We thought we'd play "tourist" this weekend and visit Santa Fe. It's actually very close to Albuquerque for those of you who need a brush-up on geography :) It took us about 45 minutes to get from our door to "The Plaza," which is the main spot to check out if you're just visiting Santa Fe. The 75 mph speed limit through the desert certainly helps quite a bit! Anyways, we left about 1:30 on Saturday. The drive was fairly fast and the scenery was pretty nice...a few mesa areas, some random bushes, mountain ranges, etc.
We got to the plaza and found a pretty cheap parking garage about a block from the main center. The area is full of culture, including lots of jewelry shops, clothing stores, restaurants, etc. Unfortunately, everything is WAY overpriced since it's the main touristy spot (similar to "Old Town" in ABQ). We went into a jewelry shop with some beautiful merchandise and was offered a "deal" on a bracelet Cari liked of $350...um...no thanks! After window-shopping a little more, we made our way to the New Mexico History Museum, which was free this weekend...how convenient! Outside of the museum were many Native American vendors, selling hand-made merchandise. Very cool and authentic.
The museum is in the renovated "Palace of the Governors," which is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States. This site has a lot of info on the actual building itself, so if you want a history lesson, feel free to read through it (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Governors). The museum was pretty nice...there was a "Through the Lens" exhibit on one side which displayed the history of New Mexico through photography. The other side was the "permanent" half, which included all sorts of artifacts and timelines about New Mexico's history. There were also various sections of the building itself that were preserved and displayed. It was crazy to see the things they had on display (old revolvers, Rough Riders badges, etc)...I think my appreciation for history (especially living in this culture) has grown a great deal since I've been here.
Aaaanyways, we took some pictures of the plaza, a big cathedral close by, and the monument located in the center of the plaza. Then we walked down to a restuarant called Tomasita's which was in an old train station. The walk was further than we thought, especially with open parking spots close by. However, the food was incredible...traditional New Mexican. Also, the margaritas were one of the best I've had. Cari is getting a little tired of Mexican/New Mexican food, but I don't think I could ever get sick of it. After our dinner, we waddled back to the car and headed home. There was rain all around us, but we never drove through any of it. It's incredible to see the clouds and the rain out here. Since everything is so wide-open, you can see the streaks of rain and the area to where it's isolated.
Hope everyone reading this is on Facebook. If so, you can check out pictures of our trip on my profile. We are ready for some visitors (in case you hadn't picked up on that yet), so if anyone is ready to come out, let us know!! Love you guys!!
Happy Memorial Day everyone! We hope all of our friends and family had a great long weekend, and more importantly spent some time reflecting on our veterans and what they and our current military servicemen and women have done for us. Cari and I had a much needed three day weekend full of rest and good ole fashion Albuquerque fun!
We checked out our first wine festival on Saturday with some friends (picture is above). It was incredible...much better than what we got to experience in Raleigh the past couple years. It was not very crowded at all (no lines to taste), beautiful weather, about 30 different vendors, and some GREAT wine. I've heard that New Mexican wine is pretty good, and those rumors were certainly justified through our experience Saturday. We tried everything from "wine-erita" (yuck!) to red chile wine (yum!).
We also went down "Old Town" Sunday, which apparently is the place most tourists go when they visit Albuquerque. It's a fun area with older style architecture filled with shops and restaurants. A lot of the merchandise is over-priced (or so we hear) since the tourists will pay more for it. We did have a nice Sunday lunch at a Mexican restaurant (the name escapes me) that was decent, but not the best we've had. We left to go see Terminator: Salvation...I know, not very New Mexican, but a GREAT movie.
As far as other updates, nothing super important to report. I got to meet my manager this week...she works out of Fidelity's New Hampshire office and came down to visit. My team of 3 analysts and I went bowling and out to eat while she was here. It was a good time...we're all definitely getting closer and our personalities are different but work well together. I'm looking forward to getting to know them all better. Cari has not found a job yet, but continues to look and put her resume out there. Hopefully the Lord will provide something for her that will be challenging and rewarding and that she'll enjoy.
We are also still continuing our church hunt. We've found a couple we like, but want to look at a few more before making our second runs on the ones we like. We've also been to a few more restaurants other than El Pinto (which is still the best). Sadie's was pretty good, but definitely not comparable. I've learned that I LOVE green chiles and have proceeded to put them on everything (enchiladas, quesadillas, nachos, etc). Anyways, we have a few more restaurants on the list that we're looking forward to trying soon. I think we might travel up to Santa Fe this weekend for the afternoon, so I'm sure I'll have another update next week with our travel adventures.
Thanks again to everyone for your prayers and calls. Our apologies if we don't always call back right away. We're a lot busier here than we thought we'd be, but we always appreciate the calls and emails so keep 'em coming. Congratulations to Jon and Megan for moving into their house recently, Happy 1 Month birthday to baby Austin, and Happy One Year Anniversary to my sister and her husband! Love you guys!!
Hola! Hope everyone is doing well back home. Things are going pretty well out in New Mexico. We've experienced a little bit more of the culture, so I figured it was time for another post. Cari and I are continuing to get settled in to our small apartment. Besides pictures on the walls, everything else has pretty much found it's place. My job is going well...only four more weeks of in-class training! I'm meeting some really nice people and am excited about the team of analysts I'll be officially working with. We are praying that God provides something for Cari soon, as she's ready to get back into the classroom and be around people. Belle keeps her company during the day, but a dog that doesn't talk back only goes so far.
So the moment we were all waiting for has finally come...Cari and I went out to eat at an authentic local New Mexican restaurant!! It's called El Pinto (you can check it out online), and it was delicious! For those of you who don't know, the main difference between Mexican and New Mexican food (so I'm told) is that the latter is cooked with chilis (red or green). I had chicken enchiladas smothered in spicy green chile and Cari had tostadas. It was a great first local cuisine experience, and we can't wait for some visitors to take there (hint hint).
We've also visited a couple churches the past two weeks, Grace Church (with Preston and Laurel) and City on a Hill in downtown Albuquerque near the university. Both were very different, and we enjoyed certain things about each one but think we'll continue to search for something that fits our needs and where we can serve. We're definintely excited about getting involved somewhere and meeting some more people as soon as possible.
I think that's it for now...hope everyone is doing great, and feel free to come on out and visit whenever. The weather is phenominal here, and we're excited about showing you all around. Also, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!! We love you guys!
