Where to begin. Well, Abby and I flew in to Albuquerque on a Thursday. The trip went very smoothly thanks to my iPod touch and an iTunes rental of Winnie The Pooh. Abby had her own seat for the first time, which although I complained about the extra cost, was so worth it. The saved elbows in the boob and pulled hair were worth about $400. When we landed, I told Abby "We're in Albuquerque!" Her response? "Where is it? Want to eat it!" It took me a moment to figure out that she thought I had been saying "Albu-COOKIE." Poor girl, she was very disappointed.
Olivia and Dennis' house is about 2 hours north of Albuquerque and is located in an amazingly beautiful part of NM. Bald peaks just out the back door, hidden mountain lakes a mere three mile hike away (straight up hill), and cool evenings with stars galore. This is a sunset from town. The bald peaks are behind me. It doesn't do it justice. At all. But I was too busy soaking it all in to take lots of pictures.
Abby quickly discovered that Aunt Olivia is highly entertaining. She had bought Abby some new books, some blocks, some stuffed animals, and two toy cars! And on our second day there she brought out the Bubbles. Man. Those are fun (see also)
Look at Jack in this one!
As an additional surprise, Olivia's had arranged for her cat to have kittens the night we arrived! Incredible!
Olivia's other animals were cute too. What a good dog. (If you don't believe me, look here.)
On our last evening before departing for Texas, the three of us and Dennis went to the Penasco Fiestas. That's right, it's plural because it's so much fun! You're going to have to use your imagination for this one, since I didn't take any pictures. The festivities were centered around, um, the only paved street I am aware of in Penasco. There was about a quarter mile of road lined with tents selling knick-knacks, shoes, cowboy hats, strange lawn pottery, and wonderful, greasy food. While we stuffed our faces with said greasy food we watched as the local men drove up and down the main drag in their low-rider or extremely-lifted vehicles, dangling tattooed arms out the window and blaring "cool" tunes from the radio. Near one end of the main drag was a small vacant lot, about 200 yards square, filled with carnival games and various carnival rides, including....A FERRIS WHEEL! Dennis bought us all tickets for a ride. Abby and I got on the otherwise empty wheel first. We rotated up to the top of the ride where it stopped while Dennis and Olivia boarded below. Abby was grinning while at the same time death gripping my arm. She gave a nervous laugh and then said "All done!" Hmmmmm.... Knowing there were at least 20 more rotations to go, I turned on my inner enthusiasm. Let me tell you, I can force enthusiasm like no other when necessary. "LOOK! LOOK AT THAT TREE! WOW!" "ABBY! CHECK OUT THAT LIGHT! ISN'T IT AMAZING!" You get the idea. Much to my delight, Abby stuck out the whole ride, smiling the entire time. I love that girl. We next tried out a twirly-ride that made all of us except Abby sick to our stomachs. We rounded out our Fiestas experience with Dennis blowing a huge wad of money to impress a girl at the carnival games. No, not Olivia, Abby. Together, he and Olivia won Abby a giant stuffed dog. The good news is that Abby LOVES that thing. She slept with it the entire trip and is still sleeping with it now. She named it Allie.
Thus rounds out the first bookend of my conference travels. Stay tuned for more!
1 comment:
I love the way you write. I've read this twice now because it makes me feel like you guys are still here, just in the other room. Sigh.
So glad you came, and can't wait for you to come back!
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