Rocky Mountain Low

Location: Starbucks, Los Alamos, NM
Miles: I’ll check later.

Had an episode all typed up, but it sucked. The only good thing was the title, which I kept, even though it doesn’t really match the content anymore. I had even posted it by accident before I was done with it and Amy commented. There was lots of green chile in it, which was good, but other than that it was the same wandering drivel that most blogs seem to specialize in and I find myself falling into more and more these days. I was just telling about my day rather than writing. I’ve had a couple of episodes I’m quite happy with recently, and I don’t want to put up a bunch of boring crap now to break my momentum. My other writing is not going well either. I’m more fiddling around with words than writing.

So. Interesting stories. Hum. tum-te-dum…

I think I know the problem. It’s been more than four days since I had a beer. There are a few in fridge right now, chilling out, waiting for their moment. The threshold of “cold enough” is getting warmer as I type this.

Socially, Los Alamos is the exact opposite of Pacific Beach. There is no student population to speak of here and only one bar. You’re not going to go out on the town and meet someone you don’t know. This is the kind of town you come to after you’ve met your soul mate and settled down. Really settled down. Of course if you’re one of those hiking, biking, kayaking, skiing, going-to-opera-and-not-to-bars kind of wackos, this may be about as close to heaven as you can get.

As I mentioned before there is one bar remaining in this town, and it’s a beaut. This is an affluent town, but apparently all the wealthy alcoholics get plastered in the privacy of their own homes. The Canyon Grill is a dive if ever there was one. It’s a friendly place, however. Last time I was there I ended up staying way too long talking with people who seemed vaguely familiar. (“Your old man is the one who did the magic tricks, right?”) Everyone knew everyone else and I don’t want to know how many beers were bought for me.

I’ll be in there tomorrow afternoon, carefully monitoring my alcohol intake as I write. If you’re in the neighborhood stop by. The first round’s on me.

21 thoughts on “Rocky Mountain Low

  1. green chiles well thats interesting I have a friend named Scott…Yeah I do have one friend…anyways he love tabasco so much not only is the lovely bottle tatoed on his leg but he has it with everything including coffee hold the sugar and cream I’ll take mine with a few squits of tabasco

    Aimes

  2. CarolAnne (or Jerry if you have a handy style manual) – what is the appropriate numeral contraction for twenty first century – is it “21rst?” or “21st?”

  3. Jer,

    You came dangerously close to calling my sister a “wacko”. For the record, she is one of those hiking, biking, kayaking, skiing, going-to-opera-and-ALSO-to-bars kind of folks who doesn’t take kindly to names like “wacko” (although she tolerates, while disputing, “rotten little sister” from me) and is more than capable of making people change what they call her. [There’s another sentence daring someone to diagram it.] Be careful, baby.

  4. As long as it’s and going to bars, then she’s all right. It’s the 21st century after all.

    Mind you, I’m not going to call her wacko to her face in any event. I know what’s good for me. As long as you don’t rat me out I’ll be safe.

  5. Don’t forget to avoid going to the world’s slowest, most inept Subway (across from the Science Center). Los Alamos has always been interesting in what it would accept as far as (food) service was concerned.

    Pardon my ignorance (file me with the wackos), but where is the Canyon Grill? Is that one next to Pizza Hut?

    Is there no bar in the restaurant in the old TG&Y building? The one time we ate there, the waitress brought me a completely different draft beer than what I ordered. When I confronted her she admitted they had just run out of what I ordered and decided to substitute without the benefit of checking with my wishes on the matter.

    Dining in Los Alamos was always a problem after the original Philomena’s shut down at the old gate building….

  6. I know they serve beer and wine with meals, but I don’t think they have an actual bar. I’ll poke my head in an check.

    Canyon Grill (or is it Canyonside?) is the one next to Pizza Hut. Last bar standing.

  7. Ashley’s bit it, eh? Damn! I was just writing it into my script!

    Sevral shades of brown

    carpet, bar, booths, patrons, beer

    american pie

    Not surprised. I remember being in there where the bartender called over to “Ma and Pa’s” (I think that’s what it was called back then) to see what was going on. We decided to close up the bar we were in, and all headed to the other bar. Gone are the long nights of Los Alamos!

  8. “The one time we ate there, the waitress brought me a completely different draft beer …” LOL

    And you know what’s crazy – is if you go look at the old B/W photos in the history museum – Los Alamos *used* to know how to party. Those manhattan project dudes were characters as well as being smart as all get out. There’d be some kind of cantina and a ratty ol’ piano, and all the sequestered war puppies would be rockin out (in a 1940s sense). There really should be a modern day bar with great beer, that any self respectin scientistarino would be happy to go carve equations into the wooden table tops.

  9. The Inn is still there; Ashley’s at the Pond was an attempt an having a nice, upscale restaurant, but it failed because the help was about as helpful and polite as the help at an upscale Manhattan restaurant would be to a beatnik in a t-shirt and flip-flops — that is, not very.

    The best bet for dining in Los Alamos is Viola’s — Viola is Philomena’s sister-in-law, and she has done an excellent job of keeping up the family tradition, especially as regards green chile.

    But there’s still no good bar.

  10. Jer, in the interest of accelerated regularization, I believe JoJo and Spencer are quite well known at The Canyon Grill. Have you tried riding their coattails to recognition?

  11. I’m at their house right now (broadband, sweet broadband), and we were just discussing the fact that they don’t go in there much any more.

    She also says that a new bar is going in at the Inn with wireless access, but it’s not going to be up and running for a few months yet.

    Now, if you’ll pardon me, I must go raid their refrigerator.

  12. I have to put in a good word for Sally, the bartender at the Hilltop House (Best Western) bar at the edge of town. The place kicks you out at 10:00 PM, but while it’s open you can get real live PITCHERS of Fat Tire or Sam Adams, and Sally has one of those great gravelly voices and calls everyone “Hon.” If it weren’t for her, the place would be just another skanky hotel bar.

  13. Still a skanky hotel bar, just one with a good ‘tender.

    Jer has told the story of the PTI before, sleazy motel, sleazier bar, Melissa (yup, calls you “hon”) great ‘tender.

  14. All I got was the end of those PTI days, and Melissa called Kelly and I sweetie. I seem to remember writing Jerry a particulary descriptive account of my first visit there before the ballgame, and after. He decided to include several other people in my message and embarassed the crap out of me. Melissa is great, she’s every bit as likely to smack the snot out of you, or take you home and feed you – depending on what you most deserve at the moment.

  15. You keep blaming me for that, but I didn’t add anyone to the address list when I replied.

    Oops, wait – I just lied. I did add Brian, but I don’t think you said anything in your email that would have offended him, and believe me, you didn’t say anything that should embarrass you in front of him.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *