New Mexico is host to the Santa Fe Opera House which provides the beautiful marriage of mountain-top views and astonishing melodies.

When I announced with glee to a friend, “I’m going to Santa Fe, New Mexico next week,” she replied, “Are you going to the opera?”

Beyond The Scenery
Why would I go to an opera in Santa Fe when I only had six days to see everything? I planned to see gorgeous Southwest scenery, learn about the area’s ­history through museums and centuries-old buildings, to see Native American pueblos and the art of Georgia O’Keeffe. And, wander the many gift shops.

Four hundred years as a city, formed for the Spanish Empire, certainly made for a lot of history. Native American pueblos far older than the city dot the New Mexico landscape.

My daughter and I arrived in Santa Fe in July, the month of the monsoons. And heat, according to guidebooks. No matter, 100+ art galleries along Canyon Road would be open, as would museums of art, folk art and history in town and in the nearby hills. We planned to spend a day in Taos, 70 miles to the north, and we’d watch the weather forecast for that drive.

The first morning in Santa Fe, Steve Lewis from the CVB met us for coffee and shared his recommendations for food, art and music. He talked about the Opera House, its great music and about the experience beyond the music. It sounded like a place to explore.

Exploring The Opera House
After lunch downtown at the beautiful southwestern-style LaFonda Hotel, the Opera House called for exploration. We drove the freeway north for about seven miles, followed some side roads uphill to a flat parking lot. Nearby, we saw the tall, curved, adobe walls of the Opera House, an impressive structure. It was closed, but the office, surrounded with large posters of this year’s performances, was open. Within two minutes, we had tickets to Wednesday’s 9 p.m. performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute. Madame Butterfly would be Friday, but we’d be back in California.

Steve said elegantly-dressed people come early, often before 7 p.m., for tailgate picnics complete with portable tables covered with linen cloths, candelabra and champagne. Although our rented Mercury ­didn’t have a tailgate, our rented condo had wooden stools and a nice ice-chest for a table.

Stormy Surprise
At 7:15, we rolled into the parking lot, directed by efficient attendants. Luckily, the top lot still had space for cars and we even found a park picnic table that faced a small canyon and a higher hill with low-growing vegetation beyond. With our picnic dinner spread out a bath towel (the fanciest linen available), we opened the chardonnay wine from Trader Joe’s (no champagne), and poured it into condo-available, blue plastic Margarita glasses.

Dinner began with dipping pita bread in hummus, sipping the cool wine and looking out across the canyon with its small trees and shadows, its hills framed by white clouds. Um-m-m, a toast to New Mexico! Half a glass later, a strange howling noise began. The wind blew stronger and stronger. We grabbed for the cute but very lightweight blue glasses and held on, then heard a smash and saw broken crystal on the ground at the next table.

Out of the now-gray sky, huge raindrops fell. Lightening bolts lit up the sky. Picnickers at tables near us ran for cars. People with the fancy paraphernalia at the asphalt parking lot folded their chairs and tables, grabbed food, silver and flowers and dashed into their cars. We ran with our picnic things, too, and climbed into the back seat of our car where we resumed the picnic with our big, wide wine glasses.

The rain let up in a few minutes. The sky began to turn pink below the higher gray and white clouds. This was a photo op, time to run back to our former picnic space beside the canyon, in spite of a few rain drops on the head. Toward the west, the color-wheel-yellow sun spread orange rays beyond its round globe. It colored clouds all shades of orange and red, but left strips of white clouds against bigger strips of cerulean blue sky. A friend told me there would be incredible skies in New Mexico. I did not imagine the mixture and brilliance of those colors.

The opera would start soon, so with the car locked up, we walked the block to the Opera House entrance. With $10 Standing-Room-Only tickets, our seats were at the back of the main floor which sloped upward from the stage. The balcony above has good acoustics, too, but all balcony seats were sold out when we bought tickets. The marked spaces for standing had long counters in front of the spaces, comfortable to lean on. There, digital monitors turned on the libretto when the singing began. More comfort came from a rail for a footrest, like an old-time saloon (but no drinks or food allowed).

The Calm After The Storm
From my high roost, I could see out the open side of the building that faced west. The last of the pink glow of the sky faded while the orchestra played the beautiful, melodic overture. As the sky grew dark, shadows formed in the Jemez Mountains. When night closed in, the lights of the city of Santa Fe sparkled in the clear night. Then the music took our attention, with the beautiful music enhanced by the shape and openness of the opera house. On this mountain-top, sheltered, but almost outside, the Santa Fe Opera became a memorable interlude in our visit to the Land of Enchantment.

Nell Raun-Linde has been published in AAA, Senior, inflight, wine and regional magazines, web magazines, as well as San Francisco Bay Area and other U.S. newspapers. She has a passion for reading, history and family.