Lying down and reading with my daughter in complete silence, each of us absorbed in our book, is one of my best memories of the trip we undertook this winter break. While at home, there is hardly a moment when I can actually put my feet up, drop everything and read, leave alone read with my daughter. I have to scramble for time to read for pleasure, normally a few minutes before bed or really early in the morning. These days I have found a way to read while working out at the gym - my new found getaway. That is why I really treasure that time. Also, the boys had gone out that evening so she didn't have to deal with my constant - don't be mean to your brother bit or the boys making noise. In fact, she commented that it was so peaceful and quiet without them around.
To begin with I didn't want to go anywhere - I mean, everytime we go, I have this humungous job of cooking and packing all my son's special foods. This is no easy task, a few hours worth and I wouldn't be able to start till the evening before we were supposed to take off. My husband did the job of getting the car serviced and booking the hotels at the last minute after going on about the fact that we should go someplace, that he had a two week shutdown and that this was crazy that I didn't want to go. I finally relented. Working right till the last afternoon before leaving didn't make it easy at all but then I wanted to come back no later than the 1st, I wouldn't come back on the 31st - historic superstition dealing with my son's health, which is why we decided to come back on the 30th. Packing, cooking, cleaning, closing shop at home, making sure my babysitter had details of when to come in to put out the garbage, water the plants, feed the hamsters. It all seemed too much to deal with. In the end, it was all worth it because we got to spend so much quality time together, which we almost never get to do on a regular basis at home. I am busy with school and the kids and their routines, while my husband is almost never at home on weekdays and makes up for his sleep on weekends.
Our final destination was Santa Fe, New Mexico, about 1,100 miles from home. This meant that we had to stop somewhere along the way. Of course, my husband planned it that way, given that he jumps to go to Las Vegas at the drop of a hat - I call it our annual pilgrimage. I kind of like it and don't. I mean, its fine once or twice with the kids but n times - that is really stretching it. The two of them know now that they get to inhale loads of smoke and each time we pass through the casino areas, they hold their noses and don't talk at all. This time the smoke seemed worse or its just my older age. We had a fairly uneventful drive to Las Vegas other than taking a different route, thanks to a new GPS which my husband bought, during which we saw loads of snow in southern California, a very rare occurence indeed.
In Las Vegas, for the second year in a row, we were able to go to a show as a family, thanks to our son really growing up. We enjoyed a magic show - it was really very well done. Keeping in mind the audience as mostly kids, the show was also scheduled at a very reasonable time. We shopped, walked a great deal, went to the dolphin habitat and the secret garden. Not to miss ate at California Pizza Kitchen - as soon as the kids saw the restaurant they said they were hungry - like they don't get enough of that food at home. The kids and my husband went to the video game arcade in the hotel and came back with a cartload of stuffed toys. The irony is that when my son met a Santa in the hotel lobby after this and Santa asked him what he'd like for Christmas, his response was "A stuffed toy!!!!!" Oh, well, my highlight of the stay was using a sauna for the first time.
Driving to Santa Fe from Las Vegas took way longer than we had anticipated. Even though we left Vegas at about 8:00 and there wasn't a lot of traffic driving through Hoover Dam and getting onto I-40, the main connector, it was slow, being a single lane. We reached a totally snowed Flagstaff, where the kids spotted an Olive Garden, so guess where we ate lunch? By now, my son had discovered chicken salad as his standard fare, with all of his dietary restrictions. It would be given to him minus croutons and dressing and he would have that with milk. We weren't quite dressed for the weather in Flagstaff and were really freezing. Thereafter, going downhill was alright and by the time we got to the continental divide, it was cold, dark, snowing, the roads icy and traffic moving really slow. It was kind of scary because the road was unfamiliar as were the road conditions. We had a very late stop for dinner at Albuquerque and then made it to Santa Fe at about 9:45 p.m.. Driving in, I was really surprised to find that such a small town had a Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods - well, I had no need to worry for my son's food.
