To be honest, I forgot about updating GFTS until Maven Mom call this afternoon and asked about it. I’m not sure why she called me about reading my blog since she could inquire about my well-being over the phone. However, it’s nice to hear from my readers, even if that reader is under parental obligations.

Thursday, I left the District for a work trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Aside from finally learning how to spell the name, I was excited to visit a new state. My great-great-grandparents homesteaded near ABQ, so I’ve always wanted to visit.

While sitting in DCA on Thursday, I heard the final boarding call for a flight to Chattanooga. A wave of homesickness washed over me. There’s something odd about Chatt. Once you live there, nothing else quite compares. The city should publish a disclaimer that the longer you’re away, the more you miss it.

My flight finally landed in ABQ late Thursday night. When I opened the curtains to my hotel room on Friday morning, I was greeted by the beautiful Sandia Mountains against a bright blue sky. Immediately, I longed to have my watercolors to paint the mountains. It’s been years since I was inspired to paint something, and watercolors are perfect for capturing the West.

I finished up the work part of my trip late Friday afternoon, so I took off for the mountains. The Sandia Tram was highly recommended, and I managed to ride the world’s longest tram right at sunset. It was amazingly gorgeous. Sadly, my camera takes horrible night shots.

I was advised to dress warmly for the tram ride, but blew it off. I grew up near the Smokies. I can handle mountains. Boy, was I wrong. Lookout Mountain has an elevation of about 3,000 feet. It’s usually 5-10 degrees colder than the Chattanooga valley. Sandia Peak is 10,378 feet. It was 30 degrees colder than the ABQ valley. A pleasant day of 42 degrees in ABQ, was a bitterly cold evening of 13 degrees with winds at 35 mph. My fingers actually went numb taking pictures while wearing gloves.

After my mountaintop experience, I set out to find authentic New Mexican food. Before Friday, I didn’t know there was such a thing as New Mexican food, but New Mexicans are proud of it. After consulting TripAdvisor and my trusty GPS, I set out for Sadie’s and decided to try a carne asado burrito, which came with it’s own a warning.

Again I blew it off. When you grow up with Tabasco sauce as a staple at the dinner table, spicy food isn’t scary. Y’all, this was the spiciest thing I’ve EVER had. Drinking some McIlhenny’s would have neutralized the burning in my mouth. Determined to support my culture, I tried eating it. After about 4 bites and two liters of water, my taste buds were burned off. I opted to finish the yummy fritos, frijoles and sopapillas. Love sopapillas. Why aren’t there sopapillerias around (how would you spell that)? Thus, this Cajun stands in awe of New Mexican food. Y’all can handle some serious spices.

Saturday, I had a 6:30 a.m. flight and tried to cleverly disguise my bloodshot eyes with concealer and eye shadow at 4:15 a.m. I need more than 5 hours of beauty sleep. While early morning flights are nice, I’ve returned from all night Frat parties looking better. I did have trouble making my connecting flight in Denver and had to run from one end of the airport to the other. I realized two things—I’m out of shape, and they aren’t lying about oxygen being thinner in Denver. It felt like an asthma attack.

Now, I need to plan to a vacation in New Mexico and see that corner of the U.S. I’d like to make it out to the family homestead and see more of the West. My camera just didn’t do it justice.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 13th, 2008 at 10:26 pm and is filed under nonprofit job, Chattanooga, Cajun, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.