follow, but does not of the weaver to the needs of her children — but nothing want to leave her baby. I offer to carry the lamb home. happens fast with Navajo rugs. A 4-by-6-foot rug will Bennalley looks at me indifferently. She nods her head take about a year to produce. and walks after her sheep. When I lift the baby above the ewe’s line of sight, she squeals as though her baby has Wool, like any other animal product, is the vanished from earth. When I lower it, the mother and result of diet and environment. In mid-January, Irene baby press their heads together and cluck softly to each Bennalley’s herd of 200 Navajo-churro sheep browse on other. As I walked hunched over with the lamb, a hard silver sagebrush leaves. With seven guard dogs in tow, wind blows off the Chuska Mountains. Clouds threatthe flock moves as a loose line several hundred yards ened. The world is muddy and cold and presents an wide. She walks beside them, matching their pace and at unfriendly environment for a newborn lamb — coyotes, the same time affecting it. “If you walk behind the sheep, eagles, ravens that pick out a lamb’s eyes. It seems like they move too fast and won’t eat enough,” she says. “In a long path to the first rug woven with this lamb’s wool, the spring I need to use a horse because the sheep literbut to however small a degree, a unique and beautiful ally run after the new grass.” facet of the American Southwest depends on it.
ANS W E R FA S T
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Summer’s breezy looks find new light in New Mexico, where sun-washed colors, modern prints and organic fabrics mix with effortless style PHO T O G R A PH Y B Y W Y N N M Y E R S S T Y L I N G B Y S A R A O S WA LT
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R A NCHO
SOL DEL
Menda alitat este custrum voloria nonsend ucipis eumquae puda lorem
PHO T O G R A PH Y B Y X X X X X X X X X X S T Y L I NG B Y X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
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Ranch skirt by Jesse Kamm, top by Caron Callahan and vintage wood-and-shell necklace; all available at Kick Pleat, Austin. Boots by Lucchese. Hat by Stetson.
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Top by Herve Leger, pants by Milly and boots by Rag & Bone; all available at Neiman Marcus. Hat by Stetson.
OPPOSITE
Chambray blouse by Alice + Olivia, skirt by Tibi and turquoise necklace by Chan Luu; all available at Neiman Marcus. Hat by Stetson.
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Dress by Alice + Olivia and boots by Rag & Bone; both available at Neiman Marcus.
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Dress by Calypso. Sunglasses by Thierry Lasry. Hematite and deerskin necklace by Diane Cotton.
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THIS PAGE
Top by Brunello Cucinelli. Necklace by Samma, available at Kick Pleat, Austin. Hat by Stetson.
OPPOSITE
Blouse by Madewell. Skirt by Apiece Apart and necklace by Iwona Ludyga; both available at Kick Pleat, Austin. Nubuck shoes by Naturalizer, available at Nordstrom, Galleria Dallas. Belt by J.Crew. Hair and Makeup: Kata Baron. Production: Stauss & Quint. Model: Kassidi Batt. Shot on location at Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm, Albuquerque.
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TASTE OF PARADISE A
Los Poblanos Inn has been drawing visitors since Congressman Albert Simms purchased the Albuquerque ranch in the 1930s. Jayme Moye checks in and finds a foodlover’s retreat, where guests can literally enjoy the fruits of the working organic farm PHOTOGRAPHY BY WYNN MYERS
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PERFECT PAIRING Chef Jonathan Perno, opposite, elevates to delicious heights the produce grown at Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm.
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D A FEAST FOR THE SENSES
Clockwise from left: The inn’s cozy restaurant, La Merienda; chef Perno harvests lavender-scented honey from the inn’s beehives; oils infused with herbs from the garden; a delicious spread of artisanal cheeses and relishes.
