New Mexico adventures

[glacier_kitty]

Hi from New Mexico! On Monday we drove there..it was finally a beautiful day, yay! Ryan was all stressing out and saying how he had to ~talk to people~ if he went and stuff..so irritating, ugh. He's not the best person to travel with, but he has ended up having a great time so far I think (shh don't tell him though ;)). On the way we stopped at the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest..such beautiful and interesting places! We just continued on to Santa Fe after that..it was so nice seeing everyone again!! The last time I saw my cousin Joelle (almost 10 years ago) she was like one or two years old and now she's 13! She said she didn't remember me, but that's alright, she was too young lol (Jessalyn said she remembered me though). Cindy and Dean made margaritas and Gina was like "I am SO happy you can drink with us now, I've been waiting years for this!" I felt the same way haha, it was nice lol. We had dinner and talked and I think just went to bed (it's been a busy few days, it's hard to remember everything haha)

Tuesday was a beautiful day, so we went hiking at Tent Rocks, which is a slot canyon with formations from volcanic eruptions. It was my first time in a slot canyon, and it was AWESOME. It was so cool!! I'll describe it more with my pics (easier lol). Very unique! After that we hung out at the house and then went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that (except for the chips) wasn't very good at all..wtf, we're in New Mexico! Mexican food in *Fairbanks* is better than the food at that restaurant! Ew. After that we looked at the Christmas lights downtown (pretty!) and went home and did our White Elephant (we also called it Dirty Santa haha) gift exchange. Funnn..there's been LOTS of laughing these past few days lol. I stole this glowstick thingy, a tiara and chocolate covered cherries from mom ("CHERRY!!" *hugs it*). Gina called me Queen Cherry haha (yep, everyone knows all about Cherry now LOL). After that we decorated gingerbread cookies and went to bed (so tired!! Having fun is exhausting :P)


Yesterday morning we had breakfast and then went to Gunstock Hill Books. I went there last time I was here and I remembered they had a lot of Alaska/polar books and wanted to go back because I didn't have time to look at everything last time. I told the guy who worked there that I'm from Alaska and went to his bookstore a couple years ago and asked if he remembered me..and he did!! He especially remembered me and mom's hair haha! So cool he remembered us. :D The bookstore specializes in rare/first editions/collectables, etc. I kinda raided the polar books LOL, oops (I was so happy I got to go back there lol). I asked the owner if he knew the book The Worst Journey in the World and he smiled and was like "oh yeah, that's by *thinks*..Cherry!" OMG I about fell over..Cindy and Gina were laughing because I was so happy LOL. He said that Cormac McCarthy (he wrote books like No Country for Old Men and All the Pretty Horses) loved that book and recommended it to him..I was like "you know Cormac McCarthy??" and he was like "yeah, you're sitting in his chair!" That is so cool! Cormac has good taste. ;) I love that bookstore LOL. After dragging myself away we had lunch at a much better Mexican restaurant and then went to a place called Meow Wolf (they named it that because they put words in a hat and picked two words at random, and those were the words they drew lol). That place was..wow. One of the CRAZIEST places I've ever been to. The story is that you're in a Victorian house and the family that lived there disappeared and if you want you can try to solve the mystery by finding clues around the house. Some places had secret portals, like when you opened the fridge you walked into a hallway into this sci-fi room where you could close the doors by putting your hand on a screen..SO cool, I've always wanted to do that haha. Another room had a closet that had a hallway that lead into another room (I told everyone I was finding Narnia LOL). The attention to detail in the place was incredible..I opened the drawers in the kitchen and there was silverware and stuff in the drawers, and in the bedrooms there were clothes in the drawers and journals and and stuff (on a bookshelf I found Game of Thrones, which I thought was amusing since George R.R. Martin help fund the place LOL). I LOVED that they took the time for little details like that! The place is way too hard to describe, but there were other things like a tree with eyes, mushrooms you could play music on, a bathroom with a wavy floor, etc. It was crazy and overwhelming and I'm sure we didn't see everything (there were also TONS of people, which didn't help either). You'd definitely have to go back multiple times (I heard that people have taken months to solve the mystery..wow. It was too crazy to try this time though). That was quite an experience, very unique! After that we went back to the house and had margaritas again and played Taboo and Pictionary for hours, which was SUPER fun ("this is something Heather likes." Everyone: "CHERRY!!!" Omg lol). My stomach hurt from laughing so hard LOL. My family is so fun haha. Then we talked more and went to bed

Today Julie and her kids and Gina left..boo, so sad!! We had so much fun! Mom and Ryan and I were supposed to leave today too, but I wasn't really ready to yet, so we just decided to stay another day haha. I think we're going to go to the plaza to shop later (there are TONS of Pokestops down there, which is another reason I want to go LOL /hugenerd)

Phew, I hope I didn't forget anything! Now for pics!!

The Painted Desert







A petrified tree









The colors are so cool!





A cool pic of Ryan looking into the distance (shh, he hates having his picture taken :P)

Before you get into the slot canyon at Tent Rocks

Cool volcanic thingies!! LOL /geologynerd

LOL before this pic Gina asked "what would Cherry do??" and I said "stick it!!" So fun :P

Mmmmmm geology...

Starting to get into the canyon..

Julie looking back at me, with Ryan, mom and Cindy up front

Cooool tree

One of my favorites! Jessalyn, Joelle, me and Ryan

Me and Julie

My "go out and explore" pose haha











Me and Joelle

A very uncomfortable Ryan with Cindy LOL

Another cool tree
>


Another favorite

I kept thinking about the guy from Between a Rock and a Hard Place who had to cut off his arm lol

Cool tree growing right out of the rock!

Jessalyn and Dean

Gina's "go out and explore" pose (another favorite haha)

Cooool *drools*

More volcanic thingies :P



Don't fall!!

Cindy, Gina and me

O HAI!!



Cool Christmas lights downtown



Cindy and Dean's dog Blanca



Ryan, me, Dean, Joelle, Julie, Gina, Jessalyn, Cindy and mom kneeling with Blanca. Aww, I'll miss them!


And here's me reciting (from memory!) the last passage (one of the best) of The Worst Journey in the World! I hope I don't look dumb, but I think it's pretty good myself ;)

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

Glad that you had a good time *^^*

Great photos :D

[foxydanish.livejournal.com]

It sounded like you had so much fun in Santa Fe! Your pics look so great too, especially the ones with you with your family :) Your cousins have some great hair too, it's definitely genetic ;) That Meow Wolf place sounds SO cool and interesting! That's so weird that that one Mexican restaurant was just blah, but good that you went to a better one to make up for it. The bookstore experience sounded like a lot of fun too! Oh yeah, and Blanca is super adorable!