j & m's southwest adventure, part 2

and because i don't feel like boring you to death by listing every inane detail of our trip, i'll be nice and give you more handy bullets:

abq:

• the horlbecks and our day at the zoo. wreaking havoc on the kiddie train making faces and scaring children
  
• frontier restaurant. yum, fresh tortillas and raspberry rush
  
• wex's. i've gained 10 pounds just thinking about their burritos
• balloon fiesta. apparently people died the day before in a balloon fire so we didn't get to see anything - and missed SPECIAL SHAPES DAY!
  
• city on a hill church and post-service beer-drinking. met some fine folk and joash's old friend, amber
• nob hill. i really like this place. it reminds me of a busier, hipper 4th avenue vancouver. lotsa cool shops. if we ever move to abq, i would want to live around here!
• joash got to vote. so he really is american after all!
  

taos:

• our neice, abi luz. so cute, and such a flirt!
  
• family. lots of family. and lots of food.
• shooting a .22. i shot some garbage and was pretty durn good.
  
• hike along the rio grande gorge. made friends with a tarantula and some prickly pear
• guadalajara grill. oh, horchata and burritos
• elk. lots of them on the side of the road on the way back from Dulce

To cortez, co and back:

• durango, co. historic downtown is so quaint. i kinda want to live there but joash says its expensive and landlocked. oh well.
• mesa verde national park. joash used to work here as a ranger. well, more like a summer intern who pulled weeds and chased bears out of canyons banging garbage-can lids with a stick. this was probably my favourite part of the trip. We took a tour of a cave dwelling ruin (balcony house), climbing up ladders on the side of a canyon where ancient pueblo peoples built their homes in caves
  
• cortez, co. joash's hometown. he showed me where he grew up and where they had the llama. we also met up with his highschool buddy, corey, and had too much to drink at the local brewery. another fun tidbit: the tomohawk motel in cortez used to say "we won't scalp you here" under its sign. i wonder why they took it off.
  
• four corners monument. yes, i took the standard photo of self lying down in all 4 states, NM, CO, UT and AZ. yes, this place is lame and there's nothing there but lots of desert.
  

it was such a fun trip, i only wish i had brought some ex-lax. (the southwest cooks with way too much cheese!). i also really liked city on a hill church and think it makes sense joash ended up coming to grace van, they're so similar. but i'm glad to be home. sleeping in hotels and inflatable mattresses can't compare to my comfy queen at home.