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riving up the long, tree-lined entryway at nightfall, I struggle to catch my first glimpses of Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm. Unfortunately, I can’t make out much of the surrounding 25 acres of lavender fields, cottonwood groves and formal Spanish-style gardens. I certainly can’t discern the pond, nor its floating pink lotus blossoms, or even the backdrop of the sacred 10,000-foot Sandia Mountains, said to glow orange-red at sunset. Even so, I quickly confirm that Los Poblanos is special. Because there, at the end of the driveway beside the elegant adobe structure marked “Check In,” stands a giant cottonwood tree. And in the tree’s lower boughs roosts a white peacock — impossible to miss, even in the darkness. As it turns out, this magnificent ghost of a bird is just the first of many surprises I will experience during a long weekend at the food and nature lover’s hideaway of Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm. Much of the allure of this 22-room agritourism refuge in central New Mexico comes from its grand history — a rich tradition of art, architecture and agriculture. Originally inhabited by the ancient Pueblo peoples — master craftsmen and architects — Los Poblanos was most recently part of an 800-acre ranch owned by Congressman Albert Simms and his wife, Ruth Hanna McCormick. In the 1930s and ’40s, the progressive couple put the land to use as an experimental farm, running agricultural research projects like the cultivation of sugar beets, along with alfalfa, oats, corn and barley, in an attempt to wean America off foreign imports. They also leased some of the land to Creamland Dairies and its herd of Guernsey and Holstein cows, providing much of Albuquerque’s milk. But most notably, they commissioned the region’s foremost architect, John Gaw Meem — a man whose name is now synonymous with Santa Fe style — to convert their ranch house into a cultural center. Today, La Quinta Cultural Center is considered one of the most important historical structures in the North Valley, and stands in testament to Meem’s enduring architectural genius. Other elements of Los Poblanos’ appeal are perhaps less obvious, but equally powerful. The current owners, Penny and Armin Rembe, raised four children in the adobe house where I check in. They’d planned to retire there until, in the late 1990s, the property next door that housed La Quinta went up for sale. Fearing the land would be subdivided into urban sprawl, like so much of Albuquerque’s formerly rural outskirts, the Rembes, together with their children, bought it. “Growing up in the ’70s, we saw so much of the land get eaten up over time,” says son Matthew Rembe, Los Poblanos’ executive
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director. “Considering the history of this property, with Meem’s architecture, we felt that we were stewards and needed to do whatever we possibly could to ensure these 25 acres were properly preserved.” It’s hard to say which element of Los Poblanos best showcases the Rembe family’s commitment to an authentic preservation of the land and its historical structures. Many would argue that it’s La Quinta, which the Rembes restored to all its former glory and which now serves its original purpose and then some, with a library, art gallery and ballroom. While I am here in the fall, Andy Cruz, the art director at House Industries, speaks before a full house in the La Quinta Grand Ballroom, and the La Quinta Gallery debuts an exclusive Los Poblanos salt-glazed stoneware collection designed by House Industries and Eldreth Pottery. But for me, the Rembes’ defining contribution to Los Poblanos is the restaurant, La Merienda. Stepping inside the warm, inviting space, the first thing I notice is the adobe kiva fireplace, an original, along with the handhewn log ceiling accented by tin chandeliers. Floor-toceiling windows draw my gaze across the property to the
My dinner companion and I discuss the menu in earnest, because it is that kind of menu — one that deserves nearly as much deliberation as the chef had clearly put into creating it. mountains — which light up in shades of orange as the sun sets, exactly as I’d been told they would. Seated at a cozy table for two, my dinner companion and I discuss the menu in earnest, because it is that kind of menu — one that deserves nearly as much deliberation as executive chef Jonathan Perno had clearly put into creating it. I eventually settle on the housemade fettuccini with wild mushrooms, while my partner agonizes between the red
wine-braised short rib and the smoked Los Poblanos pork belly. When I remind him that we have another night at Los Poblanos, his relief is palpable. One dinner at La Merienda is not enough. What puts the quality of the food at Los Poblanos on par with that served at standout restaurants in New York and Los Angeles is more than an award-winning chef. As creative and talented as Perno has proved, he is blessed with immediate access to ingredients that urban chefs can only dream about. Many of the vegetables and herbs in Perno’s dishes come straight from the on-site organic farm, or from someplace close by. The wild mushrooms in my meal came from Exotic Edibles of Edgewood in New Mexico, and the leeks in my companion’s (he ends up choosing the short ribs), from Ray and Mary Arrowsmith in Albuquerque. The organic grass-fed beef is a bit farther-flung — hailing from a couple of hundred miles north in Colorado. The honey drizzled on our artisanal cheese plate came from Los Poblanos’ own bees — introduced by Armin Rembe in 2005. I comment on its fresh floral notes (including a hint of lavender) to our server, who informs
TAKE A TOUR
See more of Los Poblanos’ organic farm and charming store in our exclusive online gallery at dorado magazine.com/ lospoblanos.
