This is episode is about how relaxation and rejuvenation was experienced at a different level on our trip.
Fun and relaxation in the Land of Enchantment is what Cate and I experienced while visiting one of the top Spas and Resorts in the country, Ojo Santa Fe.
Who knew that visiting a puppy patch, silky chickens, while dipping in the natural hot springs and a salt pool could be so relaxing? Well, it ALL was!
Every part of this magical place were the catalyts to give us the type of rejuvenation that was needed and necessary for our minds, bodies, and souls.
We hope you enjoy our new discoveries in the Land of Enchantment.
https://www.instagram.com/betterwithacupofcoffee/
https://betterwithacupofcoffee.com/
This is episode is about how relaxation and rejuvenation was experienced at a different level on our trip.
Fun and relaxation in the Land of Enchantment is what Cate and I experienced while visiting one of the top Spas and Resorts in the country, Ojo Santa Fe.
Who knew that visiting a puppy patch, silky chickens, while dipping in the natural hot springs and a salt pool could be so relaxing? Well, it ALL was!
Every part of this magical place were the catalyts to give us the type of rejuvenation that was needed and necessary for our minds, bodies, and souls.
We hope you enjoy our new discoveries in the Land of Enchantment.
https://www.instagram.com/betterwithacupofcoffee/
https://betterwithacupofcoffee.com/
Hey guys. Welcome to Cuppa Connections. I'm Portia, and we're here coming to you from our virtual cafe, Better with a Cup of Coffee. We are savoring relationships with coffee lovers around the world and sharing their experiences that have been better with a cup of coffee. Hey guys. This is day three and four of our Epic Road trip. Yes. And lemme tell you.
Cate:Oh my hair.
Portia:God, it gets better and better. It's more fun on this road trip.
Cate:You said more fun.
Portia:It does. It gets more fun.
Cate:Its funner by the minute.
Portia:Well, funner by the minute. Whatever you wanna say. All I know is that it was awesome. We wake up at 11:00 PM we only had probably.
Cate:We had to hit the road by midnight.
Portia:Yeah. We probably only had maybe getting to sleep maybe three, four hours. I don't know.
Cate:Yeah.
Portia:And we were hustling. We had our headlights on trying to break up the tent. Any tent camper knows what that's about.
Cate:Oh yeah.
Portia:Breaking down the tent in the middle of the night or in the wee hours of the morning. We waste no time. We're off. We go from Memphis. It doesn't take long from Memphis to Arkansas. All you do is cross the bridge and you are in Arkansas.
Cate:Yeah.
Portia:For me, my wife, she was, she was out.
Cate:I was sleeping.
Portia:She was sleeping.
Cate:I didn't sleep well.
Portia:And I was raren to go.
Cate:She was.
Portia:It was 15 hour drive. You get to see so much and experience so much, and even though we weren't gonna stay in Oklahoma, I planned to stop there, to get some coffee at this place called Stitch. I timed it right because it opened about the time when we arrived in the heart of Oklahoma City, which I think was like between six or seven, something like that.
Cate:Something like that. You drove the whole way.
Portia:I did. I was excited. I love driving that that long. Tip for you ladies, if you're driving or even men who wanna take a road trip, um, you know, it's, it's dangerous country out there. You, especially if you don't know where you're going, I mean, you know where you're going, but you've never been to where you're going or through these places. What I always like to do is I like to leave before the sun rises. Yes, it's driving a little bit at night, maybe a couple hours. In this case it was a little bit longer cuz we had to push it. But I like to get up, drive before the sun rises and get to my destination before rush hour traffic.
Cate:Yes.
Portia:So that's, yeah, that's around three o'clock. When you hit four o'clock, in some places it's a nightmare. Five o'clock, forget it. It doesn't matter if it's a small town or a big city. You just feel so much safer getting there. And then you get into your hotel or your, or your accommodations or wherever it is, and then you can unpack and you can get your food if you want to or you can go out, especially if you're by yourself and you still have the daytime to settle in and, and unwind a bit, and then you can get a better night's rest than that. And you feel safer.
Cate:So,
Portia:we stop in Oklahoma City because there is Stitch, and we're looking forward to some coffee. And I have to tell you, it was kind of, if anybody follows basketball, when I entered into Oklahoma City, now Kate, she ha she doesn't care about sports. Okay, let's when I don't mean. She can take it or leave it, but for me, I'm.
