David and Kris's Blog: 2016

Monday, November 28, 2016

ABQ and Sneaking Through

Saturday we loaded up the car and headed down I-25 a couple of thousand feet in elevation to Albuquerque for the day. I made contact with Susan Baker Kirkpatrick, a former design student and 1978 studyabroader. She and her husband Ron met us at their design warehouse where we caught up on a couple of decades-worth of history. They were kind enough to treat us to lunch at Sadie's, a local favorite Mexican restaurant. It was so nice to see them again.

We made a stop at Costco on our do-it-yourself Breaking-Bad tour. It turns out that Anna and I were the only ones who have seen the series and consequently, were the only ones interested. For me it was not only fun to see the filming locations, but in the process we also got to see some of Albuquerque, which turns out to be a pretty nice city. Anna and I decided we needed do the tour again sometime without the complainers. We finished the excursion with some hunting and gathering at ABQ Uptown, a nice upscale shopping center with all the chichi stores.

Sunday morning I woke up early to use the bathroom and looked at weather maps and forceasts. Powered with potent information, I made a game-day call. I told Kris to get ready. We had a window of open weather and clear roads and were headed home ASAP. We left in such a rush that we only got to say goodbye to Clara. The speedy departure was a good call because we didn't hit bad weather until Price and Spanish Fork Canyon, and we arrived home in nine and one half hours without incident. The caffeine pill was effective, the lunch was good, the scenery was beautiful, the podcasts were mostly great, the time flew, and we arrived home just in time for family dinner at Emily's. Tender Mercy.

Designer Warehouse, Albuquerque

Interior vignettes

A very impressive faciltity

Ron and Susan Kirkpatrick

A good lunch at Sadie's

We were not the only ones taking the Breaking-Bad Tour

Walter and Skyler White's house sans pizza on the roof

Octopus Car Wash where they laundered more than cars

Jesse and Jane's duplex

Jesse Pinkman's house

Old Town Plaza

Old Town

ABQ Uptown

Past the Apple Store...

To the GAP

Thinking about Madeline, recent of the GAP

The lads post-dinner at Em's

This was a very fun spur-of-the-moment trip to New Mexico. Thanks to Anna, Rob, and all the Hastings gang for a wonderful holiday. We loved it all!

Debra Sue Darling Gibbs is coming to town soon, so there will be more. This, however, is all for now.

OXO

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Thanksgiving 2016 in New Mexico

Thanksgiving was splendid! Hours and hours of work, consumed in a matter of minutes! That evening we went to the Railyard, a new modernish development near the old railway station that is currently the terminus of the heavy-rail line to Albuquerque. That is where the Violet Crown is located and where we saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Friday while Rob worked, Anna drove everyone else up to the Valles Caldera for a look-see and a short hike. Valles Caldera (or Jemez Caldera) is a 13.7-mile wide volcanic caldera in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. Coincidentally they were selling Christmas trees at the ranger station and Anna made a snap decision and bought two. In the afternoon we had a gallery stroll back at the Railyard and downtown near the Plaza. When it was dark we went back to town to enjoy the lighting of the Plaza, with lights (of course), music, and hot chocolate on a crisp winter evening.

Making apple crisp with Grammy

Everyone did her/his part

Clara did the centerpiece

Roberto carved the bird

Everyone took a turn expressing thanks before we ate

Now dig in

And everyone enjoyed

East end of the table

North side of the table

A very cool theater

A fun movie

The pine-covered bump in the center is the Cerro La Jara

Valles Caldera

Jemez Mountains in the distance

A jolly crew

A happy find at a fine price

Boy Scouts at work

Cerro La Jara (la jara means rockrose) is a mound-shaped

mountain in the middle of Valles Caldera

On the Cerro La Jara trail

It is fun to be with these folks

A beautiful spot even in early winter

The library in downtown Santa Fe

This building played the courthouse in Longmire

The Loretto Chapel at 5:30 P.M.

St. Francis Cathedral and the La Fonda Hotel shops

A New-Mexican controversy: luminaria is a Christmas-eve

bonfire; this paper-bag lantern is a farolito, even though everyone
outside of Northern New Mexico wrongly calls them luminarias

Javier Gonzalo, mayor of Santa Fe, threw the switch

Not Temple Square, but pretty darned good

The Santa-Fe Hastings on the Plaza

A really good little jazz band played Christmas music

Rob and Santa Clarita

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi on a
cold winter evening

These were a couple of fun days. There is still more to come even though this is all for now.

OXO

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Grandparents Day in Santa Fe

We drove from Provo to Santa Fe on Sunday, 20 November, arriving a couple of days before Grandparents Day at Santa Fe Prep where Lucy, Tucker, and Anders go to school. The school is beyond impressive with wonderful facilities, great faculty, and very fine students. November 22, the day of the school visist, also happened to be Lucy Jane's 17th birthday. So that evening we had dinner at Tomasitas, a Mexican restaurant next to the train station. Back at home, we finished the celebration with brownies and ice cream. Wednesday, Anna took me and Anders on a hike through the piñones above Santa Fe during a break between cooking sessions.