The remaining five days in New Mexico were mostly spent attending the conference that made the whole trip possible, but there were some events in there I want to share with you.

First, on Thursday night, Courtney came down to my hotel to pick me up and take me out to dinner. It was easy to spot her car because she has the bike racks on top, which is no surprise if you know her even a little tiny bit. We went to the Elephant Bar Restaurant and had some of the best service I’ve encountered while dining out in a long time. The waiter was very accommodating and even put two and two together that since I asked for no sugar in my main course, that the dessert menu wouldn’t interest me. I’m often surprised at how many servers don’t even come close to picking up on that. Anyway, Courtney and I had a lovely dinner where we chatted about a little bit of everything, starting with PayPerPost/Izea and ending with a decision to take a stroll though the cool shopping plaza (Winrock) the restaurant was located in.

I found the best tool in Williams Sonoma - a stainless steel pineapple corer! This thing rocks. I eat a lot of pineapple and it’s always such a pain to cut the whole thing up. This corer turns all that work into child’s play. Of course the store was out of fresh pineapples on my last visit, so I’ve only used it once. I’m looking forward to getting much more use out of this thing. And now I’m wondering what kind of cool crafts I can make out of the pineapple shells.

Here’s Courtney and I in the Elephant Bar. Our lovely waiter took our picture. Aren’t we cute? I just adored her. She was very easy to talk to and cute as a damn button.

The following night, I had a very interesting experience. I got to meet an aunt and a cousin that, until 3 years ago, no one in my family knew existed. You see, my paternal grandmother left her husband when my dad was just four years old. He was not a nice man - being a violent, active alcoholic and a raging gambler, so my Nanny (as we called her) was smart to get out when she did. My dad grew up without a father and without a desire to know his father or what happened to him once he was out of his life. Turns out, my grandfather kept up his sick ways, but still ended up marrying someone else and fathering two more children. Three years ago, my dad got a phone call from a woman claiming to be his half-sister who also informed him he had another half-sister besides herself. My dad knew he had an older half-sister from another of his father’s marriages prior to the one with his mom. He thought the woman on the phone was the half-sister he knew about (but lost track of), but she informed him otherwise. So my father has 3 half-sisters all told.

When I was making plans for my trip to Albuquerque, my mom reminded me about my dad’s sister. I told my dad to give her a call and I’d go meet her. And that’s exactly what we did. It was a great meeting. My aunt Pam is a very nice woman - so down to earth and sweet - and she brought along her daughter, Thea, who is just one of thirteen of my newfound cousins. Thea treated us both to dinner at the Texas Land & Cattle and we had some great conversations about the family history. Pam is really into genealogy and she’s done research on our family that goes all the way back to the Jamestown settlement! Very interesting stuff.

After dinner, they both came back with me to my hotel room so I could show them pictures of my family on my laptop. They loved seeing the rest of the family and it sounds like we’re all anxious to meet each other and have a family union, rather than a reunion, since the latter would really be a misnomer. The three of us spent about 4 hours that night just chatting and looking at pictures. Pam had a photo album with her filled with pictures of my grandfather. That was neat to see. My brother resembles him a bit. Pam definitely resembles my dad; I knew she was my aunt the second she walked into the hotel. Here’s the three of us inside my hotel:

Two days after we met, I was on a plane headed back to Philadelphia and life as I knew it. Spending 10 days in New Mexico, getting closer to my uncle, meeting new family, and experiencing many joys of recovery during my conference have slightly altered life as I knew it, though - in great, meaningful, and profound ways. I’m definitely the better for this trip and I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to take it.

Although I was sad to be leaving New Mexico and the wonderful experiences I had there, I was ready to come home, too. I missed my husband and kids… and my own bed, my own refrigerator and my own cooking tools! It’s always funny how much I enjoy a home-cooked meal after traveling for some time and eating out so many meals in a row. My body begins begging for some truly clean and familiar food.

So now I’m home - I’ve been back a week today which is hard to believe - and I get to process all of the events that happened there. I think it will definitely take some time, and hopefully I’ll have plenty of it!

