Road Trip

 

More to come, I promise.

Aashi

I have 8 days to finish up raising money for the Houston Half Marathon/Relay that I will be running for Aashi!!!


Take a look here

and if you want to help me meet my goal of raising money and someday next year visiting her to tell her I ran for her, go here to donate.  There is also a link on the left sidebar.

Happy Friday :)

Road Trip: October 2, 2011 (part 1)

Devin Michael,

This morning, we woke up to a sunrise over the mountains with nothing else in sight.  I am baffled at how gorgeous it is.   

We made some coffee in our room with the coffee pot provided, bundled up (it’s chilly here- a much needed break from Houston’s disgusting heat), and plopped on the porch of our hut to watch the sun come up.  You snapped some pictures of the mountain behind us, and I watched the bright blue birds fly around the vibrant red, yellow, and white flowers scattered around the B&B.   

Amy, the owner of the Inn, walked past our room and waived.  Breakfast would be ready in an hour.  You and me, we had some good talks, including the one this morning.  We talked dreams, goals, plans, took deep breaths and headed to breakfast.  

Amy had the works ready- waffles, bacon, blue corn muffins (oh. my.), endless fruit and coffee.  She shared her secret waffle ingredient with you.  You can’t wait to try it. 

 

We sat outside with a view like no other and the sound of a fountain in the background.  One couple came out to snap some pictures- down from Cincinnati, they had driven 17 days from Albuquerque through all parts of Colorado, and they were on their way back.  They recommended we stop at a small town just off the border of Colorado with natural sulfur springs.  “The most beautiful town we’ve seen…Padagona something”.  We smiled big- they were talking about Pagosa Springs, and little did they know, we already had plans to stop there tonight to revisit some memories.

 

After breakfast, we packed up and checked out.  We don’t have many plans for the trip, but for today, we had a bit of a schedule.  We drove down to the plaza in Santa Fe, browsed the turquoise jewelry, fetish figures, and other artwork, and grabbed lunch at an authentic Italian café of all places.  I’m not sorry- that was the best cured beef Panini I have ever had in mah life.  You snapped pictures of me and we laughed so hard you started crying.  Don’t argue, I saw it.   

  

We grabbed some coffee for the road at a French bakery on the square and we were on the road to Colorado.

Road Trip: October 1, 2011

Dear Husband,

We woke up this morning to the smell of rich coffee and bacon.  If Goggle ever has company, the last thing they should worry about is starving to death.  She wouldn’t let us do a dadgum thing, so we watched TV while she made a feast.  Over breakfast, we had endless cups of coffee while she told us all kinds of stories about the war, her family, Papa (my grandpa), and my dad when he was little.  We talked late into the morning, cleaned up and you chauffeured us to Mesilla to stroll the square and go to lunch.  More food. 

The weather was perfect today to be outside.  We went through the shops on the square, bought some pieces at an art gallery as gifts, and found the best book store.

We grabbed a seat in the courtyard to listen to the town’s jazz festival.  Goggle could name most of the songs she sang all from the 40’s.  I love that.  We went to my dad’s favorite restaurant in Messilla, La Posta.  Inside, the light is natural from the skylights in the ceiling.  There is a huge bird cage in the center of the restaurant that is home to 3 parrots and a toucan.  The food is delicious, especially the green chiles.  The green chilies are fantastic in New Mexico.

After lunch, you drove us back to Goggles, and the whole time she could not believe you knew how to get back.  She kept telling me “Stephanie, you married a good one.  I swear he has a built in radar!”  She thinks so much of you.  We packed up and Goggle gave me a glass of wine “to take the edge off”.  She filled some snacks with fruit for us on the road, and we said goodbye.  I cried.  We found this to be a routine event on this trip, me crying.

