Travel
Scene Change, Please
Some extended weekend trips that get you out of Texas, in spirit if not in fact.
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Much of the early Spanish architecture still survives in the town center, lending an old-world atmosphere to your strolls. Nearby Canyon Road is lined with art and craft shops. The Indian pueblo settlement of Taos is an easy ninety-minute drive to the north on U.S. 64. From there you can continue on a circle drive through sub-Alpine evergreen scenery to the skiing town of Red River, returning on New Mexico Highway 38 through Red River Pass and the serene, exquisitely beautiful Eagle Nest. Rugged Cimarron Canyon is only a ten-mile excursion from Eagle Nest; closer to Santa Fe, the ancient Indian cave dwellings at Bandelier National Monument stand in enigmatic rocky splendor.
Special events abound. The Rodeo de Santa Fe is July 12-15; the Taos Pueblo Corn Dances, July 25 and 26; the Spanish Colonial Market, July 28 and 29; the Indian Market, August 18 and 19.
Santa Fe's finest hour, however, is the annual outdoor summer opera. There is no finer regional opera in the United States. The big-name stars and excellent staging draw packed houses of opera lovers from as far away as Europe, eager to savor a program that boldly includes premieres of controversial modern works along with the standard warhorses. This season, the seventeenth, lasts from July 6 to August 25 and as usual has something for everyone
Traditionalists will relish The Marriage of Figaro, the Mozart favorite; La Boheme, the lachrymist favorite; and The Flying Dutchman, the Kraut favorite. The Merry Widow gets a fresh mounting in a production by Allen Charles Klein and Bliss Herbert, Le Rossignol, Stravinsky's strange, hour-long ballet-ish opera about an emperor who falls in love with a nightingale's song, shares a double bill with the even-weirder Enfant et les Sortileges by Ravel, a surrealistic affair filled with witchcraft, talking clocks, and teakettles.
Highlight of the season may well prove to be the American stage premiere of Britten's Owen Wingrave.
Tickets, always in heavy demand, can be obtained along with schedules from the Santa Fe Opera, P.0. Box 2408, Santa Fe, N.M. 87501. Phone, 505-982-9802.
Staying in Santa Fe is a matter of making reservations early at La Fonda, an extraordinary old Spanish-type Harvey House Hotel dating from the days when most towns out West had only one hostelry to speak of. Most of its generation are gone with the sandstorms of yesteryear, victims of local disinterest and the resulting wreckers' ball. Santa Fe cared enough about this classic inn to see that it was preserved. It has character, ambience, good food, a bustle of activity that knows no snobbish class lines, and thoroughly reasonable rates. Rooms in the old wing are cheaper and more fun; rooms in the new wing are more comfortable but more staid. The usual array of motels exists in Santa Fe as everywhere else; but if you don't book a room at La Fonda you'll regret it after you arrive
The address is l00 East San Francisco (zip 87501). Phone: 505-982-5511.
Getting to Santa Fe by air was rendered more difficult last year when the airport was shut down because of unsafe runways. At press time it still had not reopened. The nearest working airstrip is Albuquerque, sixty miles away, which is served by Texas International, Braniff, and Continental. Onward transportation to Santa Fe is tricky: contact the airline. If you choose to drive, a hard day from Fort Worth will get you there. New Mexican roads are a little better than Haiti's, but not much.
NEW ORLEANS AND MEXICO
American railroad travel has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence under the AMTRAK system, which now operates three passenger trains through Texas. The railroads have always been a close runnerup to steamships as the most civilized mode of travel, but until AMTRAK came on the scene some railroad companies (notably the Southern Pacific) treated passengers like prisoners of war. Now that the facilities and cars have been nationalized in a public corporation, you can experience the pleasures of rail travel in a congenial atmosphere while AMTRAK and the railroad company officials argue out of earshot about schedules and roadbeds.
The best train in Texas unfortunately doesn't go anywhere the extended-week-end summer tourist is likely to want to go; it runs from Houston through Fort Worth and northward to Kansas City and Chicago. But there are two others, perfectly acceptable, that not only are fun to ride but also take you some place fun to visit.