On our last full day together, my uncle and I decided to head to the world’s longest tram ride at the Sandia Peak Tramway! I was excited and nervous for this trip - I’m a big lover of the mountains and a slight daredevil, but I wasn’t sure what to expect going up the side of the mountain in a tram car. Turns out, it was pretty scary. I held onto the handrails inside the car the whole way up, my hands completely sweaty the entire way, especially when we went through the wire change spots and we did a little dip and sway mid-way up the mountain. My hands are getting clammy just thinking about it now. I still managed to move to the left side of the car, though, when I asked where the wreckage of the flight that crashed in 1955 was. I justhad to see it. Very wild that the pieces of shrapnel are still visible in the canyon more than 50 years later.

All was well, obviously, as I lived to tell the tale and I have the pictures to prove it. Standing on that ledge getting my picture taken was just as nerve wrecking as going up in the car, by the way. We were high up there, man! And it was windy! Well, just a little windy. But, still.

I was surprised at how cold it was on top of the mountain, too - there was about a 20 degree temperature difference. Once we started walking around a bit, it warmed up. We had a really nice walk - it was absolutely gorgeous. The air was crisp but headed to the warm side and the earth was just coming alive for Spring. My uncle and I had some pretty deep, meaningful conversations up there, too. We got to talk about all sorts of stuff from the past that we’ve never touched on before. I felt such a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to get closer to my uncle during this trip as we hiked along the mountain trails. I really am a blessed woman, ya know? And being in New Mexico at 10,000 feet, looking out onto the Albuquerque valley while spending time getting close to my only uncle made that fact very clear to me.

The time came when we decided we’d had enough of the mountain top and were ready to take the tram back down. I started getting nervous again thinking about the ride. I mean, enlarge that picture and see if your stomach doesn’t feel a little funny when you look at it. As it happened, the ride down was easier than the ride up for some reason. The entire ride takes less than 15 minutes - it’s just the right amount of time - not too short and not too long.

We bought some items in the gift shop at the foot of the mountain and were on our way to find a place for lunch. I was talking on the phone with Rob when a roadrunner ran right in front of our car! I was so excited! That sucker was indeed fast, though, and I didn’t get a picture of him. Still, a very cool experience.

Once we finished lunch, we headed into Old Town to visit some of the galleries there. My uncle wanted to buy a pot before he left New Mexico - and he found the perfect one for him. We also went into a gallery of a friend of his and talked for a little while. She invited us to dinner at her house and we gladly accepted. She told us she lived near Sandia Peak and we saw some glorious homes in that area, so we were super excited thinking we’d get to see one of the million dollar homes. Alas, she lived in a nice house, but not one of the mansions we we had seen earlier in the day. Still, though, we had an interesting evening. Her husband is a geologist and her best friend is a hydrologist and all three are extremely educated and well-versed in modern events. The conversation at dinner was quite stimulating. And I felt completely out of my league, but that’s okay - it was great to be exposed to more culture than I’m used to in my sheltered life.

I was sad to go to bed that night because I was moving to a new hotel the next morning and my uncle was headed back to Virginia. The vacation part of my trip was coming to an abrupt end. I still had a great time the rest of my days there, though, and I’ll tell you all about that in my forthcoming posts.

Here’s the rest of my Sanda Peak pictures.

Sunday morning came early again - my uncle and I were both up around 6:30 AM, even though we knew we were going to take our time heading out to the Acoma Pueblo. It was another gorgeous day in New Mexico - I tell you, I could get really used to the weather there! Like the day before, we took our time drinking coffee and eating breakfast before eventually getting showered, dressed, and ready for our next destination.

As we headed out on I-40, we realized our gas was getting a little low, so we had to stop to fill up - the highlight of which was riding along historic Route 66. I was so excited to actually be on the road. I thought I took a picture of a sign proving my presence there, but I guess I didn’t since there wasn’t one on my camera. You’ll just have to take my word for it, I guess. :-)

Another highlight of the trip out to the pueblo was seeing the freight trains in the distance. We could see the entire length of the train from engine to caboose - all laid out in one straight line. Out here on the east coast, we’re lucky if we see 5 cars without being broken by the landscape. I wasn’t able to capture it on film because we were driving and I don’t have a wide-angle lens, so again, you’ll have to take my word for it. Seeing entire trains like that was amazing. The big open skies of the west really get to me and make me wish we lived there in the worst way.

