state #9 -- new mexico
a;lsdijf;asidjf; I hate this post so much. I spent over an hour on it and put in like a million pics and then blogger decided not to save it, so when I returned to finish it up, it had about 30% of the total. Without all the million pictures. Which means that I now have to do all that work again. I'm pretty sure I'll forgo some details. Ughhhhh...okay, end of rant.
For anyone who doesn't know, Russ is currently restoring a 1966 Volvo Amazon. He likes to spend all our spare money on new parts ;) It took a while, but he finally got it up and running recently! He's even taken it out for a few spins around the block, though always when I'm gone so I've never seen it (is it really running? hmm... ;) ). However, the car is still riddled with rust damage, so he's been wondering what to do about that. In his online searches for parts, he found a guy in New Mexico who was selling a Volvo body that was in much better shape than Russ's Volvo. Russ asked me about going down to New Mexico to see it and I said, "Another state? A mini vacation right when I wanted one? Most definitely!" So that's why we took a trip to New Mexico.
We turned it into a 5-day vacation. We did some fun things, we ate some good food, we enjoyed being together and not working. However, I gotta say, New Mexico really isn't very exciting. There was a lot of driving (about 10 hours each way), the weather was colder than I had anticipated, and there wasn't a ton of stuff I was interested in doing there. I really wanted to ride in a hot air balloon, but apparently you can't do that when you're pregnant, so that quickly got knocked off the list. We still had fun because we were together, but I definitely wouldn't put it at the top of a "favorite trips" list.
Where we stayed:
We stayed at two airbnb locations (Albuquerque and Santa Fe) and both were great. One of my personal favorite parts of the trip was the pets at each house! Our place in Albuquerque had Sophie the dog, and Santa Fe had Princess the cat. Sophie was very friendly and loved for us to pet her. It was really cute to see Russ with her . . . made me even more excited to see him with a little baby! It also made us both consider getting a dog sometime in the future. Princess was also friendly, and kind of hilarious. I put her on my lap to pet her while Russ and I watched Netflix, and she would stay that way for a while, but then she'd rotate herself to put her paws up on my shoulder/neck and then she'd rub her nose and face on my neck and cheek like she was giving me hugs and kisses! It was pretty cute :)
Where we ate:
Church Street Cafe -- It was okay, the waitress was kind of curt and the food wasn't super great.
Vick's Vittles -- Super yummy pumpkin pecan pancakes! And Russ liked his cowboy breakfast burrito, too.
Rebel Donut -- Not too different from any other donut place, but nonetheless delicious. I really loved my cake donut covered in Fruity Pebbles (the Barney Rebel).
High Noon Saloon & Restaurant -- Pretty tasty, and the service was great. I mentioned wanting something non-alcoholic and tasty to drink, and she quickly came up with something that sounded good. We mentioned that we were sharing the side salad and the burger, so they brought out two plates with the salad, and they brought us each our own plate with half a burger and half a portion of fries on it. So nice! The interior was also really "New Mexican" feeling, so I liked that aspect, as well.
Panera Bread -- So good. Why oh why don't they have these in Utah? The broccoli cheddar soup is amazing, as is the cinnamon scone. SO GOOD. (We ate there twice in two days.)
Frank's Famous Chicken and Waffles -- Pretty good, but slowwww service. We were pretty much the only customers and it still took 30-40 minutes to get our chicken and waffles. Which is pretty much the only thing on the menu, so you wouldn't think it would take so long!
Freddy's -- This is also in Boise (and idk where else) but it is sooo good :) I love their custard so much!
Blake's Lotaburger -- "A New Mexican Tradition" -- so we had to go there! The burgers were good, but in my opinion, you can get good burgers in any state.
What we did:
ON THE WAY
Four Corners -- Had to stop at this checkpoint to snap a few pics and go on a little hike nearby. It was craaaaazy windy that day!
ALBUQUERQUE
Sandia Peak -- A long and varied hike. We began on snow that was probably several feet deep (but we were on top of it) and ended on normal dirt paths. We saw some pretty nature and had some interesting conversations.
Walked around "Old Town" -- When we asked our host for dinner recommendations, every recommendation he gave us was at a location called "Old Town." We liked walking around this location, so we went there on two different days for dinner and walking. We also snapped a lot of selfies because we had to come away from NM with at least one decent picture for our map.
