Getting the flavor of...

A town built for pies

Yes, you can get yourself a good slice of pie in Pie Town, N.M., said Elliott Teller in the Chicago Tribune. This tiny desert village 163 miles southwest of Albuquerque doesn’t have much else—just a gas station and enough homes to house the population of 186. But for nearly a century it’s been serving fresh pastries to cowboys, migrant farmers, and, today, “anyone zooming along U.S. 60.” Local lore says the town got its start when a traveler broke down and started baking pies to raise money to get to California. Today, you’ll find two stops to choose from: the Pie-O-Neer and the Good Pie Cafe. At the latter, all the berry pies looked appetizing—“each one oozing melted fruit.” But I opted for the “New Mexican apple” and would drive three hours again for another slice. Beneath its feathery crust, tart Granny Smith apples blend with fiery Hatch green chiles, a pepper so popular it’s “the closest thing to a state religion.”

Winter stargazing in New England

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A self-taught Connecticut astronomer has found a healthy audience for the mysteries of the nighttime sky, said Ellen Albanese in The Boston Globe. Mark Coppinger, an accountant by trade, started Astronomy Tours (astronomer-mark.com) two years ago at his Colchester, Conn., Christmas tree farm. During winter, groups of up to 50 people now wrap themselves in blankets and stretch out on lounge chairs to see the show, paying as much as $65 a head ($25 for children). Using high-powered laser pointers and telescopes, Coppinger points out stars, planets, and satellites. On nights when the moon is obscured, guests might even catch a glimpse of deep-space objects like galaxies and nebulae. Come summer, Coppinger takes advantage of the dark over Cape Cod Bay by running a nighttime boat tour out of Plymouth, Mass. At around midnight, the Milky Way “shimmers and winks,” its 400 billion stars eager not to disappoint.