Getting to the pueblo was like unwrapping a gift inside a group of beautiful boxes, each one more beautiful than the last. The landscape kept getting prettier the farther we drove - the mountains and mesas appeared seemingly out of nowhere as we happened upon them. Just when the vistas really started taking my breath away, I reached for my camera - but then we happened upon a sign that stated a camera permit was needed to take any photos. What the heck? There was a guy in a security car right where the sign was posted, too, so I adhered to the rules.

All was not lost, though, we purchased a camera permit once we got to the visitor center and I was able to get a lot of great shots. We arrived just in time for the next tour bus up to the pueblo - the village sits atop a high mesa where the only allowed access is via their tour buses. While we waited for the bus to depart, we visited some of the Native’s stands where they were displaying their pottery - very nice stuff.

I learned so much about pottery while I was there. I can spot the difference between traditional and modern methods of pottery making. The traditional method of making a pot is to form it all by hand, but some potters are now using pre-made forms to speed up the time to make their pots. The traditional pots are much more interesting in appearance and they’re also worth more. There is also importance placed on the potter and their family line. The matriarchs of the family pass on their knowledge and methods to their daughters (traditionally) and there are books available that outline the family line of potters. This piece is one my uncle bought on his last day - it’s from the Acoma tribe and is 50 years old - it’s a traditional.

Seeing how the Acoma Indians live high atop their mesa with no running water was simply awe-inspiring. Acoma is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States with its inception dating back to around 1150 AD. Here’s a great site that gives more information about the city, its history, and its inhabitants. Through the majority of the tour, most people were silent; there really were no words that could have been spoken.

Walking through the outsets of their cemetery into the San Esteban del Rey Mission (their church) was a moment I’ll never forget. I felt so close to God and to everything spiritual. The feeling that we’re all connected - those who were standing in the ancient church with me on that day, those who stood there and everywhere in the past, and those who have yet to come - was overwhelming. It was very cool inside the mission and our tour guide told us that it’s always that temperature, even in the midst of their extremely hot summers. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the cemetery or inside the mission, so I made sure to really stand there in peace and take it all in. I vowed to commit it all to memory since I knew I wouldn’t have physical evidence of how it looked or felt once I left. There were brightly painted parrots on both sides of the altar that really spoke to me. The parrot has significant meaning to the Acomas - as it symbolizes rain and rainbows. I spent several quiet moments in meditation inside the mission and felt a peace descend upon me that remained through out my entire stay in New Mexico.

As we walked around the city for the rest of our tour, the people who live there - and God bless them all, they have no running water and have to bring the water up via trucks - set up little tables outside their homes to sell their wares. I loved being able to meet and connect with the various artists and potters and even see where it was all made. We were shown their outdoor kiln where all the pottery is fired. Directly across from the kiln is their water reservoir - a large, shallow ditch they carved out of the clay to capture rain water. The reservoir was bone dry - and this is their rainy season - so I could understand why our tour guide said they pray for rain every single day. I ended up buying a beautiful double-sided cross from one of the residents. I still need to take pictures of it to show you all. On one side it’s got turquoise stones and on the other it has 5 different colored stones - it’s just gorgeous and is very meaningful because it was made by an Acoma Indian right in Acoma. I’ll treasure it forever. I also bought two pottery quails that I need to take pictures of as well.

We had the option of walking back down to the visitor’s center or taking the tour bus back down. Initially we planned to walk, but by the time we were done the walking tour, it was awfully close to lunch and I was hungry. We took the bus and ate our packed lunch in the car. Afterwards we went through the museum. It was small, but very interesting. I’m in complete love with the Acomas now and can’t get enough of their stories.