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“This is definitely one of those [places] that stands out. It may be only 25 acres, but there’s so much happening on these 25 acres.” me that this exquisite honey is one of the kitchen staff ’s favorite surprises, typically reserved for special occasions like weddings and special holiday menus. Chef Perno uses it in both sweet and savory forms, paired with figs from the property, as an accompaniment to imported cheeses, and in artisan cocktails. Perno and the Rembe family have dubbed their hyperlocal, organic, seasonal style “Rio Grande Valley Cuisine.” Think poached eggs in a spicy tomato stew with tortillas and feta — Los Poblanos’ take on shakshuka, a savory North African dish which I have for breakfast the following morning. “The menu is rooted in fresh, organic produce harvested from our own property, as well as from local farmers and herders in our own valley, extending to the greater New Mexico food shed,” Matthew Rembe says. “And there’s really nothing else quite like it.” Chatting with Matthew, or Matt as he’s called, while
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strolling through the Los Poblanos gardens, I get the sense that he has experienced a fair amount of life outside the family estate-turned-family business. Lean and handsome, with dark hair fashionably styled and a natural good humor, Matt possesses a worldly ease, reflected in his diverse management team that includes members from Kenya and Ireland. He speaks freely, whether narrating fond memories about working on his parents’ “gentleman’s farm” as a kid in the summers, or admitting more unconventional actions, like his decision to leave New Mexico for Suffield Academy in Connecticut as an eighthgrader. I learn that at Syracuse University in New York, Matt studied Spanish and Latin American art, and then got his MBA from the prestigious Thunderbird School of Global Management. He went on to become the director of Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art in New York City, where he specialized in 20th-century Latin American masters. Matt’s colleagues and casual acquaintances were surprised when in 1999, at age 30, he returned home to New Mexico to get Los Poblanos off the ground. But those close to him knew that the project combined his biggest passions — art, architecture, agriculture and business. And as Matt told the Albuquerque Journal in 2011, “The more I was on the East Coast, I identified more as being a New Mexican. ’Cause you start really appreciating where you’re
from; you start really appreciating what it’s all about.” Since assuming the role of executive director in 2005, Matt has overseen $5 million in expansions, including the addition of 13 guest rooms (in 1930s dairy-style buildings); a Farm Shop selling Los Poblanos’ line of lavender spa products alongside farm-inspired art, handcrafted gifts and artisan food items; and La Merienda restaurant, whose merits earned Los Poblanos a spot on Bon Appétit’s “Best Hotels for Food Lovers” list in 2013. At one point during our walk and talk, I spot another peacock — this time in the traditional hues of royal blue and emerald green. Matt tells me there are four on the property, including the white one (named Albert after Congressmen Simms), and that peacocks have been a part of Los Poblanos for as long as he can remember. Matt thinks his parents got the first few in the 1970s, when the Albuquerque zoo (of which they were supporters) had a surplus. “Peacocks actually make good guard dogs,” Matt says. “They get really loud if there are coyotes nearby.” Besides the peacocks, Los Poblanos is home to 10 egg-laying chickens, four guinea fowl, three sheep, several cats, and pigs in varying numbers (depending on the restaurant’s needs). One day near the end of my visit, as I sunned myself in a chair outside the Farm Shop enjoying the view of the lavender fields set against the Sandia