Cate:Football, not my thing. I like basketball. Basketball,
Portia:okay. If you like basketball, a little, a little thing. We were in OKC and any basketball fan knows that O K C had some of the best players in the NBA. On one roster you had back in the day of Kevin Durant. Mm-hmm. you had James Harden, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and you had Serge Ibaka and you had, oh God, I see his name, the beard, Perkins. But I was excited because as we're getting up on the highway and Stitch is off the highway, it's closer to downtown. It's not in downtown. It's in this really cute little area. It's almost like an arts district, it seemed. So I'm entering into this area and I'm, I'm looking at downtown. I see the buildings and I just couldn't help but think of the Oklahoma City Thunders. It was pretty historical to have those guys, those three major players. They are going to be in the N B A Hall of Fame for sure. So it's just those little things that you think about whenever you go into other cities and other states. That's what helps to make the road trip fun. Cuz you start thinking about all these little things.
Cate:Cause I remember seeing Ja Morant. His picture.
Portia:Oh, that was in Memphis.
Cate:That was in Memphis, okay.
Portia:Yes, in downtown Memphis we're walking around downtown. You know, we go to Beale Street and once we come back from the Civil Rights Museum, we come walk right in front of the Coliseum where Ja Morant and the uh, Memphis Grizzlys play and.
Cate:That was cool.
Portia:That was cool. But anyway, we're in Oklahoma City. I wake her behind up.
Cate:Was I grumpy?
Portia:Not like I am. No you were cool. And so we walk in a Stitch, and it was a really neat place. The people were warm and inviting. It wasn't that busy, of I think it was still quite early, but you have the regulars that go in and I forgot you had some type of strawberry latte. And then For breakfast, they had like these, um, what do you call? Those, those hot pockets? Yes, it was. It was these hot pockets that they had, and they looked like a hot pocket, but it is por gourmet or homemade, and it was cheese, egg, and a little bacon. They had a little piece of bacon sticking out from the middle,
Cate:Oh yeah, those were divine. Okay. Yeah.
Portia:And then the coffee, girl say no more.
Cate:It was good.
Portia:I love to get road trip coffee. it's just comforting.
Cate:You used to come when you would visit me in Cary.
Portia:I would stop at McDonald's and
Cate:Get your dollar coffee.
Portia:Right off the highway and I would be on the road, honey. On the road again. Just can't wait to, okay. I'm sorry. So, Couldn't see everything, but some notable mentions, uh, for the coffee shops we've got Spiked. S S P I K E D.
Cate:That's a black owned.
Portia:It's a black owned coffee shop. Well, there's a story behind this. Well, it was a young lady who she said that she, she had done everything right. And she had got in her coffee shop altogether and everything was right. She, she opened, but there just weren't people coming in. And so she said that she was, um, at the coffee shop one day and she wasn't doing anything. She's like, lemme make this little video. You know, she's got social media and, and it was on TikTok. So she made this video of herself goofing off and having fun in her own own business. And next thing you know, she's getting all kinds of people walking up in there.
Cate:It went viral.
Portia:It went viral. I mean, that is so cool.
Cate:That is awesome.
Portia:Yeah, so kudos to her, uh, is such a wonderful story to hear. Sorry we couldn't stop by your store, your coffee shop, but hopefully another time.
Cate:Our next journey.
Portia:Yes. On the next journey. So we're off from Oklahoma City, because we are going to Santa Fe, New Mexico. On my 50th birthday, I wanted to take a road trip and I wanted to go to this specific place in Santa Fe, and I booked it. Um, but Covid happened.
Cate:Covid happened, and shut down the whole country, whole world as a matter of fact. We had this planned, planned in July of 2020.
Portia:Yes, and I, we were bummed about it, but I wanted to show my wife different things. As I said, I have been on road trips many times through all of these states, but I wanted to show her some really cool stuff and I thought, well, this will be nice to do this. We've never done it. It's the Ojo Spa and resort in Santa Fe.
Cate:I've never been to a spa resort.
Portia:It was in, I think it's in Travel and Leisure. It's supposed to be one of the top spas in the country. And we had to do it. This is where we sucked it up and drove 15 hours and in order to spend two nights in a comfortable bed. And, you know, I called them beforehand, months, be before to book this, and told'em it was my birthday. And, and they gave us a wonderful room and, and all an outdoor patio.