Albuquerque temple -- We like to visit temples whenever we travel somewhere new! I get it from my temple-lovin' mama. So we went to a tiny session in a tiny room and we were the witness couple, because we were the only couple haha :) That never happens in Provo!
National Museum of Nuclear Science and History -- This one was definitely a Russ pick. He comes from a museum-loving family. I like the idea of liking museums, but I haven't quite figured out how to attain that yet. I can be interested for a few minutes, but just reading things for hours doesn't really appeal to me. I think Russ enjoyed it, though he did say he didn't think it was worth the $12/ticket price.
SANTA FE
Mormon Battalion Monument -- So it wasn't in our plans to go here, but when we passed a sign on the way to Santa Fe that said "Mormon Battalion Monument - Next Exit," we decided we better go make a quick stop to pay some tribute to our ancestors :)
Tent Rocks -- This hike was really cool. There was a lot to see (as evidenced by the 200+ pics that Russ took) and we had fun playing and talking. I seriously have never seen that boy so camera happy, though!
Car -- So we came to NM to look at the car, and it turned out that the car did, indeed, look really good. (I actually slept in the car while he looked at the car, so I never even saw it!) For a while after we got back from NM we were completely planning on buying the car, but now Russ has decided he might be done with the Volvo, so instead he's working on selling his current one.
Los Alamos -- We went to Los Alamos because it was recommended to us, but it turned out that everything was closed and there wasn't much to do there. We played at a park (my park!) and stopped at a little lookout point, but that's about it.
Another version of "Old Town" -- Guess we really liked the "Old Timey" feel, because we went to Santa Fe's version of Old Town, too. Just snapped a bunch of pictures as we walked around.
ON THE WAY HOME
Rio Grande Gorge Bridge -- We walked across this cool bridge and saw the pretty gorge. It's interesting -- I don't consider myself to be afraid of heights, but something about being on that bridge kind of freaked me out! I felt super vulnerable being between moving cars and raging waters hundreds of feet below. I just felt like someone was going to push me over the edge or something! I also felt a lot more conscious of the fact that I'm carrying a tiny human and if I get hurt, we both get hurt, so that thought scared me, too. I was much happier on the other side of the bridge admiring the bridge and gorge from afar :)
For anyone who doesn't know, Russ is currently restoring a 1966 Volvo Amazon. He likes to spend all our spare money on new parts ;) It took a while, but he finally got it up and running recently! He's even taken it out for a few spins around the block, though always when I'm gone so I've never seen it (is it really running? hmm... ;) ). However, the car is still riddled with rust damage, so he's been wondering what to do about that. In his online searches for parts, he found a guy in New Mexico who was selling a Volvo body that was in much better shape than Russ's Volvo. Russ asked me about going down to New Mexico to see it and I said, "Another state? A mini vacation right when I wanted one? Most definitely!" So that's why we took a trip to New Mexico.
We turned it into a 5-day vacation. We did some fun things, we ate some good food, we enjoyed being together and not working. However, I gotta say, New Mexico really isn't very exciting. There was a lot of driving (about 10 hours each way), the weather was colder than I had anticipated, and there wasn't a ton of stuff I was interested in doing there. I really wanted to ride in a hot air balloon, but apparently you can't do that when you're pregnant, so that quickly got knocked off the list. We still had fun because we were together, but I definitely wouldn't put it at the top of a "favorite trips" list.
Where we stayed:
We stayed at two airbnb locations (Albuquerque and Santa Fe) and both were great. One of my personal favorite parts of the trip was the pets at each house! Our place in Albuquerque had Sophie the dog, and Santa Fe had Princess the cat. Sophie was very friendly and loved for us to pet her. It was really cute to see Russ with her . . . made me even more excited to see him with a little baby! It also made us both consider getting a dog sometime in the future. Princess was also friendly, and kind of hilarious. I put her on my lap to pet her while Russ and I watched Netflix, and she would stay that way for a while, but then she'd rotate herself to put her paws up on my shoulder/neck and then she'd rub her nose and face on my neck and cheek like she was giving me hugs and kisses! It was pretty cute :)
 |
| albuquerque airbnb place |
Church Street Cafe -- It was okay, the waitress was kind of curt and the food wasn't super great.
Vick's Vittles -- Super yummy pumpkin pecan pancakes! And Russ liked his cowboy breakfast burrito, too.
