Las Cruces, Day Three

Um, ooops, I kind of forgot about Day Three! I guess I better just go ahead and wrap it up.

That morning we actually slept in! Until 8:30! It was awesome. We never sleep in. At home, the cats make it near impossible to sleep past 6:00am and well, there's just always so much to do. So we get up early. So sleeping until 8:30 was a nice treat. And after we got up, we still had quite the leisurely morning. Ate a little food from the hotel breakfast bar and basically just sat around trying to decide what to do that day. Stay in Las Cruces another day? Go to Silver City? Stay the night in Truth or Consequences? Head back home? We just couldn't make a decision.

In the end, I nixed staying in Las Cruces for another day as I thought we would end up getting bored. There's not a whole lot to do there. I mean, we could have found something to do, but two days and nights seemed like enough. We decided to head back north, stop in T or C for lunch and maybe stay the night there if it felt like the thing to do. We loaded up the car, made a quick stop at the used bookstore so Will could look for something, another quick stop at the Goodwill and then we hit the road. Oh yeah, we made a quick stop at the Sands Motel as well so I could take some photos of the sign. I love old motel signs. (Doesn't everyone?)



We hit T or C around lunch time and drove through town, checking things out. We saw a couple of thrift stores that we wanted to check out and some other random shops that looked interesting. It seemed like we could probably entertain ourselves for awhile. And there were plenty of motels with vacancies, although none of the spa motels had openings. (People go to T or C for the hot springs.) We circled back around the main part of town, found a place to park and walked over to the Happy Belly Deli for lunch. I had the best chicken salad sandwich that I have ever had in my life. Seriously. It was that good. I don't know what was different about it, but it was amazing. It made for very happy lunching.

After lunch, we hit the first thrift store. It had a lot of potential, but in the end, we didn't buy anything. They had a file cabinet drawer full of old cameras, some Polaroid, but they were all of the plastic variety that I either already have or don't need. I also spotted an old Canon AE-1 which I would love to have, but it was 50 bucks and not in the best shape. I probably would have taken it for 20 bucks. Besides, I really don't need another old SLR camera. I love my Pentax K1000 so much. We hit a few antique shops, full of pretty awesome stuff, but oh my god, so expensive! I don't know how they sell anything to anyone. Anyway, it was fun walking around. We were still on the fence about what we should do. Another night away from home would have been nice, but we decided we'd had our fill of T or C. So we headed back to the highway, making a stop at one more thrift store. You could barely walk around the place and the woman in charge were not very nice so we didn't stay long.

Back on the road, we started heading into stormy weather. The wind was insane. INSANE. I don't know if I've ever been through such wind before. I was actually kind of afraid. But nothing bad happened, of course. We hit some rain, but nothing too crazy. As we approached Albuquerque, we kept hearing about all this crazy snow in Santa Fe and the roads being a mess. That made me nervous as well, but when we hit the Santa Fe area, it is totally dry. No snow. No icy roads. It was kind of bizarre that they talked it up so much on the radio when nothing was really happening. I guess maybe it had snowed earlier in the day.

So we made it home, safe and sound and happy to see the kitties. They were quite happy to see us. They don't like being on their own so much. No one here to open the door for them every ten minutes or tell them how handsome they are.

Anyway, it was a fun trip. I'm glad we got to do it as now I have no idea when we'll get away again! Might not be until the fall.

Las Cruces, Day Two (Part Two)

I can't believe I am still writing about Las Cruces!

After lunch, we headed over to NMSU campus to visit Caroline. She gave us directions to her sorority house without any street names so we ended up driving around campus for awhile. Finally she came and met us so we could follow her back to the place.

I was picturing an actual house, a la Animal House or something, but no, her sorority house is actually a cinder block dormitory.



My sister said the place was old when she went to school there in the 1980's so it's really old now. And looking at the bottom of Caroline's shower, I would say that they have never changed anything in it. Anyway, Caroline showed us her room and the common areas of the house. Then she walked us around campus. It's a nice campus. You can see the Organ Mountains and "A" mountain from just about anywhere.



