2009 summer vacation: on our way to Santa Fe, and a left turn at Albuquerque
by HML
Thing One’s bus arrived just as we were finishing our breakfast Saturday morning. After a photo to commemorate his dirt, we isolated Thing One’s laundry in a sturdy plastic bag, and sent him to the showers with a bottle of soap and instructions to return the bottle empty. Now he was ready to rejoin Team Gimlet. A final trip to the Trading Post was in order to collect patches from the various camps he’d visited, buy some souvenirs (he was a bit overwhelmed by all the Trading Post had to offer; the rest of Team Gimlet has had all week to get used to it) and stock up on some much-missed snacks and soda. By 10:00 we were on our way to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The drive was easy and once we were in Santa Fe we found a Marriott and a nearby Olive Garden to celebrate our return to civilization. Poor Thing One, having been awake since 3:30 that morning and used to a week of trail food, overindulged, so our sightseeing plans had to be cut short. We spent most of the afternoon at the hotel where both Things napped. Early in the evening we ventured out to wander through the streets around the Plaza. By this time the vendors were closing up but Your Humble Narrator found a lovely little souvenir at the Palace of the Governors. The Loretto chapel was closed for a wedding so we only had a peek at the famous staircase. However, we settled in at a nearby ice cream/espresso café, and watched the bride and groom posing for photos while we enjoyed our ice cream (and the barista gave Thing Two a tall glass of milk, much to his delight). After a little more people-watching, it was time to run some errands and do Thing One’s laundry.
Sunday we had planned just a short drive to Albuquerque to attend church and visit with old friends, so there was a little time in the morning to catch up on photo sorting and blogging before we had to pack up. The Gimlet had hoped to eat lunch at his old favorite, Garduños, but hadn’t been able to find an address for it. As we drove towards his old neighborhood, we found it, and it was as tasty as he promised! Now we’re spoiled and wish our local Mexican restaurant served complimentary sopapillas, too.
Our friends welcomed us into their home for dinner, despite having probably the worst return from vacation on record: upon coming home from their own vacation the previous day, they discovered that a bird had gotten trapped in their home and had done what birds do all over their house. But it gets worse: their refrigerator door had somehow been opened, shutting off both the refrigerator and freezer, so a kitchen full of rotting food greeted them. But in our friends’ true resourceful and cheerful fashion, they got to work, divided the kids into teams, cleaned their home up, and had homemade bread ready for Sunday dinner. Maybe we can be like them when we grow up. Later in the evening we visited with other old friends of the Gimlet (and the grandGimlets) who also returned from their own vacation that afternoon, but under much less exciting circumstances.
Traveling as a family, we have had to cut back on a lot of our plans: not as much hiking in Arches as we would have liked, no museums and very little sightseeing or shopping in Taos and Santa Fe. But by pacing our days the Things have been (mostly) cheerful and willing to go along with what we’ve done and we’ve had overall good experiences at each stop. As we learned from many of the older couples at Philmont (and experiencing a lot of time this summer without Thing One around), there will be plenty of time for grown-up trips in the future, so we are trying to make this long drive as enjoyable as possible for the Things.
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Tags: new mexico, philmont
July 25th, 2009 16:27
I just read everything so far, and looked at the pictures in the gallery. Looks like lots of fun. I think you saw everything from here to Philmont (and back).