While there, we made several left turns
Jun. 1st, 2008 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cwfilmbuffSo we went to Albuquerque last weekend. It was the first real vacation just the two of us had been on since our honeymoon, and was much-needed.
Friday after I got home from work we drove down. About 7 hours when you count rest stops and lunch in the dead-animal-filled Blackjack Saloon in Trinidad.
Having been up since around 5:00 the previous afternoon, I let Meg do the lion’s share of the driving while I attempted to catch up on some sleep.
We stayed at the Adobe Nido B&B, which was one of the nicer places I’ve ever stayed. The hosts were very friendly, making sure we had everything we needed, providing an excellent breakfast every day, and recommending local places to eat. If you’re ever in Albuquerque, I can’t recommend this place enough.
The first of their recommendations was the Flying Star Cafe, a local chain that had some of the best mac and cheese I’d ever eaten. It was the kind of place that, if we lived there, would be a regular go-to place for meals and desserts.
Saturday morning we wandered Old Town, picking up an onyx tray and getting the standard arms-length two-shot:
For lunch we hit up the St. Clair winery & bistro, where we had some very tasty food and I did a mostly enjoyable wine tasting (making a margarita with wine instead of tequila is an interesting idea, but not worth bringing home a bottle).
Having enjoyed that, we headed to another nearby winery, Casa Rondeña. In addition to having some excellent wines, they’re also available as a location for weddings and other events. I can’t imagine why:
Deciding it was probably better to stop before we ended up with taking home too many bottles (especially since it will be a while before we can both enjoy them), and because Meg had made us an appointment, we headed over to Betty’s Bath & Day Spa for a couples massage that I’m still feeling the relaxing effects of.
Freshly rubbed down, we decided to see how well Meg had adjusted to living at altitude by taking the tramway up to Sandia Peak. The crest featured an expensive restaurant (we had drinks and dessert, which was plenty), great views, and a lot of wind.
For dinner our hosts pointed us downtown for Tucanos, a Churrascoria without a single bad thing on the menu. While it was all good, their bacon-wrapped fillet mignon was the single best thing I ate the entire weekend.
Sunday morning we met up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tkil, his step daughter, and her friend to hike around looking at Petroglyphs.
It was probably the most exercise either of us had gotten in a while, but we’d have been hard-pressed to pick a nicer area for hiking.
After walking/climbing a couple trails it was decided that we needed beer, and maybe some lunch. After our first choice was closed for Memorial day (not sure who decided that closing a brewpub over a three-day weekend was good business decision), we ended up at Il Vicino for some pizza and a pint, followed by a trip to the nearby Ben & Jerry’s where no one got an entire pint, but it was still rather refreshing.
Realizing that we’d been in Albuquerque all weekend without having any New Mexican food, we asked for recommendations and were sent to Monroe’s, which had a hole-in-the wall feel, excellent food, and friendly staff (despite the fact that we got there about 15 minuted before they closed).
The drive home Monday was mostly uneventful. I took most of it to make up for Friday’s uneven driving ratio, and we unexpectedly got to see some of the back roads between Colorado Springs and Denver, thanks to something backing up traffic on I-25 all the way to the north end of the Springs.
All in all, as good a vacation as we could have hoped for, even if we did have to go back to work the following day (or in my case night). If you’re interested, there’s more photos here.
Friday after I got home from work we drove down. About 7 hours when you count rest stops and lunch in the dead-animal-filled Blackjack Saloon in Trinidad.
Having been up since around 5:00 the previous afternoon, I let Meg do the lion’s share of the driving while I attempted to catch up on some sleep.
We stayed at the Adobe Nido B&B, which was one of the nicer places I’ve ever stayed. The hosts were very friendly, making sure we had everything we needed, providing an excellent breakfast every day, and recommending local places to eat. If you’re ever in Albuquerque, I can’t recommend this place enough.
The first of their recommendations was the Flying Star Cafe, a local chain that had some of the best mac and cheese I’d ever eaten. It was the kind of place that, if we lived there, would be a regular go-to place for meals and desserts.
Saturday morning we wandered Old Town, picking up an onyx tray and getting the standard arms-length two-shot:
For lunch we hit up the St. Clair winery & bistro, where we had some very tasty food and I did a mostly enjoyable wine tasting (making a margarita with wine instead of tequila is an interesting idea, but not worth bringing home a bottle).
Having enjoyed that, we headed to another nearby winery, Casa Rondeña. In addition to having some excellent wines, they’re also available as a location for weddings and other events. I can’t imagine why:
Deciding it was probably better to stop before we ended up with taking home too many bottles (especially since it will be a while before we can both enjoy them), and because Meg had made us an appointment, we headed over to Betty’s Bath & Day Spa for a couples massage that I’m still feeling the relaxing effects of.
Freshly rubbed down, we decided to see how well Meg had adjusted to living at altitude by taking the tramway up to Sandia Peak. The crest featured an expensive restaurant (we had drinks and dessert, which was plenty), great views, and a lot of wind.
For dinner our hosts pointed us downtown for Tucanos, a Churrascoria without a single bad thing on the menu. While it was all good, their bacon-wrapped fillet mignon was the single best thing I ate the entire weekend.
Sunday morning we met up with
tkil, his step daughter, and her friend to hike around looking at Petroglyphs.It was probably the most exercise either of us had gotten in a while, but we’d have been hard-pressed to pick a nicer area for hiking.
After walking/climbing a couple trails it was decided that we needed beer, and maybe some lunch. After our first choice was closed for Memorial day (not sure who decided that closing a brewpub over a three-day weekend was good business decision), we ended up at Il Vicino for some pizza and a pint, followed by a trip to the nearby Ben & Jerry’s where no one got an entire pint, but it was still rather refreshing.
Realizing that we’d been in Albuquerque all weekend without having any New Mexican food, we asked for recommendations and were sent to Monroe’s, which had a hole-in-the wall feel, excellent food, and friendly staff (despite the fact that we got there about 15 minuted before they closed).
The drive home Monday was mostly uneventful. I took most of it to make up for Friday’s uneven driving ratio, and we unexpectedly got to see some of the back roads between Colorado Springs and Denver, thanks to something backing up traffic on I-25 all the way to the north end of the Springs.
All in all, as good a vacation as we could have hoped for, even if we did have to go back to work the following day (or in my case night). If you’re interested, there’s more photos here.