We hung out for a bit and then took some photos outside. I wanted a shot of Caroline standing in front of the pink trees and pink trimmed building.



She was embarrassed about it and so we had to wait until no one else was out there. It was funny. She's such a good sport.

Will and I took off to find some thrift stores. It was a fairly successful adventure although we didn't find a whole lot to buy. The first place we went to was great. Such a treat to be in an actual thrift store. All the places in Santa Fe pretty much suck. I found a few Polaroid cameras there, but none that I needed to buy. Will bought an old reel to reel tape machine. I bought a little cup with an owl on it. We found the next couple of places without any trouble, but we didn't find anything to buy. I was hoping to find buttons, but alas, I can never find buttons. Our last stop was Savers, a newer sort of thrift store, not one with ramble shack piles of stuff. Nothing too exciting there, although I did end up buying a pair of jeans for ten bucks.

It was beer thirty at that point so we bought a six pack and headed back to the hotel. I took more photos to entertain myself.



When Caroline came over to meet us for dinner, I still had the tripod set up at the end of the bed. She walked in and said, "you know, that really doesn't look good." Haha. We headed out to have Mexican food again. This time at Si Senor. They had a big list of margaritas so Will and I both ordered one with high hopes. But no, still not good. Huge. But not good. All sweet and no tequila. The food wasn't all that great either. My chile rellenos were thick with batter, not light and crispy like I like them. Our waiter ignored us most of the time as well. Not going to bother trying that place again if we go back to Las Cruces.

After dinner, Caroline drove us back to the hotel and we hung out in the room for awhile. It was really great to see Caroline. I wish I got to see all of the nieces more often.

I'll wrap this up later with Day Three.

Las Cruces, Day Two (Part One)

The next morning we had breakfast with Jami at the hotel. Free continental breakfast. Thank god for English muffins. After breakfast, we had a little photo shoot in the parking lot and then wished Jami happy travels as she headed to Austin.



Will needed real coffee so we decided to walk to the Starbucks that we had seen on our way in. (I know, I know, we don't like giving Starbucks the business but when on the road, sometimes it's the only choice.) University Avenue is a super busy street so it wasn't the most scenic walk, but I had fun taking pictures of trees and other random sightings.



The flowering trees made me really happy. Some day that will start happening around here too.



I quite liked the prickly pear cactus patch as well. There were a lot of apartment complexes along the way, the kind that university students live in. And a lot of abandoned places too. At least they looked abandoned. Or at least run down and vacant.





And one kitty sighting. Kitty sightings are always good.

So Will got his coffee and we had a pleasant morning walk in the super bright sunshine. I was so delighted not to be wearing a coat, just my hoodie. Ah, warm weather!

We didn't really have a plan for the day. Caroline was supposed to call us when she got up which we didn't expect to be until later in the day. The main thing I wanted to do was find a yarn store. I had looked "yarn shops in Las Cruces" up before our trip and there was one that came up and had very positive reviews. I was excited about it. And so we headed out. The Tom Tom actually led us to the right place that time. Downtown Las Cruces. Let me tell you, downtown Las Cruces is not really happening. But that's okay, it was a gorgeous day and just walking around was so nice.

We parked and walked along this pedestrian mall type area. There wasn't much there, a theater, a handful of shops, the Museum of Art and a bookstore (which I'll get to in a minute). Lots of closed up storefronts. I think they are trying to build up the downtown area, but it's still in the beginning stages. So we walked along and no yarn shop. Tried calling and got a disconnected number. Rechecked the address and we were in the right place. We found a quilt shop instead and the ladies in there said the yarn shop had closed in January. Alas! They should have updated their website and Facebook with that info. Oh well.

We decided to check out the bookstore. It was a used bookstore, the largest used bookstore in the southwest, I think it said on the window. Largest or no, it was a HUGE place with room after room of books. Exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I immediately forgot the names of all the writers that I like and didn't even know where to begin. Will went off on his own exploration and after a bit of wandering around, I ended up in the fiction section. I browsed through the floor to ceiling shelves, racking my brain for books that I've been wanting to read. Nothing really grabbed me. Ended up in the mystery section and was thrilled to find a whole row of books by one of my faves, John D. MacDonald. I have reread his Travis McGee series countless times, but I don't own much of his other work. I picked a few things out and then continued to wander around.