Cate:They upgraded.
Portia:They upgraded us. Thank you birthday.
Cate:That was very kind.
Portia:Thank you. Ojo Spa and Resort. It was lovely. So we're in Santa Fe and we are as sunlight and we're driving and it's gorgeous, gorgeous
Cate:mountains and, and, and different things.
Portia:We couldn't really get into Santa Fe, like downtown and, and explore.
Cate:Yeah. That 15 hour trip kicked our butts.
Portia:And I'm so glad we arrived. We arrived, I think it was about three o'clock in the afternoon.
Cate:Something like that. Yeah.
Portia:So we have a full night, of when we arrived, and then another full night when we got there, or when we, you know, stayed the next night. But when we got there, I'm expecting something glamorous and luxurious is that luxurious, glamorous, and we drive to the address and you drive into the grounds and it's kind of closed off. You don't see anything. You see, see building, you see two buildings I'm thinking.
Cate:Looking mighty drab.
Portia:Okay, yeah. Get out of the car. And in between two buildings there's this walkway and you walk through and you see these, this pond. And then you see down below.
Cate:And it's everything was lush.
Portia:Oh, it was just like it was you were in another world, And at that moment, I don't know about you, babe, for me. I, I felt a sense of relief. I, I felt like I was on my vacation. Yes. I was far enough. I love my dad and I love my brother. I love my family. We are in the middle of the country.
Cate:Mm-hmm.
Portia:Everything else just fell to the wayside. You know, we were on a vacation, my dog, she was feeling good. She was at her own little doggy daycare. She was roughing it roughhousing and, and Kate was like, oh my God, I missed her. I was like girl be quiet look at you. You're at a resort.
Cate:I know, but I still missed her.
Portia:Okay. She didn't miss it too much when she was playing with those other dogs.
Cate:They have a, what's called a Puppy Patch.
Portia:And they have the chickens.
Cate:The silk, silk chicken.
Portia:Silk chickens. And you get to put on this.
Cate:Apron.
Portia:Apron, and you get to hold the chicken
Cate:They shed. They shed some kind of bad. But the first day we went to Puppy Patch.
Portia:Well, she went to Puppy Patch.
Cate:I went to Puppy Patch. I was like, oh my gosh, these puppies are so cute, and their goal is to introduce the puppies in hopes that someone like myself or Portia would adopt one or two. it's sweet. I, I think it was awesome if I didn't have Arubiana, maybe if she lets me, but that answer is, um, always No. No more pups.
Portia:No more dogs.
Cate:No more dogs.
Portia:I wasn't feeling the puppies, and I wasn't feeling laying out at that moment. I just wanted to put my feet on the ground and be out in nature. So on the resort you can start on a trail, and there is a trail that I went on in the back of the resort you kind of go up a hill and you just see from up top, you see so far away. Mm-hmm. you see the distance and the houses and the resorts and it was just beautiful to be out in nature. But at that point, I was still by myself. I didn't know exactly where I was. I was like, Nope, let's go.
Cate:Did you go to the Puppy Patch that night or the next day?
Portia:I went to the Puppy Patch the next day. That night I went to get some coffee, and there was a cafe there. It's beautiful. You walk in and it's this large, carved wooden table, and then they have a little section to the left. It's a bookstore. And I mean, there's so many nooks. There's the pond, which you can't get in the pond, but then on one side of the pond there are these spa jacuzzis and there are three hot springs. But they all, they each have their own different temperature. But the one in the back, um, was cooler. Anyone could go to the spa, you can get a day pass and you can go to the spa.
Cate:Yeah. Residents in the area.
Portia:Mm-hmm.
Cate:They couldn't use the hot springs early in the morning. That was for the guests. People that were saying there,
Portia:and you, I booked you a, um, a massage, a time for a massage. I didn't try that, but what I did was, I went into the cafe and then I met this young lady named Raquel. The story about Raquel is that she used to frequent the spa. She would come and get, she would go to the spa, she, what did she say? Every month or something like that. She went there frequently. Mm-hmm. And then she just decided she wanted to work there. See, when you go on a road trip, you meet so many. If you allow yourself, and you wanna know about other people and other cultures, you just meet so many people. Like when we first got there, we met, I think his name was Israel and he checked us in. But he told me the story. He said he worked himself up to that position. He was, uh, he had had all kinds of jobs, you know, lower paying jobs and the owners spoke to the, the employees and told'em that it was rough. and they would have to, they would still want them to be there, but you know, there are times when they couldn't be paid and he said, you know, he stuck with them. Yeah, I don't think you were there with me. He said.
