The moment you've been waiting for:

.....day 3 of our fabulous Mother's Day weekend!

This day was going to be spent sightseeing.  It was also giving Aaron a chance to visit some of the interesting sights of Albuquerque.

First stop was Old Town Albuquerque. 

I borrowed this picture from the internet, because after driving around for awhile looking at it.....we made the decision to skip it.  It was really quaint and filled with lots of adobe shops, but after spending the day before in Santa Fe......we really didn't need to buy any more souvenirs!

Down the road we went and we came upon the Albuquerque Museum of Natural History.  I have to honestly say that this was the BEST Museum of Natural History I have ever seen.  It kept us entertained for a couple of hours!

After the Museum, we needed a quick lunch before we took off for our next destination.  Aaron has found a great restaurant that he liked and recommended it to Paul......who was on board to check it out.

Not sure if they remember what they ordered.....but they did enjoy the view!

Next stop was the Tinkertown Museum.  This (by far) was the most unusual place we've ever visited.  Filled with wood carvings and mini dioramas tucked way back in the middle of the mountains.....it is definitely a "must see" when you visit Albuquerque.

 

(they always have to accomodate me and pose for pictures, so sometimes

 I just take them when they're not looking!)

But, they are always good to take a picture when I ask them!

We even found an old Sherwin Williams sign in the middle of this funky place!

Next stop on the Albuquerque Town Tour as the Nuclear Science Museum.  This place was something that Aaron had expressed an interest in seeing....and Paul and I weren't too sure that this was something we'd be interested in.  I have to say......it was very interesting and I really did enjoy it.

Aaron and I had the opportunity to see how fast you had to pedal to generate electricity.  (By the looks of my picture, I should have stayed on the bike and produced enough electricity for the city of Houston!)

 

We enjoyed the museum more than we had anticipated.  And of course, we took advantage of the photo opportunity outside where they had some airplanes on display.

Next stop was Sandia Peak, so back through the mountains to the other side.  We took the tram to the top of the mountain and what a beautiful place it was!  Our plan was to get there just before sunset so that we could see it in the daylight, the sunset, and the night time view.  I'm so glad that we did it that way......it was gorgeous!  WARNING:  There is going to be lots of pictures posted here.  It was just so beautiful......I couldn't help it.

 

 

The tram we took at the top of Sandia Peak

 

 

Love this scenery behind us!

 

 

After hanging out taking pictures from the fabulous view from the top, we ate dinner at the top of the mountain at the High Finance Restaurant.  They certainly named it right......but we did enjoy our feast, the beers, and the chance to just sit, talk and enjoy the view from our table!

 

 

The last item on our agenda for the night was to spend the rest of our evening at the Sandia Peak Casino.  How convenient.......right at the end of the road from the tram station!

The boys played poker and I played slots until the wee hours of the morning.  Finally, it was time to call it a day and head for Aaron's place and get a good nights sleep.  It was a fabulous last night in Albuquerque.

One small task finally accomplished

Paul and I found ourselves together this morning without any emergency things that just had to get done.

Since we had a rather late evening, we were moving kind of slowly this morning and just enjoying the quiet time at home.

We made the decision to run to Lowe's and get something for lunch.

We finally got the right nails so that we could hang this up.

 I think it looks pretty spectacular on the front of my house and every time I see it, it will remind me of our trip to Santa Fe.

In fact, I'm pretty proud of the way the front of our house has been looking lately.  The bushes are starting to fill in now.  I still need to get that darn porch swing hung up.  I really want to use it!

Now that I've seen this picture, though......it looks like the pine needles need to be cleaned up out of the flower bed and the grass might need a little mowing.  And I still have a couple of bare spots in the lawn that I've been working hard to get filled in.

But even though there is still a million things to do, it's still my "home sweet home"

Life is life

These days are filled with catching up.  Every day is an adventure and full of so many things to do. 

I still need to post Day 3 & 4 of the New Mexico trip (I have not forgotten).  Just can't seem to justyify taking the time to do it.

Busy weekend coming up.  My summer helper will be starting in a week and boy do I have LOTS of things for her to do.  Maybe I could get her to clean my house too (lol).

Of course, we are always having to deal with some drama of one form or another with employees.  Big decisions are needing to be made in regards to managers, moving one store, closing another store, and getting some new ovens.  Don't like the heaviness I feel on my shoulders when these types of things are looming over heads.  We both already have an enormous amount of things that just need to be done on a regular basis and these extra things just throw a little more fun in the mix!

Well, guess it's finally time to start my work day.  I've discovered that I love to lay in bed in the mornings and watch the Today show.  It's a fun and lighthearted way to start the day.  It also gives me the opportunity to see the sights of New York City and hope that we'll get to go back for a visit soon.

Mother's Day in the desert

Mother's Day last year was spent laying on the beach.

Remember the beach house?

This was after a long day at the beach


Mother's Day this year was spent on a train in the desert.

It begin with an early morning wake up so that we could catch the first train to Santa Fe.  Aaron lives 2 minutes away from the Los Lunas train station, so off we went and of course had to document the start of our day with some pictures!