And then I hit the jackpot. I hadn't really noticed that all the books I was browsing were hardbacks until I got to the mass market paperback section. Holy shit. I went directly to the mystery section and found myself in mystery book heaven. I quickly had a huge stack of books in my hands. A collection of short stories by Raymond Chandler. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (which I have read but didn't own). A few Ross MacDonald books and a ton of John D. MacDonald. They had just about everything he's ever written. I had a tough time picking things out, in part because I couldn't remember what I already have at home. Anyway, I realized I had no idea what the books were priced. I found an employee around in the next aisle and asked. Mass market paperbacks are half the cost of the original price. Score! Most of the books I had in my arms were originally priced from $.35 to about a $1.50. I was in fine shape.

It was hard to pull myself out of there, but Caroline had called that she was going to lunch and then would be ready to hang out with us a bit. And I was getting hungry. So I went on a search for Will. We paid up and headed back to the car. I randomly picked the name of a deli that I had seen in the hotel book so we punched it into the Tom Tom and set out to get some lunch. Half an hour later, we were still driving around, getting hungrier by the second. Tom Tom is not the best direction provider sometimes. We did eventually find the place, but guess what? It was closed! Forever! Thanks Ramada Inn.

So then I did what I should have done in the first place. I called Caroline and asked her where we could grab a sandwich. She directed us to a little deli, right up the road from our hotel. Duh. Should have done that from the start instead of driving across town and wasting time.

Okay, this is getting a bit out of hand so I am going to call it quits for now and finish up a little later. Apparently we had a pretty busy day!

Las Cruces, Day One

Hi! I've been so busy lately, I haven't had any time to pay proper attention to this website. Nor time to write about the little road trip we took a few weeks ago. And I still don't have much time, but I am going to try to get a bit down before it's all gone from my memory. And yes, it will probably be long-winded. Isn't that how all my travelogues are?

We left on a Wednesday morning. A beautiful day. Sunny and by the time we hit Albuquerque quite warm too. Another hour south and it was HOT. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to have such lovely weather after so many cold and gray days.



The drive to Las Cruces was quick. Super quick. For some reason, I thought it would take us a lot longer. Perhaps because I hadn't been to southern New Mexico since I was about 12 and back then the drive probably felt a lot longer. I pretty much stared out the window the whole way down. Such beautiful landscape and amazing colors. I kept seeing a lot of the colors that I used in my knitting, especially the striped bags that are browns mixed with sagey greens and yellows and blues. We stopped a few times to take photos, but that kind of beauty is not always easy to capture on film. I was armed with a good bit of my camera collection, most of which I did not use, but oh well, it's always good to be prepared. My favorite picture of the whole trip was taken at a rest area just north of Las Cruces.

We rolled into Las Cruces at about 2:30 or so. We checked into our hotel, the Ramada Inn, chosen for its proximity to the NMSU campus and the fact that I liked the pictures on their website. Looked like a nice place to stay. I mean, who can resist palm trees? Not me. Oh yeah, and they have a bar in the hotel. Never a bad thing.



It took us awhile to check in because we kept changing rooms. We walked into the first room and there was no window. Just the main door and a set of French doors overlooking the pool area. Which might have been okay if it was an outside pool area, but no, this was an inside area. So the room was rather dark and instantly made me feel totally claustrophobic. We went back and asked for a room with a window. And of course we had already gotten some of our stuff out of the car so we were dragging it around with us. The second room had French doors that led into the room from the hallway and then a regular door on the other side. No window. The door on the other side led out to a little balcony which was nice, but still, no light in the room. And French doors out to the hallway so not great privacy. Back to the check in desk we went. I felt like an asshole, but hey, we were going to be there for a few days, I wanted to be happy. Finally, the third room was fine. A regular door at the hallway and big, big windows on the other side of the room, letting in lots of sunshine. Perfect.

