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Our first morning in Santa Fe was a series of communication frustrations. Remember the doc orders from yesterday - call in the AM to get an MRI appointment. Frustration 1 - after first call earliest available appointment was 4:15 on Saturday and it was a first come first serve option. Emily declined and decided to go to the hospital and make an appointment in person. She then decided that Mr Calm and Peaceful who rarely becomes frustrated would handle the appointment process. Frustration 2 - I won't go into all the twists and turns of the getting an appointment, however the final result would have been an appointment some time this year if insurance approved it. I declined to play the game and Emily agreed.

Because we were close to the Santa Fe Plaza and I had talked about it as a not miss tourist spot, off we went. I dropped Emily and her crutches at Packard's and went to park. I guess we were a little late in the season as neither the Plaza nor the stores were very crowded. After an hour plus of walking and looking, The Burrito Cafe provided a sit down spot and a late breakfast (2 PM). Directly across the street was the New Mexico Historical Museum and when I pointed it out to Emily, she was suddenly recharged and ready to go.

The museum provided a wheel chair and though we only got through the first major exhibit, the visit was worth it. The displays were excellent and showed how New Mexico was born and embraced the three peoples/cultures to form a integrated NM culture. The original inhabitants were the Anazia which has been changed to Ancient Pueblo People to better describe these native Americans to this land by their most representative cultural symbol - The Pueblo. Next came the Spanish/Mexican to inhabit much of southern NM and trading in the north. Finally from the East came the Anglos generating additional trade and farming the open land.

Emily was starting to run down as burrito power waned. Plus we had an opera yet to go. I got the truck and did my best pathfinder imitation to get us out of town and back to the trailer. A power nap and knee icing preceded our trip to the opera. Tonight it was Mozart's Magic Flute and Emily bypassed the wheel chair to navigate on crutches. The production was both English (spoken) and German (singing). It was well done and drew several minute of standing ovations. I was ready for an encore, but this does not happen in opera. Back to the trailer and rest.

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