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Published: November 5th 2012
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Now it turned out to be quite a long drive from Tempe into New Mexico, so we stopped right on the AZ/NM border town of Gallup. We were later informed that it would have behooved us to continue on through, as Gallup is pretty much sketchy. Ain’t that the truf. We checked into our Value Inn or something else scary, hiding Abigail in the backseat under a blanket so we could get the 2 person rate. The woman behind the counter was incredibly confused as to why Mr. Rob and I wanted a two person room with two beds. She must have offered us a king room about 100 times, to no avail. After we snuck B’Gail into the room and settled, I ran to the store to grab some soups. Good news bears: we had a microwave so we didn’t have to eat room temperature soup directly out of the can. Bad news bears: a scary giant attempted to ask me for money too close to my car. We had some words. Actually, I had some words as he moved creepily close to me as I was getting into the Silver Bullet. Don’t worry, folks, he wasn’t too close. But I yelled loud enough to scare him off.
OK so we had some chili in the room whilst watching the debate, and in the morning, we headed further into New Mexico. Mostly the reason we wanted to stop in NM is because I have family in Albuquerque, but Cat again hooked us up with an incredible suite in Santa Fe. So our first day there, we drove into Albuquerque so I could see the fam, and the rest of the gang (all 2 of them) found a restaurant called El Patio (I believe it has outdoor seating. No one knows for sure though.). We were pumped about finding some good authentic Mexican food, but mostly Abigail was just excited about the white wine margaritas that El Patio had to offer.
Whilst they drank and ate, I just caught up with my cousins (who used to be tiny, and are mostly now adult-sized). It was just lovely catching each other up on our lives over the past few years since I’ve missed several family events due to my time at Camp Micah. After a couple hours, the gang picked me up and we drove a smidge north to Santa Fe. On the way there, we saw about 6 cop cars/state troopers with lights a’blazing blocking most of the highway, and as we got closer, we saw a woman on the ground in handcuffs. ‘Twas quite a sight. We later found out that she was toting about 150 pounds of weed in her car. Dummy.
The suite we got in Santa Fe was just baller. It had a fireplace and a kitchen, and was just the coziest place possible. It was all southwesterny decorated in shades of tan, but with really cool, kind of bright furniture and tons and tons of pillows. We immediately hit up Red Box so we could eat popcorn and watch one million movies in the king-sized bed.
The next day, we pretty much just chilled and did laundry, because it was cold and really I just wanted to be cozy by the fire. Sadly, the fireplace was electric, so we couldn’t make s’mores, but it was still so nice. That night, after much more movie-watching, Rob and I went back to my cousins’ for dinner. I created a makeshift, almost homemade pumpkin cheesecake, and we had to drive over with the pie atop a glass dish of ice so it wouldn’t un-congeal.
Rob and I watched the lovely sunset on our drive, and upon arrival, we enjoyed good company and good chicken. Additionally, we were allowed both cookies and pie for dessert (win!) AND we received a signed copy of my cousin’s book that he just published. It was really just a night of winning. At one point during the meal when Rob required seconds, I noted, “He is a growing boy,” to which my 9-year-old cousin replied, “Actually, he’s a man.” I felt so dumb. But he redeemed himself by showing up in Mario pajamas as we were leaving.
After lots and lots of talking and giggling, Rob and I began our drive back to Santa Fe for another night of movies before heading into Texas the following day. We made sure to eat a good, New Mexican lunch and saw some of Santa Fe before we drove out. Rob ordered an enormous open-faced burger, but in case it wasn’t filling enough, he ordered biscuits and gravy as a warm-up. They were pretty good. But more importantly, I learned that Mr. Rob eats a biscuit in 2 bites. Crazy.
We saw on the map that the drive into Texas was supposed to be about 12 hours, so naturally, we stopped in Roswell, New Mexico for the evening. “What’s in Roswell?” You may be asking yourself. The answer is simple: fast food and a UFO museum. We got the oil changed upon arrival, and the next morning we headed out way too late for a nine hour drive + a visit to the museum. The UFO museum was more like a middle school science fair exhibit than anything official. It was only $4 to get in, but it legit looked like each class had been assigned a different portion of the Roswell sighting/UFO timeline and the presentation of newspaper cutouts and basic Microsoft Word signage was cheaply framed and taped upon the wall. However, we learned a ton and we got to see some of a really lame alien movie from the seventies.
We left the museum, headed to Sonic for tots, and then hit the road. P.S. West Texas is boring as hell. We drove for nine hours in what we later named “Quiet Time.” We had no radio signal, so we legit drove in silence for about 8 hours. It was quite peaceful. And for a bit, the speed limit was 85. Let’s try that in Atlanta. Not.
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