Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Navajo Tacos and Bubble Gum Ice Cream



When I was a little girl living in Las Cruces, New Mexico, our family drove to Price, Utah every summer to visit the grandparents.  Fortunately, my dad's mom lived just 15 minutes away from my mom's parents.



I don't know exactly which year, but the day after we arrived, Nona drove down to Price to pick up my sister and I and take us out to lunch.

"Where do you want to go to lunch?"  Nona asked.

Kristi and I looked at each other and shrugged.  We had no idea what Price had to offer in the way of restaurants.

"We could go to the Carriage House," she suggested.

Again Kristi and I looked at each other and shrugged.  We had no idea what a carriage house was.  Turns out it was a hotel that had a restaurant attached.  A pretty cool looking hotel actually.


This restaurant had on its menu something that Kristi and I had never eaten before.  Navajo tacos.

"Wait, you are living in New Mexico and you had never eaten Navajo tacos?"  
"We are from Southern New Mexico, the Navajos live in Northern New Mexico."
"Oh, got it.  Continue with the story."

For those who don't know what a Navajo taco is, it's fried bread (like a scone) with taco toppings piled on top.  We were very familiar with tacos and ordered it.  I loved it!

After lunch, Nona went to the cash register to pay for our meal.  There at the register was an ice cream bar, where you could get hand-scooped ice cream.  Nona offered to buy us each an ice cream cone.  As I looked through the frosty glass to see what flavors they had, I saw something I had never seen before.  

BLUE ICE CREAM!


"What flavor is that?"
"That's bubble gum ice cream."

First Navajo tacos and now bubble gum-flavored ice cream?  Price, Utah has many wonderful new and exciting foods to behold!

Of course I had to try this crazy new ice cream.  And I loved it!

How I think I looked eating the ice cream.
How I probably actually looked eating the ice cream.

The following year, Nona again came the day after we arrived and asked us where we wanted to go to lunch.  We now know of one restaurant in town, The Carriage House.  So we said, "We'd like to go to the Carriage House."

When it was time to order our lunch, we knew of one item on the menu.  Navajo tacos.  So we got Navajo tacos.

When Nona offered us ice cream, I got the one flavor that you could only get in Price, Utah.  Bubble Gum.

Pretty soon, going to the Carriage House for Navajo tacos and ice cream became a tradition that would last for many years.

Even now I still like to order bubble gum ice cream. It always reminds me of Nona.

This story features:

Gertrude Maxine Wahl Buchanan (1916-1998)

My grandmother (Nona)

me --> Bruce Albert Buchanan --> Gertrude Maxine Wahl Buchanan



3 comments:

  1. I love it! What s fun memory. I spent a lot of time at carriage house. My friend worked there and we would always go hang out. 😉

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  2. My grandparents hail from Price! They may have known your Nona. :D

    I love bubble gum ice cream too, much to the chagrin of my family.

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