Our drive back to Albuquerque was just as beautiful as our drive in - only this time we were able to take photos. This picture is of a monolith they call the Enchanted Mesa. What’s funny is that the formation is actually a butte and not a mesa, but I guess the Acomas don’t care about being all that technical - and there probably wasn’t a distinction between the two when it was named hundreds of years ago. It’s definitely enchanting, though - as you can see - it’s reminiscent of Devils Tower in Wyoming, which is neat because there’s been reports of UFOs over top the Enchanted Mesa over the years. ::Cue Closed Encounters of the Third Kind music::

I was sad to say goodbye to Acoma, but all good things must come to an end (and all bad things, too, thankfully!). The entire Acoma valley is truly a special, sacred place and I’ll hold it dear to my heart always. Once we got back to our hotel room, we crashed for a bit and then made dinner in, if I remember correctly. That evening we drove around some - going to see more of Route 66 and the Route 66 Diner. On our way back to the room, we stopped to take photos of an amazing sunset.

Here are the rest of my Acoma Pueblo pictures.

After spending the morning in Madrid, my uncle and I headed up the road to Santa Fe. We were both hungry, but didn’t know where we were going to go for lunch. Our rental car came equipped with a GPS unit, and we had a lot of fun playing with it. I have a GPS in my car, but each one is different and has their own personality. By the end of our trip, we had truly bonded with our GPS girl and were having a great time mimicking everything she said - even before she said it. She verbalized every command on the screen, so if the selection was “Yes” or “No”, she would say those words. You wouldn’t believe how many times she would say “Yes” or “No” at just the right moment in our conversations. I’m telling you, she just wanted to be a part of our crowd. I think she fit in well, too.

However, she wasn’t much help in finding a place to eat. My uncle didn’t want Mexican because he had it the day before and his stomach was still bothering him. Woopsie! I wanted to make sure we found a place that had everything I needed, so we couldn’t stop at just any old place. We finally came into an area with shopping malls and restaurants and decided on Furr’s Cafeteria. When we walked in, I glanced at the lineup of food to see if they had something for me and I thought it looked okay. It wasn’t until we were halfway through the line, though, did I realize there was no chicken or seafood that wasn’t fried or coated in some sort of sauce. I had to settle on a hamburger steak. It had been about 6 months since I ate any meat, so I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty afterwards, and I was right. Pepto Bismol tablets were my friend the rest of the day.

Anyway, after lunch, we headed into Santa Fe proper and found a parking lot to park for the day. And then we walked. And walked some more. After that, we walked. Did I mention we walked? So much walking. It probably wouldn’t have bothered me if I had on better shoes. I bought two pairs of shoes before the trip - both Skechers. One was a more traditional sneaker and the other was a sneaker, too, but the flat slip on ballet type. They were just a bit too narrow, and I had blisters on my toes by days’ end. It was also very apparent that I’m entirely too sedentary - my uncle is 13 years older than me and he was walking circles around me. My legs were sore at the end of every day on this trip. It’s convinced me that I absolutely need to get more active. I felt so good getting that exercise in every day while I was there. I want to continue doing it.

So yeah, Santa Fe. Santa Fe is adorable. It is such a pretty town filled with art and great architecture and picturesque scenery at every turn. I didn’t take enough pictures of Santa Fe, I’m realizing now. Our first stop was at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi where we encountered the bride and bridesmaids from a wedding party getting their pictures taken.

Afterwards we headed down one of the main roads in the center of town to visit some art stores and touristy shops. My stomach was really killing me at this point, so I was mostly nursing an Americano coffee and Pepto while my uncle browsed inside the stores. Once we headed towards the older section of town and stopped at the visitor’s center, I started feeling better. I was loving all the luminaries on the tops of buildings everywhere I looked, not to mention the shapes and colors of the adobe buildings themselves. We had some gorgeous weather for walking - clear skies, about 65-70 degrees with a light wind. I still would have preferred it to be warmer, but that’s just because I’m a heat ho.

Besides all the beautiful architecture and visible history of the town, one of the highlights of my visit was finding an artist in one of the high end galleries that I just fell in love with. I wanted to buy every single piece she had on display. Of course now I can’t remember her name, but I have a card of hers at home - I’ll try to remember to update this post with her information. She painted mostly landscapes - in a style similar to my uncle’s work.

Even though my feet and stomach were killing me, I still had an enjoyable visit to Santa Fe, but I was definitely ready to call it a day by 4 PM. We had been in at least 30 art galleries by that time, and it had all started to run together for me. My uncle was on a high, as he was getting really inspired by a lot of the artwork he was seeing, as well as being amongst the New Mexico landscape. I loved seeing him getting all worked up - and I’m really looking forward to seeing what he creates as a result of this trip.