Cate:I remember that.
Portia:You remember that story? And he stuck with the owners and,
Cate:when A lot of people didn't.
Portia:And the owners rewarded him. And now he was at the front desk and he was so kind. And I think he said, he said he was. He was the oldest employee there. I think he had worked for them for four years. And you just get to meet people like that. And that makes the journey and the road trip and those memories so special. After getting checked in and so forth, and we walk into this beautiful room. It had the biggest king size bed and a fireplace.
Cate:Yes.
Portia:And it, oh my Lord. It was, Heavenly. It was so comfortable. Don't you just love when you go into an accommodation, whether it's a hotel or an Airbnb, or a house or what have you, and if the bedding is not just like your bedding, it's better than your bedding?
Cate:Mm-hmm.
Portia:That's what you hope for. I mean, especially when you go into a luxury. Uh, environment like that, you want it to be better than yours. Equal to or better.
Cate:Amen.
Portia:And it was, But it wasn't a TV in there. Nope. And she loves a television. She has to have a TV when she goes to sleep.
Cate:I like to hear noise while I'm going to sleep.
Portia:I think we heard enough. No, you know what we heard?
Cate:That night we heard a thunderstorm.
Portia:It was a storm and it was
Cate:bad.
Portia:That was enough noise. And then we, when we woke up,
Cate:Cause it was a bad storm for them.
Portia:It was, you saw.
Cate:They had down, down tree limbs and stuff like that. It was.
Portia:It was, it was pretty bad.
Cate:I mean, but that thunder and lightning and the heavy rain. It was awesome. I enjoy it.
Portia:I was fine. I was knocked out. I mean, 15 hour drive.
Cate:Hour drive, yes. And I think you drove the whole way.
Portia:I didn't mind. But the next day, the coffee shop wasn't open. Now they give you coffee, they give you these, um, the packs of coffee and they give you tea, and then they give you this lovely, um, kettle, but it's, it's like the modern day color. I can't, um, the, um, I can't think of the name. Electric warmer? Yeah. Electric water, coffee pot. Coffee. Warmer. Coffee, water warmer or, or water warmer. no matter what it gets, you know, when one of the things that I picked for this trip was a all-in-one coffee press and I brought some coffee from North Carolina. Was it counterculture.
Cate:She got a little camping, coffee grinder.
Portia:Burr grinder. Yeah. And I was gonna use that. We were gonna use that on our camp trips. Yeah. Well, wouldn't you know when we had to use it when we were in our hotel? Yes. And man, so I'm getting this water ready and I'm grinding, grinding I'm like, I'm just I'm just grinding. But it was so well worth it. We had our own patio. And we made fresh coffee even before the cafe was open and we sat out on the patio. But then we also, there was a water fountain right outside of our, um, our room.
Cate:And, it was spring water.
Portia:Was it spring water?
Cate:Yes, it was spring. Yeah.
Portia:I didn't know that.
Cate:Yes, their own water.
Portia:Oh wow.
Cate:And it was so good.
Portia:Look at her drinking coffee and water.
Cate:I enjoyed that water very much. Our water here, I can't stand it.
Portia:Awful. So minerally. It is. And that's, that's one thing. Why we got those filtered water bottles. Mm-hmm. So we wouldn't have to deal with that. Even though we got our own water from here and put it in the five gallon water container. We at least had the water filters. Mm-hmm. everywhere we went. We didn't have to deal with that. But I didn't have the water.
Cate:You. Yes you did.
Portia:Did I have three.
Cate:Oh girl, yeah.
Portia:Oh yes I did. Because you know what, at the very beginning, they give us these, they gave us these, these, um, plastic bottles. Yeah, these clear plastic bottles.
Cate:Mm-hmm. You were always filling'em up.
Portia:I forgot. I'm sorry. So that day it started off perfectly. We wanted to, go and lay out and go into the, um, different high springs Oh yeah.