Mountains, I am joined by Albert the White, an orange cat and a guinea fowl that had escaped from the coop. It was kind of how I pictured heaven, at least if you’re an animal lover like me. Or like Fergus Whitney, who manages the farm. Originally from Leitrim, Ireland, Whitney holds a Certificate of Organic Horticulture and started The Organic Gardener Galway — providing eco-friendly gardening services — before joining the Los Poblanos team in 2013. As expected of the man who cultivates the crops behind the culinary genius happening at La Merienda, Whitney is a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, wearing jeans and a baseball cap pulled low over his auburn hair. But he has an ambitious goal — to supply as much of the restaurant’s produce as possible. To date, Whitney’s grown salad and saute greens, peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, radishes, chiles, tomatoes, tomatillos, melons, apples, mulberries and many types of herbs on the property. “I’ve been to a few places around the world, and this is definitely one of those that stands out,” Whitney tells me, in his delightful brogue. “It may be only 25 acres, but there’s so much happening on these 25 acres.” The next morning, as I pack my suitcase to leave Los Poblanos, it occurs to me that none of the pleasant surprises I’d experienced there happened by accident. Everything, from the exquisite-yet-welcoming architecture, to the world-class food, to the pastoral animals, is a product of 15 years of the Rembe family’s hard work, and dare I say, love. The Rembe family’s efforts have been wildly successful with their guests. Matt tells me that they started with six employees. Today, there are 50 full-time employees, ballooning to 80 in the high season, spread across six lines of business: lodging, restaurant, farming, retail, wholesale lavender and events. Every first Saturday of the month, Los Poblanos opens the farm up for locals and guests to try their hand working as volunteer farmers. The inn also hosts community classes that range from knitting to lavender aromatherapy. The seasonally focused cooking classes, offered monthly October through March by chef Perno and his staff, were voted “Best of the City” in 2014 by the readers of Albuquerque the Magazine. “I think we’re all moving at such a fast pace, and are so disconnected with nature, with the outdoors, that a place like this helps you slow down and unwind and reconnect,” Matt says, trying to put the magic of Los Poblanos into words. “But then something else kind of happens here; I’m still not sure what to call it. People just respond differently to this place.” As I walk to check out, I look for the peacocks. But they are not to be seen. Instead, I spot a feather. Not the iridescent tail feather popular in retail stores — something much more unique. It is a peacock wing feather, scalloped chocolate brown and tan, almost like leopard skin, beautiful in a different way. I scoop it up and tuck it into my purse — one of the many things I want to remember about Los Poblanos.
FUNNY FARM
Clockwise from far left: Morning rush hour; Treh Steffensen mans the Farm Shop; farm manager Fergus Whitney tends a new crop of beets; the Farm Shop sells a line of Los Poblanos lavender spa products.
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DESTINATION T H E S O U T H W E S T ’ S B E S T S M A L L T O W N S & G E TA W AY S
Durango
BRUMLEY & WELLS
The crossroads and unofficial capital of the Four Corners region, Durango embodies the diverse spirit of the Southwest. Kate Siber explores the small town’s charming streets and scenic countryside
Cocktails are served at El Moro Spirits and Tavern, which was one of 21 saloons in downtown Durango in 1903.
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D EST I N AT I ON
Most days, in Durango,
Colorado, there comes a moment when the sonorous moan of an 1880s coal-fired steam engine fills the valley. It travels through the dry mountain air as if it’s not just a sound but something tangible, with weight and presence. This is a time to stop and listen. If you are on the phone, simply pause. If you are near the tracks, stand, watch and wave as the iron horse booms and rattles by. Even though the train labors through town almost every day, there is still undeniable magic to that mournful whistle. It reminds anyone who cares to listen of the storied roots of this 19th-century boomtown.