We decided to eat in once we got back to our room that night, I think. I was so grateful we had a full kitchen to do so, since I definitely wanted to have my own safe food after the stomach ache from earlier that day. We stayed in and bought a movie On Demand - Vantage Point. I hadn’t ever heard of it, which is surprising because it was extremely good. We both enjoyed it and were ready for bed soon after it was over. My first full day in New Mexico had come to an end. I was satisfied, peaceful, and oh-so-tired.

Here’s a link to the rest of my Santa Fe pictures.

Since I was still on east coast time, I woke up pretty early for a Saturday - around 6 AM. Thankfully, my uncle was also still on east coast time, and he was up as well. We had coffee and breakfast and chilled out for a little while before heading off on our first big New Mexico adventure together - driving along the Turquoise Trail to Madrid and Santa Fe!

The drive up the Sandia Mountains was incredible, although I expected it to be a bit more grand. Because it’s early spring, the landscape wasn’t as gorgeous as I’ve seen it on TV and in movies. Don’t get me wrong, parts of it were still breathtaking, I just thought the whole thing would be. I was also unprepared for how small the town of Madrid is. I don’t think the main road that goes the length of the town is more than half a mile long. There’s a lot packed into that half mile, though.

We parked towards the end of town (headed north) near a guy with an old-fashioned smoke pit going full force. The chill of the morning air combined with the smell of the smoke pit and look of the small town nestled in the mountains really made me feel like we’d stepped back in time. It reminded me somewhat of visiting my elderly great-grandmother in the mountains of southwest Virginia when I was a young girl. There’s something about a sleepy mountain town that remains universal no matter where you are I think.

Our trip through Madrid lasted a few hours. There are a lot of small art galleries here, as the town is now a sleepy community of artists who revived the place in the 70s and never left. I was just beginning to get a taste of how prevalent art is in New Mexico. I’m not in the art circle at all, so it took me some time to get acclimated. I do believe I have an eye for good art, though, and it was interesting to see so many eclectic styles as we passed through each store.

Towards lunch time, the bikers came roaring through town. They were loud, plentiful, and black. My uncle said they reminded him of a colony of ants swarming - I thought that was a perfect optical analogy. I stood in awe with a huge smile on my face as they noisily made their way into the parking lots of the Mineshaft Tavern and Engine House Theater. My uncle wasn’t nearly as enchanted as I - when I turned around after a few moments, he was gone. It didn’t take me long to find him inside one of the small shops nearby, though.

I loved being able to see all of the stuff from the movie Wild Hogs through out the town. I didn’t realize the diner Marisa Tomei worked in was made for the movie. It’s still standing, but it’s a prop and wasn’t open for us to go inside. I thought that was pretty wild. I also got a good picture of one of the shops that was featured as a house in the movie. The big fight scene was shot outside this store and the diner next door to it. I don’t think all of those mailboxes were in the movie - I’ll have to look again. In this picture, the diner is to the left and the fight scene was filmed in between that building and the yellow & blue one that is in the forefront.

We encountered a Native American medicine woman in one shop. The funny thing was, when we first walked into the place, we both smelled pot. I was like, “Wow, the hippies sure are blatant here. Guess it’s cool to just smoke one out in the open here in Madrid.” We noticed the shopkeeper in the back of the store talking to some customers. I glanced at him and thought - more power to you, dude. After the customers left, he approached us to let us know the smell we were smelling was a mixture of sage and some other herbs. And it was then that we both realized he was a she. Ha! After going farther into the store and talking to her, we also noticed she was a medicine woman. How funny that this lady who looked like a dude dressed in faded denim biker’s garb turned out to be a holy woman of sorts. She told us how the herbs she was burning warded off negativity and a bunch of other stuff. My uncle bought a baggie of it - it truly looked like he had copped about a quarter ounce of weed. We got a big kick out of that.

Shortly after we got our faux contact high, we decided to head up the road to Santa Fe. I was getting hungry for lunch and my uncle didn’t want to eat in Madrid, so off we went.

Here’s a link to all of my Madrid pictures.