New Mexico: Day #4

Monday was our day to tour Santa Fe. Art and I have been there several times but Tif wanted to go there to soak up the Santa Fe ambiance.

We were noticing a lot of police presence at the Plaza on bicycles and police cruisers.

The St. Francis Cathedral at the center of town is a beautiful sight.

We visited a bunch of tourist type stores filled with hanging dried chilis, western hats, boots, skulls and art. And yes, Tif did help the Santa Fe economy.

KC decided she'd had enough and pulled down the shade herself to give herself some privacy while she took a two hour nap.

The Governors Palace had Native American vendors in front selling their beautiful jewelry and other native crafts.

We loved seeing the different flowers everywhere.

Lunch was at the Atomic Grill. I had a catfish sandwich, Jon an Atomic gyros which he inhaled and Art and Tif had an Atomic frito pie which was quite spicy. We suddenly realized that this was reminiscent of the trips we took as a family. It was just the four of us again since KC was sleeping through the entire lunch.

Gorgeous flowers everywhere!

The skies were absolutely incredible. The clouds seemed to be sparkling.

Tif treated us to a frozen yogurt at Yoberri.

Our last stop was at Santuario de Guadalupe, the oldest shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the U.S.


Back at home, Jon made fish tacos for our dinner while Tiffany watched her brother.


After working for almost three years as a firefighter at Los Alamos, Jon became a wonderful cook.


It was a fabulous dinner!


We have only one more day with our son and his Sarah. We'll be at the Albuquerque Botanic Garden, Zoo and Aquarium on Tuesday. We may be able to also see the University of New Mexico where Jon has gone back to school.

New Mexico: Day #3

Sunday started with a breakfast at the Marriott Hotel. It's so nice that it's all free because we're using my son-in-law's free points or whatever they're called.

We were surprised to hear that Sarah Palin was supposed to be coming to the hotel at 9:00 for some political rally for a gubernatorial candidate. We left well before that for Jon and Sarah's home.

We went to the Petroglyph National Monument.

The petroglyphs were carved into the vesicular basalt by ancestors of the Pueblo People.

Jon took a lot of photos of his favorite niece and KC loved seeing them.

Father and son enjoyed comparing photos.

KC used the parking space stop as a gymnastics balance beam.

KC said, "I'm the line leader today," as she tramped up the mountain.

We were amazed to see her climb all the way to the top without being carried.

KC kept shouting down at Art, "Be careful, Grandpa. There's a lot of rocks around here."

It was a pretty high climb, but it was a lot of fun to see the different petroglyphs along the way.

When we got to the top, Jon said, "KC, you have to do the summit pose!" He and Art have climbed Mt. Fuji and Mt. Kilimanjaro together. KC didn't quite understand what was required so we were all jumping up to show her. I imagine people thought we were a little demented.

Father and son!
There were lots more petroglyphs to enjoy on the trek down.

This chipmunk was scampering about. We THINK it was a chipmunk.

The sun was climbing up in the sky when we headed to Albuquerque for the Festival of Asian Cultures at the Civic Plaza.

We could hear Hawaiian music as we approached the plaza. What fun to see the hula dancers on stage!

We ate lunch there at the many booths and then was about to return to Jon and Sarah's place when Tif saw some Korean dancers ready to go on stage. We all felt KC needed to see some of her heritage so we stayed to watch.

We got to the car and it was barely 2 minutes before we looked at KC and saw her sound asleep with her thumb in her mouth.

New Mexico: Day #2

On the way to Jon and Sarah’s place this morning, KC said, “Those are big mountains.”
“Uncle Jonny and Auntie Sarah will be taking you up there for a hike, KC,” said Tiffany.
KC thought about that. “Maybe we’ll fall off because it’s so tall,” KC said worriedly.
“You won’t fall, we’ll just walk,” reassured Tif.
“Maybe we need a ladder,” suggested KC.



The Sandia Foothills has a wonderful hiking trail that was easy and provided wonderful views of Albuquerque. Mungo had as much fun as KC investigating each plant along the way. I think Mungo has accepted that Art is as nice a human as his master even though he’s a man.



