The Countdown Begins

The last five weeks have absolutely flown by. I can't believe my time in the Southwest is coming to an end in just over two weeks.I have been lucky to travel around and do so many new things while being in New Mexico. Seeing roadrunners multiple times in the last week has been awesome. I will take roadrunners and lizards over deer any day.

This past weekend my mom came to town and we were able to play tourist a bit a check several items off of my "to-do" list. Some of which were:

1.) Riding the Sandia Peak Tramway to the top of the Sandia Crest. The tram is the longest single cable tram in the country and the third longest in the world. The ride up gains about 4000 feet in elevation ending at 10,378 feet. From the summit one can see 11,000 square miles into the desert. Pretty neat.

Sandia Peak Tramway

2) Eating at The Shed in Santa Fe. A local favorite full of color and delicious food. Santa Fe is awesome. If you plan on going here I highly suggest reservations or showing up at 4:30 (for dinner), putting your name on the list, and grabbing a margarita while you wait. Our favorite thing by far was the cold raspberry soup. Try it. I swear I could eat it every day. You may even see it as a recipe on here someday.

Cold raspberry soup at The Shed

3) Roadtripping to the Jemez Mountains and Bandelier National Monument. Just an hour north of Albuquerque are the beautiful Jemez Mountains, home of the tallest waterfall in New Mexico. For those of us from coastal states or anywhere with many water features, this falls may not seem that high. After spending over a month in New Mexico I'll take what I can get. East of the Jemez Mountains lies Bandelier National Monument, home of the ancient Pueblo Indian ruins and petroglyphs. My mom and I visited the Tsankawi Ruins in the northeast corner of the park which were awesome. Climbing ladders to the tops of mesas, petroglyphs, and the dwellings in the lava rock were all worth the hike in the storm. The paths and staircases along the rock were slowly carved out of the rock with many years of foot traffic.

Natural walkways carved into the rock

4) Eat a green chile cheeseburger. This inevitably needed to happen. New Mexico is known for their green chile cheeseburgers, fries, eggs, you name it, they have it. Though most places in Albuquerque sell a green chile cheeseburger, I decided that if I was going to eat a burger it was going to be one of the famous ones-even if that means a semi fast food (cringe) burger. In honor of National Junk Food Day yesterday (why does America even need this as a day?) I went to Blake's Lotaburger after passing many of these restaurants for the last month. Make no mistake this burger is spicy and 100% New Mexican. All in all, I'm happy that Blake's Lotaburger broke my streak of not eating fast food for over a year. Until next year National Junk Food Day.

I have a few more goals to accomplish in the coming weeks. Old friends visiting and spending time with new friends. I am really hoping to see the monsoon season before I head north.

PS. If you ever have the chance to come to Albuquerque, check out Flying Star Cafe, it's my favorite and I will miss it dearly. Also- get a creme brulee beignet. You will not regret it. Not even a little.

k