What's Cookin': ABQ Summer Visit

In the end of June and first couple of days of July, we spent some time visiting my family in ABQ. We keep in touch pretty well throughout the year, but it's always great to be together in person. Of course, we also look forward to our favorite local foods and the spectacular desert scenery. Here are a few highlights from the trip:

Family

We spent a lot of our time at Mom and Dad's--thanks for hosting us and everyone else through the week! We also got to hang out for a bit at Julie's and Grandma's.

Aunt Amy, Daniel, and Uncle Mark

me with Leila

Leila with Uncle Mark

close up: Leila smiling

Julie with her sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and Leila

Rachael, Julie, Leila, Grandma, me, and Mom

me and Grandma

Leila and Julie

me and Leila

reclining on Grandma's couch with Daniel

me, Nana, Daniel, and Papa

sandbox time!

Daniel and Uncle Mark with the impressive new
water feature Dad built at Julie and Ben's house

another view of the new waterfall

Uncle Mark and Daniel

some of our magna-tile creations

Nana and Leila

Leila, Daniel, Julie, and Ben
(Julie said this was the first family pic of all 4 of them!)

Daniel (in Nana's lap)

Daniel and Uncle Mark

Nana and Daniel in their "boat"

splashpad in the yard

Julie and Leila

selfie with Leila

Daniel playing with the cars at Mema's

Dad working on his waterfall

selfie with Daniel

selfie with Grandma

selfie with Leila

selfie with Mom and Dad (and the mountains!)

UNM

Mark had the great idea to drive down to UNM and walk around campus. We hadn't been down there in years, and it was really fun to see the places we spent so much time while we were undergrads. We also got to drive by our old apartment on MLK and the Baptist Student Union (where I first started teaching English as a volunteer).

Mark in front of his old dorm building

me in front of my old dorm building

the dining hall

Zimmerman Library (from the side)

ducks at the duck pond

Mark at the duck pond

a lobo statue and waterfall by the duck pond
(we didn't remember this)

selfie at the duck pond

me in front of Ortega Hall
(I had a lot of language classes here)

The Center of the Universe

Mark's feet in the middle of
the Center of the Universe

Mark in the Center of the Universe

looking up at the sky from inside
the Center of the Universe

some interesting (new-to-us) artwork

me with a lobo statue (these are all over campus;
they're new since our time, and I love them!)

Student Union computer lounge
(I did a lot of free printing here)

student lounge in the music building
(where Mark spent a lot of time)

Battleship Rock

Another day, we loaded up for a day trip to the Jemez Mountains. We stopped at the visitor's center (Mark bought me some fantastic earrings there for my birthday!), then went to Battleship Rock for a picnic and hiking. We ended up hiking at different times: Nana, Papa, Ben, and Daniel went up to the top of Battleship Rock first, while Mark and I ate. Then we tried to do the same hike, but I didn't really know where I was going, so we ended up on the trail to the waterfall first. We ran into Ben on our way back to the picnic tables, so he redirected us, and we made our way to the top, too. Grandma, Julie, and Leila hung out at the picnic tables. Later, Papa, Ben, and Daniel walked in the river while the rest of us watched (and took pictures!).

selfie with Daniel by the river

the river by our picnic tables

selfie with Grandma

Leila and Julie: ready for adventure!

Ben, Papa, and Nana

Ben, Papa, and Daniel on the hike

Papa, Daniel, and Ben at the top

Nana, Daniel, and Ben at the top

Aunt Amy, Leila, and Uncle Mark

selfie with Mark at the waterfall

an Indian paintbrush on the trail

parts of this trail were...rough...

but we made it to the top!
(the altitude is a real problem now that
we live near sea level...we took lots
of breaks to catch our breath!)

Mark taking pictures at the top

me taking pictures at the top :-)

what a view!

I love the shadows from the clouds

Nana and Daniel by the picnic tables

Mema watching the river walking

everyone down in the river from
my view up at the picnic tables

Nana's pic of Daniel having a
blast in the water (with Papa and Ben)

Uncle Mark, Daniel, and me tossing
pumice rocks into the river (they float!)

Mark, Julie, and Leila

Battleship Rock

Grandma's Pool

One perk of visiting in the summer is that I get to go to the pool! This happened to be everyone's first pool day of the season, and we had a fun, sunny day. I talked myself into two dives off the board (and helped Daniel with one jump off the board).

Daniel and Nana splashing at the edge

Aunt Amy with Leila
for her first dip in the pool
(she was not sure about this...)

Daniel and Nana in a big watermelon tube

Leila, a bit happier, in the pool with Julie

Mema, Julie, Leila, Nana, and Daniel in the pool

Food

We fit in all our favorite local spots: breakfast burritos at Blake's, Twisters, and Weck's, plus pizza from Dion's, and a great New Mexican dinner at Garduño's (which has a new location in a hotel right next door to our very first apartment, so we got to drive by it, too!). We also had tea and scones on the back porch, tasty dinners from Dad's fancy new smoker (chicken and ribs), and Grandma's famous spaghetti.

selfie with Julie and family at Weck's

smothered breakfast burrito with
hashbrowns and Daniel's funny face pancake

Daniel, after learning to play tic-tac-toe at Garduño's

my combo plate: carne adovada, chile relleno,
calabacitas, and posole (plus a sopapilla)

Blake's breakfast burrito

Dion's pizza with ranch

tea with the ladies on the porch
(Mom made a delicious spread, as always)

spaghetti at Grandma's with a view

Dad with his neat grill/smoker

Scenery

While I've come to appreciate many things about where we live now, there's nothing like the desert--it just feels like home: the mountains, the cactus, the other plants, the arroyos, the views that go on and on...it's amazing, and I just want to soak it all in while we're there.