Rio Grande Gorge

One of our touristy stops in New Mexico was the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  It was pretty amazing.  There isn't really anything around it, so we just parked on one side and walked across.  It is one of those places that is so magnificent to look at that you can just stand there staring for quite awhile.  You can also get pretty dizzy if you look down and realize how far away the ground is!

As we were leaving, I saw this Ice Cream Bus and got all excited, but then I realized it was totally abandoned and there was no ice cream at all.  So disappointing!

Santa Fe, Are you there?

Every time we go to Santa Fe, I get this song stuck in my head for the whole day.  Any other Newsies fans out there?   It was pretty much my favorite movie when I was a kid.  I am really hoping the Broadway version comes to Omaha soon, so I can see it live.  I think I heard once that Christian Bale is embarrassed about starring in this movie, but I mean, look at those awesome dance moves.  Who would believe he'd be Batman someday? 

Anyway, we went into Santa Fe for two very specific purposes:

1. Eat lunch at Tomasita's.  It's another favorite restaurant in the area.
2. Find a store for me to buy Insurgent.  I finally got Divergent from the library before we left and thought it would last me the whole week we were gone.  I was very wrong, mostly because I stayed up super late every night reading. 

We ended up at Target, where I found the book AND some cobalt sandals for $4 - BONUS!  (Dreams really do come true in Santa Fe!)

Then we got lunch at Tomasita's.  It is right by the train depot, so we even saw the trains that Jack Kelly dreamed of taking to Santa Fe.  So exciting.

Unfortunately, neither John nor his grandparents had any idea what I was talking about with the Santa Fe song.  I'm not sure what movies they were watching in the early 90s, but apparently they missed the live action Disney musical.

El Chapulín

One of the top priorities whenever we are in New Mexico is to eat at John's favorite restaurants.  He loves the spicy chile, and I pretty much order a cheese quesadilla at every restaurant!  One of the most important places is Rancho de Chimayo.

My favorite thing is the sopaipillas!  In the midwest, sopaipillas are a dessert - basically flour tortilla chips covered in cinnamon sugar (which are also delicious).  In New Mexico, it's a fried pastry served with honey - SO YUMMY!

Another important thing to do at Rancho de Chimayo is to take pictures by the grasshopper statue. 

Gap Cardigan, Old Navy tank and shorts, Carlos Santana sandals

Waaaaay back in October of 2006, when John and I were just dating, we took a trip out to New Mexico.  Here's our grasshopper picture from that trip:  

I suspect we will take many more pictures by the grasshopper as the years go on.   

New Mexico Adventures

Well, I took off again without telling you all I was leaving. John and I were gone to New Mexico for about 10 days visiting family.  On Friday the 24th, we flew into Albuquerque and took the tramway up to Sandia Peak.  

We look pretty good considering we woke up around 4am

When we got near the top, we were in the middle of the clouds and couldn't see anything at all.  It was kind of freaky!

There's a restaurant at the top, so we ate lunch and hoped the clouds would clear some.  It was also pretty cold up there - like 42 degrees!  Compared to the 85 degrees at the bottom, it was a big change!  And it was a tad windy, as you can tell from these pictures. 

The tramway was really cool, as long as I didn't think too much about the possibility of falling to my death.  I definitely don't recommend it if you are afraid of heights!

Well, that was day 1 of our adventure.  More New Mexico tomorrow!