4.5 hours later, we arrived in Santa Fe at the most amazing bed and breakfast, Bobcat Inn.  I love being in a new town at night, because in the morning it looks so much different- you have no idea if you’re in the valley or on the side of a mountain or near a river.  Our adobe room was decorated perfectly.  New Mexican flare with tons of bright colors, hand made blankets, bright furniture, hints of black and white in the chairs and headboard, a quaint bathroom with black and white checkered tile, and a table/chair set on the porch. 

 

You pick the best places.

Road Trip: September 30, 2011

Dear Husband,

Today we started on our 8 day road trip.  We didn’t have many plans for it, but we knew we wanted to get way, way out of Houston and head toward Colorado where we not-so-secretly would love to live.  I thought 4:00 would never come today when I would leave work and stress and luon behind and leave town with you.

Before we left town, we grabbed dinner at a little place on our food bucket list, Hubcap Grill.  I had read that their burgers beat any gourmet burger in the city- we had to eat it to believe it.  You gave me a dollar to put in the jukebox (you know what makes me tick), and we hoovered the best burgers we have ever had in our entire lives.  Hands down.

 

We left town later than we had wanted, but how late can you be if you don’t have any plans?  We knew we wanted to make it to Kerrville, TX, and that’s what we did.  Around midnight, we rolled into the Super 8.  It’s not the Ritz but we're not Ritz kind of people?  It had a clean bed and lock on the door- pretty much all we need in a place that’s just a pit stop.

In the morning, we woke up to an unexpectedly beautiful sunrise in Kerrville.  Who knew??  We rolled into the continental breakfast with no surprises- waffles, sausage, biscuits and gravy- little to eat that we preferred before a run.  We got dry cheerios, a wheat bagel, and peanut butter.  You smashed your PB bagel into the bowl of cheerios to make them stick.  Why do things like that make me love you more?  Weirdo.

After breakfast, you asked me about my run.  I was hoping you forgot.  Training for a marathon is the pits when you’re on vacation, but it’s so much easier to go when you go, too.  We ran 6 miles- 3 down the main road through town into the old square where we ran smack into the finish line of the Kerrville triathlon.  We got goosebumps as we ran the course backward cheering for the trailing line of finishers.  We ran to the river that is barely winning the fight against the drought, turned around, and ran back up the hill to the hotel.  You told me I could go faster, and I did, but I ran out of juice.  Those blasted hills.

We cleaned up, packed up, stopped by the Donut Palace for coffee and our favorites- apple fritter for you, cinnamon cake donut for me.  We were on our way to the best trip of my life.

Around 2:00 or so, we were ready for lunch.  When people say there’s nothing between Kerrville and El Paso, they mean THERE IS NOTHING BETWEEN KERRVILLE AND EL PASO.  We decided to push for Ft. Stockton- it was a bigger small town and had better odds of good places to grab a bite.  Every restaurant we found on our phones was boarded up.  We drove through the main square, followed signs to “historic Ft. Stockton”, drove up and down every “main” street, and couldn’t find a living soul in the town.  I told you we may or may not be on the set of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  We finally found a Mexican restaurant with good, fresh food (we both got chicken tacos- SO GOOD), mediocre service, and clean bathrooms.  When you’re road tripping, clean bathrooms are a serious priority.

And then, we found the mountains.

We hit El Paso just in time for an orange and pink sunset over the mountains, and we made it to Las Cruces exactly when we had promised Goggle we would be there.  I had never been to her townhome- white adobe with a lava rock yard.  Inside, it looked just like her house in Pagosa that I remembered- all of the same furniture, nick-nacks, and pictures of our family.  She forced every bit of food she had in the house down our throats and invited her neighbor over for strawberry shortcake.  When I’m a grandma, I hope I show off my grandkids as much as she does.  Tony (her neighbor who fixes everything for her, and in return, she buys him a full pie from the local bakery) came over and you 2 talked about racing bikes and racing cars.  He told you old stories about being a formula car mechanic, explained the history behind the orange T5 in his garage, and asked you all about your drink of choice when you’re on the bicycle.  You were smitten with this man, I swear.

I was beat.  You were beat.  We were stuffed.  Goggle told us to go to bed.