Friday, July 29, 2011

The Quest for the Perfect Burrito

   This afternoon we fly out of this lovely pocket of heat and humidity which we call home (Lynchburg, VA) and land this evening in Denver, Colorado.  By Monday 8/1 we will have found our way (we hope) to Cimmarron, New Mexico to meet our son Brian, who is working for his fifth summer at the Philmont Scout Ranch.  We have several side trips planned to Antonito,CO to ride an eighteenth century narrow gauge steam train through the silver mine country of the Southern Rockies.  We will also travel to Mosca, Colorado to see The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Zapata Falls.  After depositing Brian back at Philmont on Wed evening, Ellen and I will proceed on to Taos, NM before visiting with cousin Janet and her husband Wes in Denver on Friday evening.  We return to the land of the ridiculously high heat index on Sat. 8/6.
  On the surface, there are two obvious reasons for this trip.  Number one: I'm sick of working all summer and need a vacation. 'Nuff said.  Second:  We haven't seen Brian since he escaped to the Wilds in May and need to see if he has regressed on the evolutionary scale at all.  One immediately important assessment will be how long will it take to transform our third son from Grizzly Adams into a fledgling attorney, since he meets his new dean (and all of his new classmates) on Sunday August 14.
   There is, however, one more major goal for this trip.  Much like Ponce de Leon wandered through the Keys and Everglades searching for the elusive Fountain of Youth, I am continuing my life-long quest to find the perfect burrito! 
    My Internist would say "Not too much salt!  Not good for your blood pressure!"
    My Cardiologist would say "Careful with the cheese -- remember that little surgery you had a few years ago?"
     My daughter would say "Veggie Burritos are much healthier and no animals suffer in the production of a veggie burrito!"
    You know what?  I don't care.  If one burrito pushes my coronaries over the edge, so be it.  We're going to find it.  We've come close before.  On a previous trip to New Mexico we stumbled into a local restaurant called "Maria's" in downtown Las Vegas, New Mexico (not to be confused with the neon coated city of the same name in Nevada).  The burritos there were absolutely amazing, but perfect?  I think not.  There's got to be a perfect burrito waiting for me in some small town in Colorado or New Mexico.
   I'll keep you posted.

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