Houstonians can board the Sunset Limited at the Southern Pacific Station any Thursday morning at 10:30 and arrive in New Orleans at 7 p.m. the same day, with plenty of time left for a sunset stroll before dinner at Arnaud's or one of the other fine French restaurants. The ride takes you through the Cajun Country. Both coach cars and comfortable, private roomettes are available. (The train also leaves on Sundays and Tuesdays.)
The attractions of New Orleans are too well known to need repeating here. You should get a copy of the New Orleans Underground Gourmet before you go, and be prepared for many leisurely strolls both day and night through the French Quarter.
If you can spare the time to stay until Monday, AMTRAK returns at 1 p.m. sharp and pulls into Houston at 9: 25 p.m. Otherwise—unless you are willing to hurry back on the Friday train or stick around until Wednesday—your best bet is to hop aboard an airplane. Six major airlines make the trip; the flight takes less than an hour. Continental's $28.37 jet thrift fare is the least expensive.
The one-way coach fare on AMTRAK is $18.50; one-way roomette is $28.25. There is no discount for round trips, but the family plan (husband pays full fare, wife and children over 12 two-thirds, children 6-11 one-third, children under 6 free) is the most generous offered by any major transportation company in the U.S. Tickets are available from the AMTRAK office in Houston or at no additional cost from most travel agents. (San Antonians wishing to make this trip, incidentally, may do so by catching the Sunset Limited at the AMTRAK Station at 6 a.m. on its way to Houston.)
If you need a car while in New Orleans, AMTRAK has arranged an attractive auto-rental deal with, of all people, Airways Rent-a-Car. Reservations can be made toll-free at 800-336-0336, and you get your discount when you show your AMTRAK ticket.
Residents of Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio can now take advantage of the new "Inter-American" service from the Panther City to Laredo, with connections to the Aztec Eagle onward to Mexico City. Compared to the great transcontinental runs, the Inter-American is a rather dinky train, and slow besides (eleven hours for the whole run). But it is a train, and it is fun to ride, and for those who can get away long enough to travel in scenic comfort to Mexico, it is a remarkable bargain.
The savings come on the Mexican end of the line. One-way coach fare from Nuevo Laredo to Mexico City is the munificent sum of $10.86; a roomette for one will cost you $10.35 more, or a roomette for two only $11.83 additional. At these rates, a couple could travel in a private roomette round-trip from the border to the Mexican capital and return for under $50.
One-way coach fares on AMTRAK Inter-American to Nuevo Laredo are $22.50 from Fort Worth, $13 from Austin, and $9.50 from San Antonio. (There is connecting bus service from Dallas to Fort Worth for $1.40 one-way.) There are no roomettes on this run.
The Inter-American leaves Fort Worth every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 7 a.m., passing through Austin at 11:55 and San Antonio at 2:10 p.m. before reaching Laredo at 6:05 p.m. Limousine service connects you with the Aztec Eagle across the border, and after customs formalities the Mexican train pulls out at 6:25 CST. Following a route through Monterrey, Saltillo, and San Luis Potosi, it deposits you in Mexico City at 5:21 p.m. the next day.
The return trip is a little faster, leaving Mexico City at 10:05 a.m. daily and arriving Nuevo Laredo at 6:30 a.m. Be careful which day you pick, because the Inter-American will be waiting for you in Laredo only on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It departs at 11:30 a.m., reaching San Antonio at 3:20 p.m., Austin at 5:37 p.m., and Fort Worth at 10:50 p.m.
You can of course get off the Eagle at an intermediate stop in interior Mexico like San Luis Potosi or Pozo Blanco (which has connecting bus service for the short trip to the now-overAmericanized arts-and-crafts town of San Miguel de Allende). Tickets to these places are correspondingly cheaper than the full Mexico City run.
Reservations and information are available from the AMTRAK offices in the major cities on the Inter-American's line. If you need more information about the Aztec Eagle, you can also contact the National Railways of Mexico office in Laredo (P.O. Box 595, phone 512-723-5152).
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