Santa Fe is what held the greatest surprise for me during this trip. Several people at work had told me about what a beautiful place it is and how I would really like it but it was when I actually set my eyes on it the next morning, I was stunned by the beauty. The snow made it even more beautiful than it would normally be and I went crazy taking lots and lots of photos. The contrast of the blue sky, the snowy mountains, the bare trees, the adobe structures and the snowy terrain was completely fascinating. None of us had the right footwear but we decided to walk anyway. My son had come into the car with crocs on and we clean forgot to pack his shoes. As a result, we spent the first morning, just walking around the plaza, looking for a decent shoe shop. The plaza stores have lots of art, jewellery and leather products, and really expensive footwear. We weren't going to spend $100 on a pair of shoes for my almost eight year old who would outgrow it in no time. Finally, having asked someone in a store that had some excellent music playing, the man at the counter gave us a super map and showed us a sports store about four blocks down. In the meantime, despite the breakfast buffet, we were hungry at lunch and had found this French cafe while walking, walked in and were in for a treat. I almost literally gobbled down my nutella crepe, while my son discovered turkey rolls (the cafe had no chicken) and between the two children, they came up with this new turkey roll salad recipe that became a big hit. Given my son's highly limited food options, this was a welcome. He was thrilled with his new shoes. While walking back to the hotel to relax for the afternoon, we found this antique store going out of business. My husband loves picking up curios everywhere we travel, especially the native american ones. So we got these masks and dreamcatchers.
This was on the 24th of December. Being Christmas Eve, there was the special walk at Canyon Road to view the faralitos - weighted brown paper bags with candles that are a New Mexico tradition. Canyon Road is the artists road - where you probably find more art galleries per capita than most places in the world. We had picked the hotel location such that we could walk to any location, plus of course, the breakfast which had to be part of the package. So it was convenient in the evening to walk to Canyon Road. On the way, we found this cafe where we decided to eat dinner - Gaudalupe cafe. Dinner was absolutely delicious. Given the below freezing temperatures outside and our bodies still acclimatizing to the same, the hot chilli - both in terms of temperature and spice was more than welcome. Of course, I am now paying the price for all of those meals. The walk was amazing - so many people, so many faralitos - it was fascinating.
Whenever I go to a new place, I take the first day to get used to the surroundings and the roads,and I am off on my run on day 2. There is something thrilling about running in different locations around the world. If I did have the money, I would set my goal to run in every city of the world. As always, I had packed my running shoes and accessories but after seeing the icy pavements and really cold weather, I had second thoughts on this second day. Plus I had to take photos - I was so captivated by the natural beauty. So I decided to do a long walk, carrying my camera, stopping almost every minute because I spotted a great view. I walked the second day as well and ran on the third day with my camera in my backpack. This was Christmas day and we found that almost everything was closed. Much to my daughter's chagrin, we went to another French cafe for lunch - it was really close to the hotel and happened to be open on the day. Again, the food was delicious. No matter which restaurant we went to, the food was really good. It does explain all my excess pounds.
One of the best memories of that day is of the kids playing in the snow, and of my son making up his snow walk song - "Nobody knows me, oh yeah, oh yeah". He sang and danced this all day while we walked around town. Playing in the snow was not as easy as I thought it might be. My son wanted to build a snowman and we were helping him. After several minutes of bending and lifting and sculpting the snow with all those layers on, I was really tired. My daughter liked the snow so much that she sprayed snow all over her long tresses. My son would keep building something in the snow, call it his sculpture and carry it with him while we walked. All along that morning it was snowing. It was probably our first time playing in the snow while it was snowing and I have to admit we really had lots of fun.