 

Waiting at the Los Lunas station

 

 

The train ride to Santa Fe took about 1 1/2 hours, but we passed a lot of scenery on the way. 

 



This old trading post was at one of the train stations.  I wanted to take a picture of it, but didn't get time -- so I'm settling for one off the internet.  I just love photos of old buildings!

 

Enjoying the train ride with two of my favorite guys (wish the 3rd one had been here)!

 

The shopping plaza in Santa Fe was a short 10 minute walk from the train station and it was a gorgeous day.....so we walked it.  The main mission of this trip was to get some beautiful New Mexico pieces.  I just love the pottery.  The little plaza was absolutely beautiful and full of great shops to investigate.

 

 

 

Beautiful old churches also seemed to be popular.

 

We took a break for lunch and found a New Mexican food buffet in the lobby of one of the hotels.  We feasted on Green Chile stew, Red & Green Chile Enchiladas, Tostadas, Rice, Beans, homemade tortillas and fabulous salsas.  We stuffed ourselves.....and then we were off for more shopping!

 

Along our travels we discovered the famous church (Loretto Chapel) with the spiral staircase that was featured on Unsolved Mysteries.  The inside of the church was beautiful and the staircase was certainly amazing!  Paul opted out on this adventure and chose to shop at a open air market next door.

 

 

 

 

After filling up several bags with our the treasures we found, it was time to get a cool drink and head back to the train station.  We couldn't miss this train because there was not another one coming back to Los Lunas that day. 

 

It was nice after a long day of shopping to sit back and enjoy the train ride back to Los Lunas.  We could nap or just look out the window and not have to worry about traffic.

 

 

View from the train window.  Tomorrow we'll be on top of that mountain!

 

We headed back to Aaron's house to enjoy some beer and some green chile bratwurst!

 

 

It sure was nice having these two guys do the cooking for me!

 

We ended up kicking back after our feast this night and rented a movie on cable to watch.  It had been a long day and it was nice to just sit and spend some time together. 

 

It was a fantastic Mother's Day!

 

No time for day 2

I have so many pictures to edit and download that I am truly sorry that I haven't had time to spotlight day 2 of our journey to New Mexico.

Let me get the payroll finished and a couple of other things off my desk and I'll try and find the time.  Trust me, I want to get back to the story myself.

But for now......here's a little preview:

It truly was a fun day!

Mother's Day......New Mexico 2013

First of all......let me start off by saying that I never in a million years thought I would ever be celebrating a Mother's Day in New Mexico!

Second of all.....let me tell you that I really had a great time.

We left on a Saturday morning and luckily didn't have too early of a flight and a short layover in Dallas.  Ha Ha....once again American Airlines thwarted our travel plans and had a broken plane in Dallas, which delayed us by 1 hour.  No problem.....I'd rather find out the plane is broken BEFORE we take off in it.  So arrival into Albuquerque was 2:30pm.

Aaron met us at the airport and the adventure began.  His first task was to find a good pizza place that had green chiles so that we could sample what EVERYONE in New Mexico eats at every meal.

He found this pizza place right across the street from the University of New Mexico.

He did careful research and found the BEST tasting pizza and a great way to start off our visit to Albuquerque!

This was green chile's on the whole pizza and sausage on half and pepperoni on the other half.  Needless to say, there wasn't any leftovers.  It was nice to just sit, enjoy a cold beer, and catch up!

After our delicious lunch, we headed to Aaron's apartment.  But first we had to stop at the meat market and buy our green chile bratwurst.  Cooking those up was definitely something I was looking forward too!

After giving Paul the grand tour of Aaron's house, we just sat, talked, and chilled for awhile.  There really wasn't a plan for the first night.....but after a lot of arm twisting......we were headed to the casino!  The Hard Rock Casino on the Isleta reservation was only a short 10 minutes away.

We stayed and played for 3-4 hours and then headed to Walmart for our gourmet dinner of hot dogs and chips (it was only 11pm).  We had to get to bed because we had an early morning wake up for our Sunday adventure.

Aaron was gracious enough to let us have his bedroom......so off to bed we went!

Stay tuned for Day 2 in New Mexico!

Remembering your travels

My traveling partner and myself always like to bring something back from our adventures. 

There are some required items that are brought back from each new destination:  plate, shot glass, and a shot glass for my eldest child.  We also try and pick up something that reflects the area of where we visited as a reminder of our fun trip.  We also try and bring back a small token souvenir for our managers.

This last trip to New Mexico included buying so much stuff that we actually had to borrow a suitcase from Aaron to bring it all back!

Here's some of our recent items:

 

A new welcome sign to hang out in front of our house

 

My Indian bowl and little Kachina doll

 

 

And our souvenir plates from Albuquerque and Santa Fe

 

We love to stand in our kitchen and look at each plate and remember the trip that was associated with it.  We have been very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit so many places.  These items are a constant reminder to us about all the exciting journeys that we have taken and all the future destinations that are still left for us to explore.

 

 

 

Looks like I'm going to need a bigger kitchen!