Day Tripping in Santa Fe, Part 2

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Well, you must already know, right on the heels of my first Day Tripping post with The Beatles, Part 1 has to be followed directly by… Part 2 …with The Stones!

Because just like my regular Substack reader, Trisha Hussey, says,

Every good story needs a good soundtrack.

But while the Fabulous long-hair, but still clean-cut, Fab Four, were the leaders of, and the Good Guys of the mid-60s “British Invasion”, right behind them were the scruffy Bad Boys of English rock ‘n roll, the malevolent, hard-living Rolling Stones, led by the prancing egotist, Mick Jagger, now 80, and his evil brother-in-arms on the sinister and sexy slide guitar, Keith Richards.

And while The Beatles were singing about “Penny Lane”, “Strawberry Fields”, “Give Peace Chance”, and “Love is All You Need”, there were The Stones, “just a shot away”, singing about, “Sympathy for the Devil”, “Honky Tonk Women”, “Street Fighting Man”, and their delightful “end of the world” song, “Gimme Shelter”. And while The Beatles were taking us on their “Magical Mystery Tour”, The Stones were “painting it black” and releasing “Their Satanic Majesties Request” album exactly at the same time.

And because The Stones are still playing rock ‘n roll and have far surpassed The Beatles in longevity, they are generally considered “the greatest rock ‘n roll band of all time”. You’ll get no argument from me. But I also remember when I was still a teen, they also had “the greatest rock ‘n roll song of all time. It was always #1 on the all-time list. In the 60s, 70s, 80, 90s, all the way through 2010, when it was still there, right next to Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” itself. Do you know what song it was?

When I'm driving in my car
When a man comes on the radio
He's telling me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination

I can't get no, oh, no, no, no, hey, hey, hey
That's what I say
I can't get no, satisfaction
I can't get no, satisfaction
'Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no

When I'm watchin' my TV
And a man comes on and tells me
How white my shirts can be
But he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke
The same cigarettes as me

When I'm ridin' 'round the world
And I'm doin' this and I'm signin' that
And I'm tryin' to make some girl, who tells me
Baby, better come back maybe next week
Can't you see I'm on a losing streak?

That's what I say
I can't get no, I can't get no
I can't get no
No satisfaction, no satisfaction
I can't get no, oh, no, no, no, hey, hey, hey

That’s Mick shouting and preening, over Keith’s unforgettable “da dah, dah dah dah” guitar riff, and that’s the name of the song: “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction”, a teen anthem if ever there was one. And that’s what The Stones represented, and still represent, for their die-hard fans: the hunger, discontent, joy, and protest of the angry outsider, no matter what age. Those who “sympathize with the Devil”, who “were born in a crossfire hurricane”, and who were “schooled with a strap right across their back”. The depraved, discontented devotees of the Rolling Fucking Stones!

Santa Fe Day Tripping Part 2

I almost forgot!!

Back to the hot springs….

One day in early spring… when young Exsel is still fairly happily trapped in Monte Del Sol Charter School’s 10th grade… when the snow has started receding and the blue Santa Fe sky is starting to be once again possessed by the perpetual Southwestern sun, Surya and I decide to continue our hot, day-tripping, springs exploration - to one of the most well-reputed and renowned, Jemez Hot Springs, “just a shot away”, I mean an hour and a half away, as the RAV4 flies.

And that’s what the old Toyota does, fly north past Tusuque and the Sant Fe Opera on highway 84, west past Los Alamos on the 501, and then every which way, as we wind ourselves through the Jemez Mountains on the old State 4, until…. oh shit!

There’s a flashing red State Trooper light directly behind me… in the middle of the Jemez Mountains… about 10 miles outside Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

No way!

Way….

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politeness
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, mm yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, mm mean it, get down

Tell me baby, what's my name?
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name?
Tell me baby, what's my name?
I tell you one time, you're to blame

It’s Officer Jemez Krupke. He’s pulled me over - for speeding! 46 miles an hour - in a 40-mile-an-hour zone - in the Jemez frigging mountains! Can you believe it? I haven’t seen a cop in Santa Fe in six months, and here I am, driving leisurely to a dreamy New Mexican hot springs, and what? Officer Krupke is “just doin’ his job”.

