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The Sandia Mountains, Coffee, and Lots of Chile!

Hello Friends.

I am excited to share a few pictures from last week's trip to New Mexico.  It was great to go "home" after almost 20 years and to be able to share some of my favorite places and foods with my youngest daughter, Alex.  To keep this post from being super long, I am going to share my trip in installments.  This post includes pictures from our first two days. 

My daughter and her son came in on a later flight so I picked them up at the airport (one of the coolest airports ever by the way - full of Southwestern archtecture, art, and avaition history), and we immediately drove to the foothills so they could ride the Sandia Peak Tram.  It is the third longest tram in the world - it was the longest until 2010.  It takes you to the 10,378-foot crest of the Sandia Mountains. The views are wonderful, but my pictures didn't turn out very well as my fear of heights kicked in.  I started hugging  the walls closely and not worrying about the views.  When you get to the top, you can see both sides of the mountain and they say you can see 11,000 square miles.  On the east side you see the mountains for miles and miles. On the west side you see Albuquerque.  

We were starving when we got off the tram so we went to the Owl Cafe which was my favorite green chile cheeseburger back in the day.  It was still very good, and eating there brought back a lot of memories.  It is still very popular and is part of the Green Chili Cheeseburger Trail - how fun there is a GCCT!  We also ordered their famous french fries with white gravy.  
The restaurant has mini jukeboxes at the tables and my grandson helped me pick out a few songs. 
We met my best friends Veronica, Chuck, Jimmy, Michelle, and Kelly for a pizza picnic that night (of course it was Dions Pizza and full of green chile).  I was so busy catching up, eating pizza and soaking in memories, that I forgot to get any pictures.  These are some of the best friends a girl could have - it was like we were all 16 again laughing, telling stories, and probably boring my daughter.  She was a good sport though.  

The next day we met Veronica and Chuck for a breakfast picnic at one of our favorite parks.  We had fabulous breakfast burritos and Rebel Donuts. The burritos were from Golden Pride and were awesome (I had red chile and carne adovado and Alex had green chile and sausage), but the donuts were truly amazing.  This donut shop is so creative and trendy, and it is on the top donuts in the U.S. list. The small sign in the picture says "don't tap on the glass -  it scares the donuts" - lol. 
We had to try the Breaking Bad Blue Sky Donut - it has rock candy on top - the same rock candy that was made to be the stand in for blue crystal meth in the Breaking Bad TV show which was filmed in Albuquerque.  The icing is blue cotton candy icing.  
My favorite donut ended up being the red velvet with chocolate and red chile powder icing. I could have eaten all of them!  

After the picnic, we went to Old Town Albuquerque for some fun shopping, site seeing, and the Rattlesnake Museum.  I don't like snakes, but the museum was super cool and thrilled my grandson who was made a tour leader and told we had to follow him - such big power for a 5 year old!
Art is everywhere - even in the trees!
It was very hot so we stopped for some cool drinks at the Black Crow Coffee Shop.  I had an iced coffee with chocolate and red chile powder and Alex had a fruity tea.  These next two pictures are my tickets to Elizabeth's T is for Tuesday Linky Party where we share bits of our life and something related to drinks.  

I can't wait to show you the rest of our trip!  It was a fabulous trip and surprizingly, I only gained one pound!

Hugz

Nancy 


Comments

  1. Hi Nancy, what a wonderful trip back home you had. It all looks fantastic, and very exciting. I like the thought of the green chili cheeseburger trail, too funny, and those blue sky donuts look fabulous. How nice that your grandson was made into a leader at the museum! Glad you had some fun family time, happy T Day, hugs, Valerie

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  2. 20 years - oh, YAY for coming back!!!!
    One of the coolest airports, LOL! My Mum claimed Braunschweig has the windiest train station - let´s shake hands... ups, "Corinna"...

    Oh, this sounds like a place I´d like to visit!
    And the food, OH! YUM!
    I never heard of mini-jukeboxes, - how fun! Clever! Pizza! Burritos... you kill me here! Oh, sooo yum.

    Good one with the scared donuts!!! We need such signs here, too! This would be perfect for tomorrow at Tom´s!

    Oh. Yes. My "little" Niece is 5 and boy (if I could meet her again).. she is strong!
    Love the arty tree. And the coffee sounds like a great idea!

    :-) One pound LOL. Have a very happy T-Day. Great post! Hugs from here. And thank you, you made me smile big.