It was so much fun to see the desert flowers in bloom. Sarah said we really came at a great time because there were some good rains that really promoted lots of greening and flowering in the area.







KC has taken a real shine to Uncle Jonny and is constantly wanting to show him things. We’ve never seen her wanting to run so much as she has with Uncle Jonny.




After our walk and lunch at Jon and Sarah’s, we drove to Old Town Albuquerque. It reminded us of Santa Fe.

One of the highlights was our soft serve break.


Tiffany could not resist trying on a big New Mexican hat.


KC had fallen in love with smooth river rocks in Jon and Sarah’s backyard. At one of the shops, they were selling different kinds of colored stones.


KC was in heaven! She spent a LONG time selecting the pretty stones that she wanted to buy in her tiny bag. Tif bought a string of butterflies made of feathers for KC’s bedroom and I picked up a giant New Mexico mug.


Once we were done with Old Town, we went to a children’s park close by. Jon had a great time showing his dad how to use the outdoor exercise equipment around the park. I do believe father and son are still children at heart. Jon dared Art to try his strength at the monkey bars.


Yes, KC also had fun at the children’s park and ran about everywhere trying all the different playground equipment. Tiffany said she was impressed with the children of New Mexico. She said they were very, very polite and kind to KC.


After a delicious barbecue at Jon and Sarah’s place, we took another walk and saw this glorious sunset. We could not believe how much running KC did along the trail. Poor Uncle Jonny was worried she’d fall as she pushed, pulled and challenged him to race with her.

It’s been another glorious day!

New Mexico: Day #1

We left early Friday for Chicago’s O’Hare airport. Our taxi driver was from Eritrea and we had a lively conversation the entire way. He was surprised to hear that Art had been to Ethiopia on his way to Kilimanjaro. (Without me, mind you… I don’t even like to climb stairs.)

We haven’t walked through the United concourse in a long time and it was fun to see the neon lights.


Tif had prepared extremely well for the three hour flight. KC had a little i-pod of her favorite shows, a stack of paperback books and a container of cereal snacks.

As we neared Albuquerque there was a great deal of turbulence. I actually saw the steward get thrown into the air a few inches. Everybody started to murmur somewhat nervously. Suddenly KC squealed, “Weeeeee!” and laughed gleefully. Everyone chuckled and laughed along with her commenting at what a good flyer she was.


Our son, Jon met us at the airport. What a welcome sight he was!


Back at Jon’s place, our grand-dog, Mungo warmed to me right away, even putting his head on my leg which surprised me since I am not used to animals much. I love to watch them but I haven’t had a pet (aside from fish and hamsters) since I was 5 years old.

Art loves dogs but Mungo started growling and barking at him when he appeared. Jon thinks Mungo was probably harmed by a man wearing a hat and dark glasses. Art wasn’t wearing a hat (and now he won’t) but he does have glasses.

After giving Mungo a treat, he seemed to realize that this human male might be OK and allowed Art to come closer. I sat close to Art and eventually, Mungo became used to having a human grandpa also.


Unlike last year, KC was ready to play with Uncle Jonny right away. Auntie Sarah returned a bit later and KC was already willing to share her snacks with them.


We’re staying at the Marriott tonight which is close to Jon and Sarah’s home. Unfortunately, the hotel does NOT have their act together. Tif ordered a port-a-crib for KC to sleep in and they did not have it ready at bedtime. Pillows had to be propped along the bed so she wouldn’t drop off. Still the room was a whole lot nicer than the Motel 6’s we usually stay at.


Tif’s husband does a LOT of traveling on business and was able to get us a great deal on the hotel. Free... love it!



We had dinner at Garduno’s.



The ambiance was very New Mexican and the food was wonderful!

I’m having to post my blog at my son’s place because frankly, the Marriott charges $9.00 a day for Internet.
Tsk!

I do believe Motel 6 has free Internet connection… not that I’m complaining, mind you.