SantaFe.com

Is it an open air market, a high-class furniture store, a local tradition or just plain fun? Yes. It’s Jackalope. How best to describe this retail fun fest? If you set a group of leprechauns loose in the desert to design their own strip mall this is what they might give you.

You don’t just drop by Jackalope; it’s a destination. There’s planning involved. Hat, water, sunscreen and carrots. (You’ll see.)

A jackalope proper is a mysterious, rarely sighted creature, a large rabbit with antelope horns on its head. You can believe the trail-fatigued ranch hands who claim to have seen them or...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by AnnMarie McLaughlin • SantaFe.com

Okay, I admit it. I like pavement. I like air conditioning and cold water. I also like adventure. If you can relate, Kasha-Katuwe is the outdoor adventure for you. Known in English as Tent Rocks, this national monument is an easy drive south of Santa Fe on Cochiti Pueblo land. The last segment of road is dirt washboard that makes pavement lovers like me feel as if they’ve really gone off to do something daring.

A one-mile trail loops through the park and is even and smooth. The day I visited there was a woman making the trek in stilettos (really) and while I wouldn’t necessarily recommend...

Tuesday, January 15, 2008
by AnnMarie McLaughlin • SantaFe.com

You’re standing in the grocery check-out line, staring robotically at the covers of People and the National Enquirer and it’s verging dangerously on dinnertime when suddenly the child in the cart just ahead lets out a banshee wail so high-pitched it pierces your fillings. The mom is saying, “You have to let the nice lady have the box of popsicles so she can put them in the bag;” the child’s screams now resemble the shrill intensity of a car alarm. Ignoring you and everybody else around her, the mom resolutely tugs while the child holds on for dear life to the ripped open box, a...

Wednesday, November 1, 2006
by Gail Snyder • localflavor magazine