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  3. Oh Wow, I am so happy for you to be able to take this trip, and meet up with friends.
    I would have been sick on the tram for sure but the views must have been awesome-for those that could watch (smiles) I have never been to New Mexico but I always wanted to check out the local weaving and pottery. I would have enjoyed the museum, and you were able to visit some great eating places and coffee shops. I am not familiar with white gravy over french fries but sounds delicious.
    I look forward to more posts about your trip Happy T hugs

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  4. Nancy what an amazing trip you had, scrumptious food too, my husband loves burritos, I do but can never eat a whole one!
    The trip on the tram sounds great, I’m ok with heights unless I’m near the edge then my legs go to jelly, ha,ha
    Oh our GS is five and would love to be team leader, he’s a bossy little boy although gets annoyed when we tell him!
    Have a Happy T day
    Jan

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  5. Oh Nancy this was a fun post. I am a New Englander, but I do love New Mexico. It has such interesting culture and a feel very different from so many places. Maybe I lived there in another life. Smile. And agreed. The Albuquerque airport is a really nice one. Not all plain and without personality. Your trip looks wonderful and your food looks wonderful. I want to go there now, so thanks for taking me on a little journey from my couch. Have a great T day and week ahead. Hugs-Erika

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  6. My favorite spot in Albuquerque is at the very top of the hill before descending into the city. Most of the time I am just driving through on my way to CA, but I've been known to stop and shop downtown, explored Old Town for an entire day, and went there once for a balloon (hot air) festival. So glad you enjoyed your trip. Your daughter is beautiful and ALWAYS smiling.

    You actually gave us lots of drink choices today, Nancy. Thanks for sharing your trip to Albuquerque and all the drinks you had in the process for T this Tuesday.

    To answer your ATC questions, you only need to make ONE ATC, unless you want to keep a second one for yourself. It may be anything you wish, but if it's drink related, or has the number 8 on it, that would be better. I'll explain the rest next week. For now, just design your one ATC to send to someone. Once the ATC is to your liking, take a photo of it, but DO NOT under any circumstances show it on your blog. Hope that's good enough for now. All will be cleared up next week, dear.

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  7. What a great trip! And the food looks delicious! It must be a nice place to live, and so different from what I'm used to here in Memphis. Happy T Tuesday

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  8. A joy to see all the fun and excitement of being away to visit family- and what yummy summer treats as well. Happy t day!

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  9. Looks like a wonderful time. Have a great day today.

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  10. And they say you can’t go back home again. Looks like you had a fabulous time. I think my favorite part was the donut shop. Loved their caution sign. That blue donut looks pretty, but sounds too sweet. I think i would have gone with your red velvet choice. Your grandson must have had so much fun being the tour leader at the snake museum. Happy T Day

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  11. what great memories and such a cool place :)

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  12. What a great trip. Can't wait to see the rest of your photos. Just being with family, and then being able to show them these places sounds great. Happy T Day, Nancy!

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  13. Wow...what a fabulous trip and there will be more photos and stories. Thank you so much Nancy for sharing. We have never been to New Mexico.. there is still time. Gosh..you sure like the hot and spicy foods, which we do not do..., but I am sure there must be something for vegetarians in New Mexico..right? Again, TFS my friend. Love and Hugs...Nancy

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    Replies
    1. Tons of vegetarian choices, Nancy. You would love this place!

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  14. It looks like you had such a lovely time! I love New Mexico and have travelled there many times, it's one of our favourite States 😁. You all look so beautiful in your photos too, glad you had a wonderful visit! Happy T Day wishes! Hugs, Jo x

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  15. Fabulous photographs Nancy, it looks like you had a wonderful time - I look forward to seeing the future instalments.
    Pauline - Crafting with Cotnob
    x

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  16. How great that you got to visit with your family! Good to know that some things don't change! I'm not so sure about the tram ride but I suppose the views make up for that! Belated Happy T Day, Chrisx

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  17. How exciting to read of your trip, I love New Mexico and also Breaking Bad, and all that green chili is absolutely my cup of tea. Love those doughnuts too, how fun! I love that they used the rock candy for the blue meth, that's a fun fact I wasn't aware of! Happy Tea Day! Elle xx

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  18. Wow, that was an amazing journey. I love green chillies, but I have never been to New Mexico. (Never been any further than Tucson) Here in southern Spain, I have been told we have a similar climate and landscape, so I'm sure I would love it there.
    How wonderful to catch up with old friends. There's nothing better.
    I've never seen tiny jukeboxes. What a good idea though.
    I would love to see a snake museum, as long as there are no real snakes crawling around freely.
    That tram ride looks like something I'd enjoy. I'm sorry you suffer from vertigo. You miss a lot of beautiful views.
    Happy belated T-Day,
    Hugs,
    Lisca

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