Dear fellow Companions at the PANIC05 meeting:

A program of meetings and excursions has been planned for your stay in Santa Fe. Details and sign-up information follow. We hope you will consider joining the outings. We look forward to meeting you and to sharing your explorations of charming Santa Fe and beautiful New Mexico.

Angela Barnes and Beverly Cooper
for the Companions Program Committee

Museum-trained docents will lead groups of 15 - 18 participants on a walking tour of historic Santa Fe, the seat of government - under four flags - for almost 400 years and the site of hunter-gatherer habitation for thousands of years before that. The tour, lasting about one hour and forty-five minutes, costs $10.00 per person, children under 17 free. So that enough docents will be available to lead these small groups, please indicate your expectation to join the walking tour on the Conference Registration Form. Docents will be on hand during the Coffee Hour to take your $10.00 payment in cash or by check made out to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation and will lead the tour groups at 10:00 a.m. following the Coffee Hour with departure directly from the Hilton Hotel Pinon Grill.

This acclaimed recreational cooking school will offer a three-hour class on Southwest Tapas, those regional and tasty hors d'oeuvres. You'll enjoy the tasting, but will still have room for dinner! The class, accommodating a maximum of 44 participants, costs $65.00 plus tax per person. If you wish to join this activity, please reserve your place in the cooking class by: telephone at 505 983-4511 (preferred); email to: e-mail@santafeschoolofcooking.com; or on line between August 1 and September 15 at http://santafeschoolofcooking.com Select 'Southwest Cooking School' Select 'Cooking Classes' Select 'Southwest Tapas' Select 'October 24' After your name, enter PANIC Enter your hotel telephone number Registered, prepaid cooking class participants should make their way on foot in time for the 2:30 class to the: Santa Fe School of Cooking 116 W. San Francisco St. (two blocks from Hilton Hotel, upstairs in the Plaza Mercado)

The Taos excursion begins with a 1.5-hour drive through colorful northern New Mexico that follows the scenic Rio Grande River canyon to Taos. The first stop will be the historic 3-story Taos Pueblo, site of the background painting on the PANIC05 poster. The pueblo has been continuously inhabited for centuries.

The second stop will be Taos plaza, where visitors will have the choice of a guided walking tour of the town or free time to wander through the galleries and shops. Lunch may be purchased at any one of several restaurants on or near the plaza. Following Lunch, the participants will drive to observe grand vistas from the Rio Grande Gorge bridge.

At the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New Mexico, visitors enjoy outstanding historical collections of Native American jewelry, ceramics, paintings, and weavings; Hispanic textiles, metalwork, sculpture; and a wide range of contemporary Southwestern art. One piece of the permanent collection includes the Maria and Julian Martinez family collection of their pottery.

Departure is from the Hilton Hotel is at 8:00 AM on Tuesday, October 25. The tour will return between 5 and 6 PM. The transportation and guide costs are $35 per person. The modest pueblo entrance ($8) and photography fees ($5) at Taos Pueblo, lunch, and museum fees ($7) are extra. Payment for the bus and most other activities can only be accepted in cash for the Taos outing. Places can be reserved at the CCC website.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

12:30 p.m.       Conference Excursions

Companions are welcome to join the Wednesday afternoon excursions planned for all conference participants; for more detailed information, please see the Excursions handout, or visit Conference Excursions. Please indicate your interest in these excursions on the Conference Registration Site

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Departure and return are at the visitor's leisure (Museums are open 10:00a.m.-5:00p.m. but closed on Monday). There are several and quite varied museums on the Plaza in Santa Fe. In addition, we invite you to consider these other museum possibilities a short bus or taxi ride away, all grouped together in one location as part of the 'Museum Hill' complex: Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, admission $7.00 Museum of International Folk Art, admission $7.00 (or $15.00 pass for four days unlimited visits to four museums, including the two museums above plus the downtown Palace of the Governors and Museum of Fine Arts) Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, admission $6.00 Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, admission free Museum Hill Cafe, lunch entrees from $7.00 - $8.50 The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology displays the art, artifacts and archeology of the Southwest from ancestral to contemporary times. The Museum of International Folk Art houses a collection of the world's folk arts, including toys, textiles, household goods and religious art. The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art exhibits the Spanish Colonial arts tradition throughout the world, including New Mexico, once the northernmost point of the Spanish empire. The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian presents contemporary and historic art and artifacts, including the world's largest sand painting collection. The Museum Hill Cafe offers mountain views and a varied menu. Transportation to Museum Hill located on Camino Lejo: Santa Fe Trails bus (955-2001) "M" stop, Sheridan Avenue (two blocks from Hilton Hotel, one-half block from Sweeney Convention Center) departing every 45 minutes (9:15a.m., 10:00a.m., 10:45a.m., 11:30a.m., etc.), fare $0.50 per person each way or Capitol City Cab, 438-0000, fare approximately $11.00 each way