For centuries, this remote semi-arid river valley was the home of Ancestral Puebloans and small bands of Ute Indians, who still live nearby. But in 1860, prospectors found gold in the fortress of peaks that stretches north of town — and everything changed. After the Civil War, adventurous easterners and immigrants streamed into the mountains, constructing mines, boarding houses, mills and trams. Durango sprouted in 1880 as the depot for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Co. and, situated at a relatively temperate 6,500 feet, quickly became a commercial hub for the region. Rows of tidy wood, stone and brick storefronts sprang up along Main Avenue and stately Victorian mansions rose along a grid of tree-lined avenues. Durango ballooned at a feverish pace, and saloons, general merchandise stores and multiple newspapers moved into the new buildings. By 1887, the Strater, the town’s grandest Victorian hotel, with multiple stories of red brick and hand-carved sandstone sills, presided over Main Avenue as a symbol of Durango’s roaring prosperity. The precious metals of the mountains are now long gone — and so are the rugged frontiersmen and gritty fortuneseekers. But the atmosphere of adventure and possibility still remain. For such a secluded place — three hours from the nearest interstate and surrounded by farms, rangeland and wilderness — Durango surprises visitors today with its vibrancy. Perhaps it owes to the active nature of the citizenry or the preponderance of young people, many of whom come to attend Fort Lewis College and never leave. Amble around town on any summer evening and the happy vibe immediately becomes clear. Locals walk dogs, ride bikes and linger on benches eating after-dinner ice cream. No one looks sideways as cyclists decked in spandex pick up a bite to eat at taco stands like Nini’s and Zia, and hikers in sturdy boots quaff glasses of local Sutcliffe chardonnay on restaurant patios, watching the light fade over the mountains. Thanks to numerous nearby farms and ranches — cowboys arrived around the same time as the miners — Durango chefs have no shortage of fresh ingredients to craft into inventive dishes. Eolus has some of the best burgers — James Ranch beef with perfectly crisp buns and truffle
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THRILLS AND CHILLS
THIS PAGE CLOCKWISE: KENNAN HARVEY/GETT Y; RIGHT, MCCARSON LEIGH JONES (2). OPPOSITE: JOHN P KELLY/GETT Y
Clockwise from left: The craggy walls of the Animas Valley beckon to climbers; microbrews at Steamworks Brewing Co.; a sampling of meats and cheeses at El Moro. Opposite: the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.
fries — and a rooftop patio with views of Perins Peak. One of the best restaurants in town, Seasons, serves a revolving menu with specialties like Colorado lamb sirloin accompanied by roasted local root vegetables. And East by Southwest is almost always packed with locals addicted to the restaurant’s Southwestern twists on sushi and signature mojitos. Durango even has its own hipster bar, El Moro Spirits and Tavern, which serves chorizo and crab Benedict for weekend brunch, all washed down with breakfast cocktails like Ramos gin fizzes and fresh housemade bloody marys. Just as the old miners and cowboys loved their hooch, modern-day Durangoans support no less than six local breweries and two new distilleries, each with its own character. Sit outside on the deck with an Empress IPA at Steamworks; watch Main Avenue passers-by from Carver’s sidewalk tables while sipping a Colorado Trail Nut Brown; or head to the river to try a pint of Animas Ale in the industrial-chic tasting room of the newest beer-maker in town, Animas Brewing Co. It doesn’t so much matter what beer or brewery you choose but the attitude you bring: Don’t be in a hurry, and you’ll fit right in. Artists and writers like Louis L’Amour have long
understood the unique draw of this area — its colorful history, spectacular scenery and blessedly sunny, dry climate. That’s why so many galleries and artist studios now inhabit the old historical storefronts on Main Avenue. On a leisurely stroll, meet artists working at Studio &, a bright, airy collective space in which artisans both create and exhibit their work, from prints and paintings to jewelry and sculptures. On either end of Main, the Diane West and Sorrel Sky galleries exhibit sophisticated local paintings, sculptures, and finely wrought jewelry and baubles. In between, shops sell Native American jewelry, Southwest-style home furnishings and local antiques. And don’t miss Maria’s Bookshop, a thriving independent bookstore with creaky floorboards and an exposed historical brick wall. The shop is fiercely beloved by both residents and visitors, who peruse books for hours and attend free readings by local authors. Perhaps because so many of Durango’s first residents were risk-taking nonconformists, there is still a sense of live-and-let-live openness that pervades the culture. Whether you are a fourth-generation Durangotang, a brand-new transplant or a wide-eyed visitor, you are virtually expected to follow your bliss. For many, that
