Albuquerque, New Mexico

10 Aug 2013                         Albuquerque, New Mexico

            The drive from Colorado was one of our longer legs of the trip.  That didn’t matter since the scenery was just so beautiful!  Going from Colorado into New Mexico, you really see the terrain change right before your eyes.  It is like traveling to some distant land.  Nothing is like New Mexico.

            We arrived at the Gershin house in the afternoon, with Laura and Joe waiting to greet us.  They have a beautiful house that has been spiffed up nicely.  Joe used to work at Lowes in Albuquerque, so he has the know-how to do things right.  Anything that he has remodeled looks amazing!  After a tour of the house, we headed to Nexus, a brewery in ABQ that serves “New Mexican soul food.”  Yes.  You heard that correctly.  As strange as that concept sounds, it was excellent.

            The next morning we got out the trombones and played a little bit.  Joe had his friend John come over to join in the madness.  John recently retired from the ABQ school district and was a great third member in the trombone trio reading session.  Music teacher talk is something quite interesting and Katherine was thoroughly entertained! 

            Joe and Laura have some very energetic dogs as well.  We took them to the park to run and I could not believe the training they have put them through.  I threw the ball as far as I could, and Ella, the black dog, brought it back super fast.  Then, she did it over and over again.  She is unstoppable.

            You can’t make it to Albuquerque without hitting up Sadie’s for a real New Mexican meal.  Geeze! I miss this stuff.

            We went on a little run with Joe and Laura too.   They took us on a route through the East mountain streets.  It was right in our old neighborhood, where we lived in graduate school.  We even went by our old apartment on Montgomery Blvd.  Good memories.

            For our last dinner in ABQ, our wonderful hosts concocted delightful pizza creations.   If you could only smell this through the blog.

            My mom and dad arrived in ABQ that evening.  This gave us just enough time to hit some balls at the driving range and try out some of Joe’s sweet clubs.  This assortment came from a second hand sports store and probably totaled $50.  I was impressed that he got a Calloway Big Bertha from 1995 for $10.  We let it rip that night at the range, especially Laura. 

            Joe said, “If you want a real New Mexican breakfast, you gotta go to Wecks!”  So, we met up with my parents and split some huge breakfast platters.  This food will not make you skinny, but it sure is good. 

            ABQ was awesome to visit again, but now it’s time to head back north to Santa Fe.  The opera will be starting soon.