Cate:Springs. And we had, um, salt water pool. Yes. We didn't do that until,
Portia:Yeah. Right. So we did the hot springs in the morning mm-hmm. for about an hour before you went to go get your massage. Mm-hmm. and I think halfway into the massage breakfast opens or the restaurant opens and you can get breakfast. Well, you can stay in the restaurant if you want and eat, or they have these tables and it's like double tiered, where you can sit underneath some umbrellas and you can sit in front the, in front of the pool in front. and that's what I did. I ordered breakfast. I ordered my breakfast. I had some type of cheese infused waffle. And I had vegan sausage. Hmm, lovely.
Cate:I'm sure that was.
Portia:Quite different. And then the coffee was on the house. And you just sit there as long as you want. I mean, you're at a resort and he's just relaxing. So Kate finishes her resort and how did you feel?
Cate:My massage. Great. I mean, again, no one can get deep enough so.
Portia:But you know what? That place was packed. That's what happens is the, the residents, they know about this place and it's so cool because you can easily buy day passes and get a massage.
Cate:Mm. Or they're swimming or, or throw in the hot springs after a certain time, or g o to the puppy patch? No. Or the silky chicken patch, or whatever.
Portia:Well, that's what we did.
Cate:We did.
Portia:After I, after you finished your massage and then you had your breakfast and we decided we were gonna walk on the other side. You wanted to show me the doggies. And I have to say, I walked up in that place,
Cate:She didn't really want to.
Portia:I didn't really wanna go. Okay. I'm dogged out. I, I'm a mama that needs some rest from her dog, but wife likes dogs. So, ok.
Cate:No, I don't like them. I love them.
Portia:She loves dogs. Alright.
Cate:Dogs are amazing.
Portia:I walked up in that place. And this woman who's in there, she is strict. Oh God. I mean
Cate:She got on my nerves. She wasn't like the lady the night before.
Portia:She was woo. She was strict. So we had to take our shoes off.
Cate:Yeah. We had to sanitize and which was fine.
Portia:Absolutely. I'll never forget, there was a lady there who was in a wheelchair. I'm not laughing at her because she was in the wheelchair. I'm laughing at the dog who was knawing at her wheels. Wheels. And it was a dog that I fell in love with.
Cate:Artie.
Portia:Artie. That's what I, that's how I would say Artie. Stop it Artie! And Artie that little shit. I'm sorry. I said it and I said it out loud too. You know why? Cause Artie would come around, and he would bite my toes.
Cate:And then he'd run.
Portia:He would run. And then he would run to her wheel and he would bite, he would gnaw on her wheel. And so we were out there in, in the, the doggy grass, right?
Cate:Uhhuh.
Portia:And I was like,
Cate:you're sitting in chair.
Portia:Why are my feet wet? That that just can't happen. Artie or no Artie I gots ta go.
Cate:But it took her a while to go. She had this.
Portia:Artie was my dog, and the lady who actually was in the wheelchair, she was in, she wanted to, she was adopting Artie.
Cate:But when we were sitting and we were chatting with this lady, yes, Portia had one of these dogs on their back. One of the puppies on their back in her lap, rubbing its tummy.
Portia:Oh, it did, didn't I?
Cate:She sure did. She just was just.
Portia:I fell in love with those little cows.
Cate:Yes you did.
Portia:Oh. And when I say cow guys, you know, that's the terms of endearment word. My mom used to say that and it was just so fun. We would have this banter, and she would just, oh. So if you guys hear that, and if I call my wife a cow, she calls me a cow, it's fun. It's turns of endearment. No, I ain't disrespecting my wife. But anyway, so yes.
Cate:She fell in love with those puppies.
Portia:I did.
Cate:She had so much fun in there.
Portia:I did. I didn't think I was gonna have that much fun, but I guess that's what puppies do to you.
Cate:They do. They bring up a child in us.
Portia:Do you remember the, the female puppy? The one who would bark? Oh, she was, oh, she was a hussy.
Cate:She was the ringleader.
Portia:She was, she was a, she was barking orders and. But Artie. Artie.
Cate:He wasn't listening to her. He was like, I don't care. I'm gonna do my own thing. He went by the beat. By the tune of his own drum.
Portia:And then we finished with that and she wanted to go see the chickens.
Cate:I've never seen one before. We, we go.
Portia:I never saw silky chicken too. I didn't know what that was. So That's the ugliest chicken, I haven't seen.
Cate:We put on an anchor. So funny. We come in there, we're talking to this young lady. She was, she was so sweet. And there's this one chicken. Oh, I forgot its name.
Portia:Yes.
Cate:It held its neck just like that. Yes. And then so.