We have a lot of deer and bear crossing the road here, sir. Ya got to be careful in these mountains. I see ya from California?

Yeah, sorry, Officer. Can you maybe just give me a warning this time? I promise I’ll slow down and look for the deer and the bear.

Officer Krupke walks off back to his squad car with my license and registration, and… he sits there… for ten minutes… during which time, I take… a severe tongue-lashing from Surya, my dear wife.

You did it again! What’s the hurry? Blah blah blah…

Officer Krupke walks back over to my driver’s side window and hands me the paperwork.

It’s just… a warning.

Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. I promise I won’t hit any deer or bear. Have a great day. Greetings from California. New York too. You should definitely visit. Give me a call. You have my number.

And off we go… “slowly slowly”, as they say in Southeast… Asia.

Jemez Hot Springs (formerly Giggling Hot Springs)

Long ago in a land far away, ancient sea water was trapped in the mountain, and the land became infused with magical minerals over eons of time. This was long before the Native American Indigenous People came across the Bering Straight to populate the barren and rugged continent. And this is one of the reasons that the water here in the tribal village of Jemez Springs is so special.

We find this, or some fairy tale, hippie-dippie origin story like it - in the brochure - at the famous “Jemez Hot Springs”. There are several alternative hot springs in and around the town: an indoor bathhouse, several natural hot springs steaming right out of the earth, north of town, that you have to hike to, some open, some seasonally closed, but this “Jemez Hot Springs”, with its former name, “Giggling Hot Springs”, is right in front of us, and it sounds like a “good natural cleansing laugher”, right? We read on,

Our hot springs offer four therapeutic mineral water pools of varying temperatures with built-in seating. Find a dream state within small-town bliss. Ours is rated ‘one of the ten best hot springs in America’.

Can’t miss.

We go to the entry booth and ask to take a look. It’s $25/hour. Unusual for hot springs, which usually charge a single all-day admission. But they let us take a peak.

Wow! The one bright blue pool smells over-chlorinated and is full of day-soakers. Maybe twenty humans who all look like flabby white-bellied seals.

Or maybe we’ve just been spoiled by Ojo Santa Fe Mineral Springs, south of Santa Fe, where we had whole, deep-blue, non-chlorinated-smelling pools entirely to ourselves.

In any event, Surya wants no part of this fairy tale.

We’re out.

I hear Mick,

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't…. always get what you want

We head across the street to the Highway 4 Cafe and Bakery, “the best place in town”.

We get the delicious breakfast burritos and the scoop on other nearby hot springs. The best is San Antonio, but whereas it’s just a mile hike during spring and summer, the trail is still closed for winter, and it’s a 7-mile trek today. Once again, to quote the great outdoorsman himself, Tony Soprano, “forgeddaboudit!”

Spence Hot Springs

We pinpoint “the one”, Spence Hot Springs,

“a beautiful and scenic natural wonder.  It’s one of the most heavily visited primitive New Mexico hot springs, an easy hike from the paved parking lot. The spring maintains 95-degree temps, very popular with locals in the know.”

Again, sounds perfect. We drive four miles north of town and park, as said. We start on the trail.

It’s… a brown oozy mud bath, the melting snow flooding down from the mountain peaks. We calculate the risk.

We decide to…. carry on.

But the higher up we get towards the Spence Springs itself, the more the brown sloppy mud turns to ice. Not goooood. Surya is wearing her new Christmas blue leather, thick rubber sole, mountain hiking boots. Me? I’m wearing my old, no-grip Vann’s sneakers which are exactly like two plastic spatulas on my creaky knees, shins, and flat feet.

Surya walks behind me, to catch me multiple times - as I slide on the ice - into her shins and boots - so as not to body surf all the way back down to Jemez Springs.

