Well, y’all, I’m a certified dingbat and I deleted the few photos I’d taken in Santa Fe and Albuquerque (<<finally got the spelling down on this one, I swear I’ve looked it up about 14 times) when I accidentally restored settings on my new phone. Ugh, I’m the worst. They weren’t anything to write home about, although I guess that’s precisely what I’m doing, but it was really frustrating to lose the photos I’d taken of Ryan’s sweet Aunt Allison and lookalike cousin Eric, who Ryan hadn’t seen in 7ish years 😦 Eric, if you’re reading this, send that photo I took of the three of y’all!! So no photos this round, but here’re some thoughts outta my journal:

“Drove into Santa Fe – lots of Southwestern Artsy Fartsy adobe style galleries and crafts. Wonder who buys all this stuff, it’s expensive as shit. Lots of tourists. Pretty. Great flowers, old, narrow roads…at least where we pulled off. Hot and dry. Want to spend more time, but initially a little skeptical of the dryness and sprawl. Like the mountain accessibility of Taos but it’s so small.

Sat at Downtown Subscription, a cafe we found on the internet. Had iced coffees and sat on the patio under an umbrella in the dry heat. I updated the blog for a while, while Ryan tried to be patient (didn’t quite succeed).

Ate at a food truck recommended to us by the barista: Bang Bite. Really good burger with a maple-bacon jam and crispy fish sandwich with yummy pickles and slaw. Have to say, though, sitting in the heat, I think my fav part to the meal was the Fresca I ordered. Nothin’ like a cold drink on a damn hot day. Watched major thunderheads rolling over while we ate at the picnic tables. Drove out of town speculating about whether we could live here – inconclusive, need more time, but not sure it’s what we’re looking for.”

We received more generous hospitality when we headed in to Albuquerque. Ryan’s Aunt Allison welcomed us with iced tea – IN FROSTED GLASSES, BOOM! – and showed us around her unique little homestead, complete with horses, like a million varieties of chickens, baby chicks, and a sneaky cat too! Cousin Eric, with whom Ryan shares a strong resemblance, brought some big old Ribeye’s over to his mom’s and cooked ’em up reeeaal nice on the grill. We had a fun dinner, just the four of us, on the picnic table in the backyard. It was my first time meeting these two, so it was fun to get introduced after having heard many stories from Ryan.

Eric took us all on a sunset cruise, with the top down on his jeep, and showed us around town as things finally cooled off. We drove up to the base of the tram that overlooks the city, hoping to see a lovely Albuquerque sunset. Once we made our way out of the jeep and found a spot among some big boulders to observe the colorful event, however, were were surprise attacked by horrible swarms of gnats that would hover around your head and legs if you stood still even for an instant, buzzing in your ears and around your eyes, landing on your legs. Allison, in her wisdom, made an early escape to the jeep. Ryan, Eric, and I tried to stick it out for bit longer, but pretty soon realized we were no match for the tiny, insidious creatures. We all ended up in silent laughter as Ryan and I made silly attempts to outrun the vicious gnat hordes, running in small circles like circus clown maniacs, swinging our arms wildly. Instead, we took our sunset party to the pool at Eric’s apartment complex – much better.

The next morning we all had a lovely breakfast together, again on the picnic table, but this time without the oppressive late day sun beating down on us. Ryan cooked up fresh eggs over the grill from Allison’s chickens and we had watermelon slices and, duh, bacon. We packed up, made promises that another seven years wouldn’t pass between visits, and headed off to visit the G’parents in Phoenix. Thanks, Allison and Eric, for making the most of heat at gnat attacks with us, and making us feel right at home. Hope to see you both again very soon!