Baja Billy's In Cripple Creek

 

Song:  I've Been Searchin' So Long

Group:  Chicago

First of all...

I am a typical man.

I absolutely LOVE to eat.

To crave food is to crave life itself.

To positively devour a meal is simply so soul satisfying

that it brings a deep happiness like few other things can.

To satisfy a deep craving...

especially when that craving is a particular food...

is just one of the great simple pleasures in life.

I had been craving good Mexican food all day...

but I didn't want to drive half an hour away...

especially on possibly icy roads.

Luckily...

there is a Mexican restaurant in the nearby town of Cripple Creek (7 miles away)...

which from my door, to the door of the restaurant...

is but 15 minutes away.

I had tried several times to eat there in the past...

but they had recently changed their opening days and hours.

However...

the last time I went only to find they were closed...

 I made sure of their operating hours for future reference.

I just had this mad craving for Mexican food...

particularly for tacos (I love tacos...one of my favorite foods)...

that I just had to satisfy it...

or be doomed to thinking about it all night long :)

Anyway...

the restaurant is located in a minor casino in town...

upstairs in a loft.

It is smallish inside...

but plenty comfortable...

and all of the staff were polite and attentive.

I love...love...

love this taco combo plate.

I had elected to try a different meat for each taco.

The nearest one is beef...

the middle one is pork...

and the top most one is chicken

(each was good in its own way...

but my favorite was the beef taco).

They were so flavorful...

and the ratio of meat to toppings was just spot on.

And, they had this absolutely delicious sauce on the table 

which had a flavor I had never before tasted...

but one which I had absolutely loved.

It had heat...

but only just enough...

and it filled my whole mouth with a burst of flavor with each and every bite...

and which had complimented the tacos perfectly.

I had finally found the holy grail of tacos...

and just minutes away from my home.

The combination of taste and crunchy texture was just so gratifying 

that as I am writing this...

I can still feel the initial pleasure of biting into these great tacos.

The only problem with this restaurant is that they are only open on Fridays and Saturdays...

at least during winter.

I also had an enchilada plate.

These were chicken and they were another palate pleaser.

However, the tacos were my absolute favorite.

They were...

without doubt or exaggeration...

the best tacos I have ever had in my life.

As I had parked just a short walk from the front door of the adjacent casino to this one...

as I was driving home...

I took a picture of this casino...

as it is the newest and best casino in town...

Chamonix.

The casino which houses Baja Billy's is owned by this same company as the Chamonix...

and they are connected on the interior.

All up and down the main street of town...

it is colorfully lit.

There are so many other places to explore in town...

but as for Mexican restaurants...

I need look no further.

I now have a place to eat perfect tacos...

and it just so happens to be the nearest Mexican restaurant to my home.

I know it may sound trivial to many...

but, I just love eating good food.

And...

having found perfect tacos right near home...

well...

no other word describes the feeling but...

love.

I simply love it...

the perfect combination of perfect tacos...

and close proximity to my home.

My search for the perfect taco is finally over.

-----------------

No matter how bad the circumstances which evolve in life become...

especially with the uncontrollable ones...

life is simply too short to stew in any negative feelings.

They happen...

and they will always happen.

However...

by embracing the great simple pleasures in life...

everything is put into proper perspective if we but step back...

and realize that we only have one life to live.

There is no going back.

There is only a new future...

a path of our choosing.

As we walk our path in life...

it is the great simple pleasures on that path that make the journey so worthwhile.

Our enemy in life is negativity.

Embrace the good...

and the simple...

until there is no room for the negatives in life.

Simplicity is the friend of the good life.

In it...

you will find inner stability...

serenity...

and so...

deep happiness.

You will know two things when you find food so exciting...

when you find music, sunrises, and sunsets, to be so soul stirring 

that it becomes an impenetrable refuge...

your armor against self inflicted sorrow.

Firstly...

you will know you are on the right path...

and secondly...

that anything else is the wrong path.

I say again...

death comes to us all...

but life is only truly lived...

at most...

but once.

We only have one shot at it...

and never again.

To waste it...

is one of the greatest of personal sins.

All of life is about the artful buildup of anticipation...

and the masterful release of it.

It applies to everything.

If the great simple pleasures in life don't positively excite you...

you are simply not hungry enough (metaphorically).

I usually eat but once a day (literally).

I want to feel the hunger building...

because I know the feeling of great satisfaction once it is sated.

As with everything in life...

it is only the magical events that are remembered.

Anything done by rote...

an everyday occurrence...

is not remembered.

And so...

a person could live many decades in life...

and still have only truly lived a short while.

Make your life rich in magical memories...

and even though it may be short in years...

you will have truly lived a long and well lived life.

I am excited by life.

I love where I am ...

where I am headed...

and all of the great simple pleasures in it...

only because...

I stay hungry (metaphorically).

If I don't feel the call of the wild...

I don't partake in a sunset.

I never wish it to become mundane.

I always want it to be special.

I know life can all end at anytime

(as with most of us)...

and so...I take nothing for granted.

I am still a child in many ways.

But that is the key to seeing the world with wide open wonder...

to becoming excited with a delicious meal...

to laughing with full belly laughs...

to appreciating the many great simple pleasures in life.

I had never let my inner child die.

I am my own best friend (and Bandi)...

and I love my own company.

But...

I also love being around good people...

on a limited basis :)

(I just need my own free time to recharge).

Just remember...

good food is just a thermometer in life...

not a thermostat.

It is simply indicative of your path in life.

It is a canary in a mineshaft that tells you if you are on the right path in life.

It, by itself, doesn't put you on the right path.

It warns you that you simply aren't hungry enough...

that you have been taking life for granted...

that you haven't made all of the substantive things in your life right.

Never shortcut the great motivators of life...

for then you will only be feeling good for a short while...

and you will have done nothing to effect being on the right path.

However...

a good first step in life is to deny yourself things until

the urge becomes so strong that you will know it is time to sate the urge.

If you are not ravenous...

wait until you are before you eat

(both, metaphorically and literally).

This will carry on to other things in life.

This is when events in your life become magical...

and so...

will be remembered...

 and will be used by your subconscious to motivate you.

In this...

we become our own best friend.

------------

Enough for now.

See how a simple meal can become magical in the mind?

In remembering how fantastic that meal was...

I am just rambling on about loosely fitting associations.

I think I will remember those tacos for the rest of my life...

they were that good...

with, of course...

many memory reinforcing visits  :)

Stay hungry  :)