We got the rest of our stuff out of the car and settled in to relax a bit before we met up with Jami and my niece, Caroline.

(A slight tangent because I don't think I mentioned this before. Jami was in the middle of her book tour when we met up with her. We knew she couldn't make it up to Santa Fe and so we made plans to meet her down south since she would be driving from San Diego to Austin. It had been about 4 years since we'd seen her. So one night in Las Cruces with Jami was our plan. Plus we'd been wanting to go down and visit our niece too. It was all pretty great timing.)

I hadn't slept well the night before we left so I tried to take a nap, but it didn't really work. I was just too excited about seeing Jami and Caroline and I don't know, it was just exciting to be away from home too. So sleep never came.

And then this weird thing happened. I had just gotten up and put my jeans back on. I heard someone at the door. Not knocking but putting a key card in and opening the door. I said to Will, rather casually, "there's someone coming in the door." Sure enough, the door opened and, well, oddly enough it was Jami! So I said, "oh look, it's Jami." She was rather taken aback to be walking into an occupied room, but in the end, it was fine because we all knew each other. But how weird is that? After we changed rooms so many times, the hotel guy did not update the info in the computer. So when Jami checked in with a new hotel guy, he gave her our room thinking that it was vacant. It all could have been rather uncomfortable, but since we just happened to know each other, it was all good.

After agreeing to meet up at around 5:00 (I think), Jami went off to get her own room and take care of book tour business. Will was glued to the computer and I entertained myself by taking pictures of the gold chair in our room. I really liked the chair. And the light filtering through the gauzy curtains. I took a lot of pictures of that chair.

I was antsy to see my niece so I kept looking out the window. Right as I saw Caroline walking up to the hotel, Jami knocked on our door. Such perfect timing. It was cocktail hour. We decided to have a drink at the hotel bar first. Caroline went along with the plan, dear niece that she is. (She's not 21 so cocktail hour that isn't at somebody's house is not so fun for her.) The bartender came over to our table and Jami asked her what her specialty was, a question that really threw her for a loop. First warning sign. Second warn sign was when Jami asked for a margarita and the bartender stared blankly at her. I was rather surprised as margaritas are such a big thing up here in Santa Fe. I assumed that most New Mexico joints made a lot of margaritas. As we later figured out, the hotel bar had them on tap, so to speak. Ugh. In spite of these warnings, I went ahead and ordered a marg because I had been thinking about having one all day. Oh yeah, and it was St. Patrick's Day. So they were green. Not margarita green. Green green.



I was afraid. (Will smartly declined green dye in his beer. No idea why all the St. Patty's Day festivity in southern New Mexico. I mean, I don't think LC is known for its Irish population. Just its college student population.) And rightly so. It was perhaps the worst margarita I have ever had. It kind of tasted like Kool-Aid but I could probably actually drink Kook-Aid and be happier. It maybe had a drop of tequila in it. Mostly just sugar. And yuck. But no matter, the company was good.

We got through our drinks and moved on to dinner. My older niece, Alexandra, had recommended El Sombrero to us. Caroline vouched for it and off we went although the worthless Tom Tom misled us for awhile. (My niece doesn't know her way around her college town all that well. Go figure.) El Sombrero was AWESOME. Excellent Mexican food. And so cheap. I think we had dinner for four including three beers for about 50 bucks. When Will and I go out here, that's about what we pay for two. Next time we're down that way, we're definitely eating there again.

After dinner, Caroline dropped us off at the hotel and went on her way to party with her friends. Something about green jello shots. Jami, Will and I headed back to the hotel bar which was hopping with people drinking green drinks. Totally decent hotel, but man, that hotel bar. Not my favorite place. Anyway, skipped the green drinks and had very safe not green drinks while we caught up and shared stories and had an all around great time. Of course by ten o'clock we were all ready to call it a night. That's what happens when you get old.

It really was quite lovely to see Jami. She has so many stories to tell and so much to say about lots of different things. Always a joy to be around. Just wish there was a bit more time...maybe next time.


[Photo by Jami]

Chair.

Rest area.

Hi.

I will try to catch up on blogging soon. Happy Spring to you!