Rebel Donut -- Not too different from any other donut place, but nonetheless delicious. I really loved my cake donut covered in Fruity Pebbles (the Barney Rebel).
High Noon Saloon & Restaurant -- Pretty tasty, and the service was great. I mentioned wanting something non-alcoholic and tasty to drink, and she quickly came up with something that sounded good. We mentioned that we were sharing the side salad and the burger, so they brought out two plates with the salad, and they brought us each our own plate with half a burger and half a portion of fries on it. So nice! The interior was also really "New Mexican" feeling, so I liked that aspect, as well.
Panera Bread -- So good. Why oh why don't they have these in Utah? The broccoli cheddar soup is amazing, as is the cinnamon scone. SO GOOD. (We ate there twice in two days.)
Frank's Famous Chicken and Waffles -- Pretty good, but slowwww service. We were pretty much the only customers and it still took 30-40 minutes to get our chicken and waffles. Which is pretty much the only thing on the menu, so you wouldn't think it would take so long!
Freddy's -- This is also in Boise (and idk where else) but it is sooo good :) I love their custard so much!
Blake's Lotaburger -- "A New Mexican Tradition" -- so we had to go there! The burgers were good, but in my opinion, you can get good burgers in any state.
What we did:
ON THE WAY
Four Corners -- Had to stop at this checkpoint to snap a few pics and go on a little hike nearby. It was craaaaazy windy that day!
 |
| kissing in 4 places at once! (kind of) -- take that, mandy moore! haha :) |
ALBUQUERQUE
Sandia Peak -- A long and varied hike. We began on snow that was probably several feet deep (but we were on top of it) and ended on normal dirt paths. We saw some pretty nature and had some interesting conversations.
Walked around "Old Town" -- When we asked our host for dinner recommendations, every recommendation he gave us was at a location called "Old Town." We liked walking around this location, so we went there on two different days for dinner and walking. We also snapped a lot of selfies because we had to come away from NM with at least one decent picture for our map.
Albuquerque temple -- We like to visit temples whenever we travel somewhere new! I get it from my temple-lovin' mama. So we went to a tiny session in a tiny room and we were the witness couple, because we were the only couple haha :) That never happens in Provo!
National Museum of Nuclear Science and History -- This one was definitely a Russ pick. He comes from a museum-loving family. I like the idea of liking museums, but I haven't quite figured out how to attain that yet. I can be interested for a few minutes, but just reading things for hours doesn't really appeal to me. I think Russ enjoyed it, though he did say he didn't think it was worth the $12/ticket price.
SANTA FE
Mormon Battalion Monument -- So it wasn't in our plans to go here, but when we passed a sign on the way to Santa Fe that said "Mormon Battalion Monument - Next Exit," we decided we better go make a quick stop to pay some tribute to our ancestors :)
Tent Rocks -- This hike was really cool. There was a lot to see (as evidenced by the 200+ pics that Russ took) and we had fun playing and talking. I seriously have never seen that boy so camera happy, though!
 |
| hahaha this one looked like a pregnant tent rock, so we took a pic together ;) |
Car -- So we came to NM to look at the car, and it turned out that the car did, indeed, look really good. (I actually slept in the car while he looked at the car, so I never even saw it!) For a while after we got back from NM we were completely planning on buying the car, but now Russ has decided he might be done with the Volvo, so instead he's working on selling his current one.
Los Alamos -- We went to Los Alamos because it was recommended to us, but it turned out that everything was closed and there wasn't much to do there. We played at a park (my park!) and stopped at a little lookout point, but that's about it.
Another version of "Old Town" -- Guess we really liked the "Old Timey" feel, because we went to Santa Fe's version of Old Town, too. Just snapped a bunch of pictures as we walked around.
ON THE WAY HOME
Rio Grande Gorge Bridge -- We walked across this cool bridge and saw the pretty gorge. It's interesting -- I don't consider myself to be afraid of heights, but something about being on that bridge kind of freaked me out! I felt super vulnerable being between moving cars and raging waters hundreds of feet below. I just felt like someone was going to push me over the edge or something! I also felt a lot more conscious of the fact that I'm carrying a tiny human and if I get hurt, we both get hurt, so that thought scared me, too. I was much happier on the other side of the bridge admiring the bridge and gorge from afar :)
**ashleynicole
Oh, I miss spontaneous road trips! I've always wondered what New Mexico is like, so I'm glad you went and reviewed it for me ;)
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