I’m actually afraid for my life, but she says,

It’s got to be only a minute or two more. Come on, you can do it. Think ‘hot springs’.

I think '“hot springs” - as she says this for the next 45 minutes - and I continue my shoe-slipping-sliding clown act until…

…we finally arrive at…

…Spence Hot Springs… which is… beautiful, but….

…barely 80 degrees Fahrenheit…. instead of “perfectly-maintained” 95. And… it’s full of creepy crawly, green and brown… algae!

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get… what you want

We don’t even step into the contaminated springs. Surya climbs up about 20 more feet to the top of the springs to get a great photo. I sit on my ass, resting up for the dreaded slide back dowwwwwwn.

The next day, I lick my wounds. My shins now have countless purple and blue bruises -to add insult to injury on top of my incurable neuropathy.

(Happy face!)

Montezuma Hot Springs

But if you try sometimes, well, you might find
You get what you need
Ah, yeah

Ever since we moved to Santa Fe, we’ve heard about “the Las Vegas hot springs, right in the middle of town… open 24/7”.

Of course, these local springs aren’t in Las Vegas, Nevada, the nefarious gambling mecca of our country, but rather in the sleepy 1950s-style town of Las Vegas, New Mexico, about an hour and three minutes east of Santa Fe on the I-25N.

But every time I Google the springs, I get the same message:

“Closed”.

It isn’t until we have our gravel backyard landscaped by Kevin, Surya’s runner at the Rosewood Hotel, and his Dad, that we find out for sure.

Nah, it’s open. Positively. I grew up going there twice a week after high school, and I still go. The only problem is I fall asleep in the car coming home afterward because I’m too relaxed.

Ok, so we’re going, Surya and me, on another school day.

We take the RAV4 again. This time - no speeding ticket. Or warning.

An hour and three minutes later… and there it is!

Right on the side of the road. No admissions booth. Free entrance.

The Montezuma Hot Springs, also known as the Las Vegas Hot Springs, is actually about 2 miles outside of Las Vegas, and has been used for centuries by local indigenous people for their healing properties. According to legend, the hot springs were named "Montezuma" in 1846 when a group of General Stephen Kearny’s soldiers encountered native Pueblo people there who told the soldiers that when local-born Mexican emperor-to-be, Montezuma, was ready to ascend to the throne, a group of eagles lifted him into the air and flew him back to Mexico.

Folklore also suggests that Billy the Kid and Jesse James used the springs after playing cards nearby and that countless famed, and otherwise, used the springs for TB and other various pulmonary cures.

Today, and I guess every day, there are no staff, no guards, no facilities (of any kind), no… anything. Just the natural hot steaming pools of thermal water and… scenic after scenic vista of New Mexico in the buff.

So naturally, yours Trulesly… also joins the scenic vistas… in the buff. Au naturale. Why not? It’s clearly the best way to experience any outdoor natural hot springs, isn’t it?

It’s absolutely gorgeous. There 3 different levels of hot pools, all at slightly different temperatures from each other. You can easily slide down from the hottest, maybe 110 degrees Fahrenheit, to the least hot, maybe 102 degrees.

I settle in the middle one. There are a couple of human seals in the pools when I get in, but they soon disappear. Soon it’s just me, the hot thermal waters, and the limitless New Mexican sky. An easy merge with infinity.

Of all the hot springs we go to, this simple roadside one called “Montezuma” is my favorite.

But if you try sometimes, well, you might find
You get what you need
Ah, yeah

So…. maybe Mick knew exactly what he was singing about.

Maybe he was settin’ in “The Devil’s Pot” (the hottest pool) at the Montezuma Hot Springs with Billy the Kid and Jesse James - back in the day.

Why not?

He was certainly settin’ there with me that day in Las Vegas, New Mexico…

“not far from the reception

a glass of wine in his hand….”

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AND TELL ME, WITH WHOM should I go Day Tripping NEXT?

“Pleased to meet you

Hope you guess my name”,

Trules