The museums which were closed for the past two days were now open. We had to decide which ones to see and not to try and squeeze in too many on one single day. It was snowing again in the morning and we had a snowball fight and snowball throw contest in the park across from the first museum we visited. By now, of course our bodies had got used to the below 30 deg Farenheit temperatures and didn't really bother with the cold. It was also the morning I had gone for a run and was feeling highly energetic. The Georgia O'Keefe museum was excellent and since my daughter paints, she really enjoyed it too while my son kept asking all sorts of questions about O'Keefe - so he was also fascinated. We went that afternoon to this chocolate drink place - where they make chocolate drinks that the native americans used to have - the mayas, the incas, etc.. Despite being used to spicy food, the chocolate spicy drinks were hard to stomach and I stuck to something that was more like hot chocolate - with cinnamon and almonds - but very potent. By the time we left this place, the snow and wind were intimidating. We had decided to go to Museum Hill to see the two museums which one of my coworkers had said were not to miss. The hotel staff recommended that we take a taxi up there and drive back in the bus. So we went in the taxi, enjoyed the two museums, which had a great deal of hands-on activities for the kids to do. At the pot holder weaving all four of us were so engrossed that we must have been there for more than 45 minutes. The kids play area was also fantastic with a huge play house, lots of wooden toys and shelves full of children's books. The view from the top of the hill was amazing - the snowy Rockies, the greens, the trees.
By the time the museums closed and we went down to the shuttle it was way more than freezing after all that snow and wind. It was 5:10 and the bus hadn't come - it was supposed to be there at 5:03. There was a British couple also waiting for the bus. The woman was really good at entertaining my children at how to keep themselves warm. In the meantime, I decided to call the number on the bus stop. The person who talked said that they had stopped the service because of the wind and icy conditions. I then asked him for the taxi number, we called the taxi and went down safely. We decided to eat at the Indian restaurant near the plaza, across the road from our hotel. It has become somewhat of a tradition, no matter where we travel, we have one Indian meal. We have done that in Tokyo, Europe and several places in the US. After a great deal of grumbling, the kids actually enjoyed the meal; it was truly delicious.
The kids loved the hotel because we had a breakfast buffet each morning, we had three computers in the lobby with high speed internet access and a heated, outdoor swimming pool where they actually swam in 30 deg. Farenheit weather. I liked it because of the easy accessibility and my husband had decided that Santa Fe was too arty for him. The Native American jewellery is really beautiful and we only bought at two places because Santa Fe is kind of expensive. We didn't buy any of the rugs or other artwork, just a replica of Georgie O'Keefe.
We drove to Albuquerque the next morning along the Turquoise trail which was scenic indeed. Cerreles was a village along the way which had a house with several artifacts, a museum and a bunch of animals. We didn't really go to the museum, thought the artifacts were expensive and continued on our drive.
Our first stop upon reaching Albuquerque was a Subway for a late lunch. This was adjacent to the Old Town where we spent the rest of the day. At 37 deg farenheit, his was apparently the coldest day of the year in Albuquerque. However, after leaving Santa Fe at 22 deg Farenheit, it didn't seem nearly as cold. The old town is full of stores with all kinds of Native American arts and jewellery. Given the state of the economy, several stores had huge discounts and we bought several earrings amongst other things.
The next day we went to the two museums near the old town which were both fantastic – one is an American Indian museum and the other a children's museum. The latter was so engaging that the four of us could have spent a couple of days in there. We met a lady who said she has been to several children's museums in the country and this was by far the best she had been to. The American Indian museum has several interesting exhibits as well.
While driving back, we didn't take the Hoover dam-Las Vegas detour route, much to my husband's dismay, and went from I-40 to CA58, staying on the way at Barstow. I was so happy to see "Welcome to California" – it seemed like we had been away for ages. On the second day of our drive, though we have done this route several times, we decided to stop a bit at Tehechapi, which we haven't done before. It was fascinating to see snow in the middle of the Mojave desert, and the greenery as well, which made it a treat for the eyes. I went kind of crazy taking photos along the way and my daughter wanted to learn so I started with photography 101 with her; the same age that I started almost (I was 11 and she is 10) – but with a big difference. I had started with an Agfa Isoly!II completely manual camera while she was starting with a Nikon Digital SLR. Times have obviously changed.