Portia:What?
Cate:He had to sit in laps. Ah, in order to be okay. If he wasn't, then he was gonna pitch a fit, and he would. So I picked him up set him my lap and just pet him, and now he was just happy.
Portia:I know.
Cate:Content. I did. You, did you hold it?
Portia:No. I didn't hold him. I didn't hold neither one of'em? What's wrong with you? None of'em. I just let you, I saw you and then people started coming in and then all of a sudden I did pet him cuz I wanted to know what it felt like. It's a silky chicken. And it was.
Cate:It is very soft.
Portia:It's very soft. And then all of a sudden Hurricane Claire comes in. Oh, Oh, what was the lady's name? Um, the other lady that we thought Claire was with. Oh, she's from New York.
Cate:Yeah, I can see her plain as day.
Portia:I know she brain. So she was so sweet. Well then all of a sudden we see these two ladies come in and Claire, Claire reminded me.
Cate:She got bit by something.
Portia:Yeah, she got stung by something like a wasp or you know, they had just mowed the grass, wasps and bees are down there and so it stung her really badly. Yeah. And so I.
Cate:Red stop was about that big on her ankle. It was spreading.
Portia:It was and all. And she volunteered. Oh, I got some,
Cate:I got some, It'll help you're breathing. You're okay.
Portia:So I had to go. She was freaking, she was freaking out.
Cate:She was just like on the verge of, I was like, honey, you're fine, you're fine.
Portia:I didn't mind her. I didn't mind Claire. She just added her own spice to our trip. But she was so dramatic. She was telling a story about how she she was hiding from people and she had to, uh, Changed her phone number cuz people, she, some, some, uh, in, in, what was she in makeup or something? I don't know. Or some people were stalking her. And I looked at this woman who she came in with. I was like, Hey, are you a friend of hers? She was just ignoring because she wasn't a friend of hers.
Cate:She, She just met at the spa.
Portia:At the spa.
Cate:Claire was very sweet. She was a little too much.
Portia:Woo. She added some, some spice that day to our trip. Yes. Even though it was for maybe 30 minutes to 45 minutes. That was some spice right there, girl.
Cate:Yes. So she called me the chicken whisperer cuz I'd go around and I'd pick up the other chickens that would run and I'd hold'em and pet'em. A
Portia:We have to be better with names baby. Cause the lady that was there. Maybe its fine that we don't remember her name because, you know, maybe people don't want us to talk about them and, and, and they see this video. But she was lovely and her story was that she is from New York. She, um,
Cate:She was there by herself.
Portia:She was there by herself. She had heard about the ojo, um, Spa and Resort. Uhhuh And she said to her husband, she was like, I'm gone. I'm gone. I need a vacation So my husband was like, well, don't you want me to come with you? She was like, no, nope. So she gets into Santa Fe and she was like, it's a small airport. And she was waiting there for hours before she actually got a ride to Ojo. And so she calls her husband, she's like, um, can you call a die uber
Cate:or something?
Portia:Yeah. It was going to die. She wanted, she, she wanted, she called the York asked her husband to call up and get an Uber, and her husband said, mm-hmm you didn't want me to come with. She's like, I still don't. So she ends up at the spa and, and I saw her before we actually met her. She was, yeah, she was at the pond. She was talking to somebody at the pond. But it just goes to show you the people that you meet on your road trip, just add so much color and flavor, uh, so much diversity to your road trip. And so many stories that you come away with. I mean, just look already we've met, Holly. Holly. We met Claire. We met, um.
Cate:That lady.
Portia:We met Raquel. We met so many people along the way to give us stories to
Cate:And Israel.
Portia:And Israel. We finish with the chickens and, and all that. And then we go to the salted pool. And that was pretty neat. I, it was, I haven't been to a pool in, in a long time, you know, like just a, a hotel and you just lay out at a pool and you just are chilling.
Cate:And there were a lot of people at that pool.
Portia:Because it was hot as hadies, girl. It was hot.
Cate:That was hot one.
Portia:It was so funny because people were in the pool, but then, They also were in the jacuzzi. Mm-hmm. And that was hot as hadies. Right. I was like, nope. I was sucking down water left and right because it was hot in June, July. In, in Santa Fe. It is no joke. You have to drink lots of water and, and I guess that's why they give you the water bottle, water
Cate:bottles, and they have all these stations, water stations mm-hmm. where you can fill it up. Cup'em up. It was nice.
