We Drive for Pie

Here in New Mexico, where the roads are empty and the sky goes on forever, we don't mind doing a bit of driving. In fact, we have been known to drive 150 miles each way to eat a green chile cheeseburger at the Owl Bar and Cafe in San Antonio (New Mexico).  You can watch a short video about the Owl here. You can almost smell those burgers cooking. 

When this year's Pie Festival in Pie Town came around, we decided that it was time to drive for pie. From our house to Pie Town is about 225 miles one way. 

Along the way, we saw volcanic-looking pokey mountains. 

Up in the Plains of San Augustin, we could just make out the Very Large Array off in the distance. It's the gigantic astronomical radio observatory that you might remember from the Jodie Foster movie, Contact. 

Then the landscape changed, and we drove through pine forests and piñon-studded hills.

The town of Magdalena always sets me to dreaming about living the rural life. 

There are plenty of fixer-uppers available. 

If rehabbing isn't something that suits your fancy, there is land for sale, too. 

Pie-O-Neer Cafe, Pie Town, NM

Finally, just as our hunger pangs were starting up, we got to Pie Town, which is actually an unincorporated community with a population somewhere under 200. Their Pie Festival reminds me of our old life in a small New Hampshire town, where everyone pitches in year round, planning and organizing an annual event to raise money for the community. 

According to the Pie Town Community Council Pie Festival web page, The Pie Town Annual Pie Festival includes a pie-baking contest, games and races, music, food, arts and crafts, and pie, pie, pie. Admission is free and parking is easy. The festival is held in Jackson Park each year and is a great opportunity to visit with friends, both old and new.

The pies smelled so good. The judging was so serious. We didn't eat pie while we were there, but we bought three frozen ones to take home from the Pie-O-Neer Cafe. 

We did, however, have some fresh Navajo tacos that were made up by a quiet Navajo family. They fried the bread on a very primitive and homemade-looking stove that they had brought along with them. With the simplest of equipment, they produced the most delicious of meals! 

The ride home was beautiful...

...and the pie was gorgeous. This is a New Mexico Apple Pie, which contains crisp apples, a touch of green chile (yes, it does), and some crunchy piñons; all garnished with a chile cut out of pastry. You can't get a pie like that anywhere but here in New Mexico in Pie Town. See you there next year.

Pie Town!

Pie Town remembers its roots

Have you ever heard of a place called Pie Town, New Mexico? I had read about the area in the book, Pie Town Woman, by Joan Myers, which chronicled the struggles (and the joys) of hard-working men and women scratching out a living there during the Thirties. I had seen Depression-era photos of its people by Russell Lee in a local museum, but I had never actually been to the town. Now I have, and I want to go back. 

It's a small place far from the nearest city, but the people were friendly and kind (we saw a car steer carefully around a snake crossing the road) and the owners of this windmill museum stopped by while I was taking photos from the fence. They invited us to visit the free museum any time and said they were open 24/7. We were at the beginning of a big road trip and couldn't stay, but promised that we would be back to see the old log cabin on the property. 

We did, however, stop for pie at the Pie-O-Neer. No one bothers with a menu here: The self-proclaimed "pie traffic controller" pointed us to the big shelf of fresh pies, all cooled just enough to eat and with hand-written labels. 

My apple-pear-ginger selection

Beez (of course) chose a slice of the Apple-Green Chile, and I picked Apple-Pear-Ginger with a crumb topping. The pies were scrumptious, and the coffee was strong and hot. It's a bit of a drive to Pie Town, but here in New Mexico we think nothing of driving a couple of hundred miles for a green chile cheeseburger,* so why not a Pie Town road trip? We'll be back for sure for the annual Pie Festival, always held the second Saturday in September. That will be September 14th this year, so mark your calendars and we'll see you there!

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*that link is to Beez's blog post, called "Driving 580 Miles for a Burger"