Kris hit state #49 – New Mexico! Although I’ve been to New Mexico many times, I had never been to my family’s dairy farm in Portales. We planned to go there on our 20th wedding anniversary!
Headed to New Mexico
We got an evening flight out of Grand Rapids, and we shared a romantic meal in the airport while watching the MSU basketball game on Kris’ propped up phone. We’re fancy.
We had a layover in Dallas, and then the flight got delayed from 9:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m., and then we boarded and got all ready to go, and I really thought we were going…and the flight attendant said, “Just pray the pilots make it.”
They cancelled the flight, we all got off, and our American Airlines app booked us on the next flight in the morning.
I really wanted to sleep on uncomfortable chairs in the airport, never really sleeping, but mostly groaning and making sure you still had your stuff, because I’d paid for a hotel in Albuquerque I couldn’t get refunded. But, Kris made a reservation at a Best Western two miles away, so we went and got five glorious hours of sleep. Happy anniversary!
I was worried about the rental car, because I’d done the skip-the-counter check in with Alamo, and we never made it that night. I figured I could try the bar code the next day, so after we landed we hurried to the rental car lot to find … zero cars! Not a one. So we went to Alamo the counter anyway, where they had a handwritten paper sign that read: ‘Go to Enterprise.’
We followed directions and rented from Enterprise. We got a tiny Mitsubishi Malibu – cons – it was so light it got blown on the road with the New Mexico winds. Pros – it was SO easy to park. We drove 3.5 hours to my Aunt Delia and Uncle Al’s house in Portales. It went mountains, desert, then dairy farms!
They moved to New Mexico and started their dairy farm in 1992. Al took us on a tour to show us everything, and it was so interesting the different parts of farms in the southwest! The cows aren’t in barns, because they just need a roof to block the sun because the weather’s so mild, their excess water just evaporates in a pond, their manure dries out and they can just pile it up to use it later. So many differences. They milk 1700 and own 1300 acres.
Al then drove us around their neighborhood and showed us a calf ranch where a neighbor had about 10,000 animals in hutches that appeared to be made out of pallets. It was huge.
I felt like the sun was setting the entire time on the tour, and the sky seemed so huge with nothing blocking it, and it was beautiful.
My cousin Cass, his wife Dorie, and their daughters Mia and Joelle came over for dinner, cards, and an MSU bowl win! What a great night.
Portales
We went with Cass, Delia, and Al to do their morning chores at 6:00 a.m. the next day. It was so fun to ride around with them and hear all about their farm and how they do things.
Al and Delia took us into Portales to show us around and treated us with peanut butter shakes, in part because when they first moved there they worked in a peanut factory! We saw Eastern New Mexico University, their downtown, and had lunch with my whole family again. It was a lovely visit!
Kris and I drove back to Albuquerque for New Year’s Eve. We got an Airbnb on Stover St, and it was a nice little area that was walking distance to the downtown area. However, there were lots of places that were closed, partly due to New Year’s Eve I guess…even though that seems like a great time to make money!
We tried three places that said they were open online, but were not open in real life. (Rio Bravo, Sidetrack, Boese Brothers). We went to open places – Red Door, had football on, very friendly, Thirsty Eye, and the owner and coworker were there and gave us hiking suggestions, and we were the only people there. We went to Bow and Arrow, but they were not friendly and didn’t have food, so we went to Tractor Brewing in Wells Park, and their food truck hadn’t come, but they did have live music. Finally, we hit the jackpot – Bourbon and Boots! It had it all – live band, full dance floor, and food! We loved it there – great fun! It absolutely poured when we caught our Uber back, and just on the walk to the car we got completely soaked. Ah, deserts are funny. It was a great way to ring in 2022.
Albuquerque & Santa Fe
I ran in the Albuquerque downtown in the morning. At one point, it was just me, a coughing homeless man, and a parking garage that made really weird high pitched noises. I felt uneasy. But then – I found a penny on the ground AND a woman yelled ‘happy new year’ to me out her car window. So not a bad run, all in all!
Kris and I did my favorite vacation activity – hiking! We drove to the La Luz Trail on snowy roads. It was an absolutely beautiful hike. It was snowy, it had stunning vistas of mountains, and we even got to hike above the clouds. ‘Cloud hikers!’ a hiker greeted us coming the opposite way. This is an out and back trail that goes for seven miles, so we hiked up one hour and then back, and we were treated to even more views! We could actually feel the elevation in our lungs, too. Wonderful!
We drove to Santa Fe, and it was even snowier there! They also don’t shovel the sidewalks – I assume it must melt pretty quickly, but it was funny. Santa Fe was not like Albuquerque – it was full of tourists! We heard so many different languages. We parked near the plaza, and we walked around and looked at the shops, the churches, and ate at Chile Line Brewery. We then drove over and checked out St. Johns College, which is perched right on top of the city. We drove down Canyon Road, which had over a hundred art galleries. It’s artsy!
We went back to Albuquerque for dinner, since we had to fly out early the next morning. Kris had a drink at Bosque Brewing, we played shuffleboard and darts at Boxing Bear, and we ate Mexican food and watched the end of the Rose Bowl at Range Café. All good spots – and open! They all were pretty full and had good service.
We went back to our hotel (Hilton Garden Inn – Airport) and set our alarms for an early flight. Then we got the notification – our flight was delayed 3 hours, and we wouldn’t make our connection, and we could book the next day. What followed was a flurry of activity trying to call American (4 hour hold time), Expedia (can’t help you), my brother (putting Kris on as one of the people who can fly standby under his name), and then it automatically rebooked us on … another flight that didn’t connect, but this time with two stops!
Heading home (eventually)
We got to the airport as soon as it opened and begged an airport worker to get us somewhere, anywhere in Michigan. She booked us on a flight that got to Detroit, which meant my family had to pick me up in a different airport…and then we waited an hour on that while it had maintenance issues. But! Thanks to my dad and brother who got us, and retrieved my car, we made it on the same day.
The airport troubles were national news, as a lot of factors (weather, sickness, covid, the holidays) came together to make air travel difficult. But – it was all completely worth it. I loved seeing the Andersons, new places, and celebrating with Kris, and we’re doing it all again next month!