Portia:And you know what else we went on hike. We did. And we went hike and we did get lost. That same hike that I went on, and I'm glad I turned back. We, it was so cool at the beginning, and it's, you know, it's, you have the, the native plants and the sticky plants and the shrubs and the cacti and so forth, and it's very rocky and you're going up and down, but it's, you know, it's safe. You, you know where you're going. They give you a map as well, and then something changed. Yeah. We see all kinds of weird stuff. We saw watermelon patches in the desert in Santa Fe, and it was like embedded in on the hills and stuff. And yes, it was the weirdest thing. It was. And then all of a sudden you, you go in the woods. We kind of get lost in the woods.
Cate:Is that this path that looked like, um, Like a water that you, there used to be water there, but it was dried up like a riverbed. And we make our way up to a construction area. Then we houses residential area and we're like.
Portia:Thank God I have a decent sense of direction. And at one point, you know, the. They kind of don't tell you.
Cate:They're not clear.
Portia:They're not clear. At some point, forget the trail. I know that we are supposed to be over there so we cut through, you know, that's, that's the part where you just have to say, cut through. Yeah. That's, that's when you have to say survival, honey. You are in a place where you, you're not sure where you are and at least you know where your place or your house is, is gonna be.
Cate:I couldn't have picked a better partner.
Portia:I'm gonna tell you cuz she, Ooh, she is horrible. I'm like, no girl. We're just, we're not supposed to go over there. We're supposed to go over there. The hotel over there. Over, yes. You were horrible. I'm like, look, let's cut across here. And she was going all down the Uhuh.
Cate:I was exploring.
Portia:She does that. But you know what, you can explore up on a rattlesnake all you want. I'm like, Nope. Anyway, we had a wonderful time, but it was a little scary. So we get back to the resort, right? And we see the, the, the lady from New York and she's like, oh yeah, I, I was, I'm gonna go for a hike. And we said, Nope. Nope.
Cate:Yeah we meet her. We meet her.
Portia:Was she doing the trail?
Cate:She was already doing a hiking. She was like, I had enough. I need water and blah, blah, blah. She didn't pack enough water with her.
Portia:Nope. Don't do it.
Cate:And she said, don't do it.
Portia:There are times when you have to know, especially if you are on your own, if you really are not a hiker, first and foremost, and you're not used to that hot weather, you have to realize that you gotta turn back. Yeah. I mean, there's.
Cate:And she was doing that. Was like, I'm not feeling top notch. Something doesn't feel right. So I'm headed back.
Portia:Yeah. I'm glad I headed back the first day because it's kind of dangerous and you wanna be wise about it, especially when you're going out there by yourself, and reception wasn't the best and that was the issue. Mm-hmm. that was the issue. We had our maps on our phones at one point, but then after.
Cate:It all went, down.
Portia:Yeah.
Cate:But that's all right. God kept us alive. Kept us safe. Thank God for that. Thank you God.
Portia:So we finished with that and we were done. We were exhausted. And that was our day four experience of Santa Fe. We didn't experience Santa Fe downtown or anything like that. That's where another road trip. But that's spot and resort. I kid you not that it's one of those things where you have to see. Mm-hmm. So we were geared and excited. To go to the Grand Canyon the next day because that was my birthday. Yes. And you know what had happened? Mm-hmm. And we got a room in the Thunderbird Hotel.
Cate:By the grace of God.
Portia:And the Thunderbird Hotel is on the South Rim. That hotel, it's probably, I think it's about a hundred feet from the rim of the Grand Canyon. You could literally walk out. You don't even have to walk out. I mean, you just sit in your room and you see the Grand Canyon from there. Mm-hmm. And so that's why I had to change. I'm glad there were, there were rooms available. It was just by the grace of God because can you imagine the day before and the heart of summer where everybody wants to go on vacation? In the, in the Grand Canyon and the
Cate:Grand Canyon. There was,
Portia:so that was day. The Grand Canyon is day five. And stay tuned because that's even more exciting than day three and four. I'm Portia White, and I hope you've enjoyed today's conversation. I'd like to give a special thanks to our sponsors betterwithacupofcoffee.com and peeztees.com. If you want to be our guest on our show, email me at cuppaconnections@gmail.com. And if you like what you heard, please rate and review our podcast. And, join us again soon on Cuppa Connections.