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can be found in the stunning beauty of the mountains and deserts — landscapes that have always defined this place and its people. But you barely even have to leave town to get a taste of the nature that surrounds and sustains it. Unlike other mountain towns, Durango is not confined by its topography. The lattice of well-kept Victorians sits in a generous valley flanked by Florida Mesa to the east and the comely spikes of the La Plata Mountains to the west. The Animas River empties from the mountains, switchbacks through farmland, and tumbles straight through town, forming a vibrant artery for wildlife and humans alike. During spring runoff, between April and June, rafters and kayakers catapult through Class III and IV rapids in the downtown whitewater park where Olympians have trained. On mellow summer days, paddleboarders ply the serene oxbows north of 32nd Street, tubers lazily float the riffles below, and families gather by the shore to swim and play on small sandy beaches. (Don’t miss the local ice
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cream bicycle, Cream Bean Berry, which sits on the bike path and dishes homemade flavors like salted caramel and balsamic strawberry.) Come evening, fishermen wade into the river’s pools to cast for rainbow and brown trout as daylight lingers until 9 o’clock. At these moments, it’s not uncommon for an observant walker on the seven-mile river path to spot herons flapping between trees or nesting bald eagles swooping down to take a drink. The proximity of the natural world fuels this town, and right from city streets trails wend into the hills, attracting dog walkers, hikers, runners and mountain bikers. On Animas City Mountain, hike up cactus- and juniper-lined switchbacks for views over town or to Sailing Hawks to explore a garden of giant boulders beloved by rock climbers. From the terminus of the 486-mile Colorado Trail, stroll along a gorgeous creek studded with perfectly clear pools and stands of towering pines. Or right from the southeast side of downtown, head to Horse Gulch to mountain bike
L-R: SCOTT SMITH; COURTESY STR ATER HOTEL; SCOTT GRIGGS
From left: Evening at Maria’s Bookshop; the Strater Hotel, a red-brick Victorian symbol of Durango’s roaring prosperity; contemporary art at Studio &, a collective space where artisans both create and exhibit their work.
The easiest way to
Aah...
Why spend your time in the car?
Spend it on a train, trail, horseback or in the powder. Easy direct flights to Durango from Denver, Phoenix and Dallas/Fort Worth with hundreds of connections to the world. Spend your time on an adventure.
F LY CO LO RA DO WW W.F LY D UR ANGO.CO M M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 5 • D O R A D O
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A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT The Animas River bisects downtown Durango, providing a seemingly endless array of recreational options.
Follow us on Instagram @dorado_mag for snaps of our hometown, Durango, along with a bevy of beautiful photos from all across the Southwest.
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SAR AH PALMER /GETT Y
singletrack along craggy ridgelines with views over the mountains, cliffs and forests that embrace Durango. Although you’re within a stone’s throw of city streets, deer, foxes, bears and even the occasional wildcat frequent these trails. Sit still for even a few minutes and hidden life will likely reveal itself — along with the grounding serenity of these expansive landscapes and huge Western skies. Immerse yourself even deeper by venturing into nearby Weminuche Wilderness, the largest wilderness in Colorado and a kingdom of spectacular granite peaks, sprawling meadows, conifer and aspen forests, and alpine lakes. Whether you wander it for a day or a week, with a backpack or on a horse, the Weminuche unveils its beauty in ways both quiet and monumental. Experience the peace of a whispering trout stream high in the mountains, the improbably brilliant colors of a field of blooming wildflowers or the eye-popping granite faces of sheer mountains. Often, it’s in the quiet moments driving the roads that lead to or away from town when the allure of Durango becomes most apparent. Turn the radio off and absorb the landscapes in silence — the reddish mesas and buttes, luxuriant pine and aspen forests, pastures, meadows, and piercing summits that soar into Colorado’s trademark blue sky. No matter how long you’ve been here — your whole life, many years, or a day — you’ll understand how these wide-open places inspire feelings of freedom and possibility that built and still fuel an entire town. Perhaps that’s why so many people visit — and why so many feel the siren song to return.
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad 800.408.3518 - www.DurangoTrain.com
Historic Strater Hotel 800.247.4431 - www.strater.com
A Dozen Vacations in One Destination™ Get Your Free Travel Planner - www.durango.org - 866.631.7010
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Chimney Rock National Monument, near Pagosa Springs, Colorado • Photograph by Bill Hatcher
I joined my friend to explore the Chaco archeology site near Chimney and Companion rocks. It was my first time there, and I was blown away by the mountain scenery surrounding this ancient site, which has been used as an observatory for the annual summer solstice for hundreds of years. JOHN BURCHAM
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