new mexico 2013, day one

leff and i have been craving sunlight. all the d vitamin supplements and light therapy in the world cannot replace full on blistering sun. (and, no, the very brief, watery, indirect light here in fish armpit village does not count.) so we headed to new mexico where the people are friendly, the skies are wide and the temperatures are as hot as the green chilies that people eat on everything.

on the way to the ferry, we found waldo's hat.

we were based out of albuquerque on this trip. their airport is called a "sunport". i am not kidding.

"sunport/airport" had to be printed on all road signs. i'm assuming this is because everyone who does not use this airport was always asking "the fuck is a sunport?" 'cause really. the fuck is a sunport?

we stayed at the hotel parq central which i can recommend with the slight caveat that it is a popular place for proms and weddings. however, these loud things are over by 10pm so it is not that big of a deal provided that you turn the volume up on your tv.

our first night in new mexico was spent rambling around in our rental car. in case you're new here, leff and i don't drive/own a car in real life so driving was kind of a novelty. we drove through old town

to our TRUE destination, blake's lotaburger!

leff lived in new mexico for about four years and he has wistfully sighed about lotaburger since leaving. i can now understand why he was so fond of the place.

i mean, green chili cheeseburger. GREEN CHILI CHEESEBURGER

suitably fueled, we hopped back in the car for more of the aimless business. but when i saw the natural history museum, i knew that we had to stop. i'd seen dinosaur sculptures on the city of albuquerque's public art flickr page when i was doing cursory research.

i mean, leff needed to take this picture, right? he totally did, hush.

a critical mass biked past while when we were leaving. they thanked us because leff let them go through the red light.

because of the bikes, we weaved through back roads instead of taking the main road to sandia peak. it was really nice partially because the streets weren't jammed with shitty pnw drivers.

sandia peak is kinda' weird. do the businesses there exist for skiers? hikers? it didn't really feel like it was for anyone in particular. also, the fire danger was high.

we did not take the tram.

but we did go to the ski museum? ????  because that is what i primarily think of when i think of new mexico. skiing.

the view was really nice, however. and there was also a bike gang so everything felt kind of "rebel without a cause"/"wild ones" even though they had those shit choppers and not the vintage style bikes that i am partial to. (i like indians and not harleys. so what?)

tomorrow:  road tripping begins in earnest. soccoro and new mexico tech! EL CAMINO! THE VLA!! EL MALPAIS!! we end up in the doghouse. check back!