Albuquerque and Walsenburg

September 8-16

In what is now officially an annual tradition we made our return to Albuquerque and Walsenburg and I had the best trip yet.

We’d made plans for our return to Albuquerque some time ago. I’d wanted to get out to pick up my own chile for the year and not saddle Alan with the responsibility of buying, bagging, freezing, and holding 40 pounds of green chile until I could make it out. We decided the middle of September would be the perfect time to do it. So we did.

Planning

I checked Alan’s availability in early June, knowing that he’s such a social butterfly, I had to get on the books early if I wanted to secure time with him. He said at that time he had nothing going on the middle of September so we’d be good to go.

We bandied about the idea of boarding Ash while we went but ultimately decided to take him with us. It’d be more cost effective, for sure, and it would alleviate a lot of the worries Brandy has about him being around other dogs, especially without us nearby to mitigate any issues.

As the days drew nearer, I grew more excited. My serotonin levels had been spiking like mad anyway with the changing of the season, and the upcoming spooky season (which, by the way, I’m more excited about than I have been in years.) Anticipation for this trip only heightened it.

Prep

The week before the trip, I took the suitcases upstairs from the basement so we could start packing. I went gangbusters on laundry, after having not been able to do any while I waited for the part to fix the washer. I slowly spent the week packing up a week’s worth of clothes and prepping my dopp kit while Brandy gathered snacks and household supplies while packing her own clothes.

On Thursday, I got gas and took the car to the car wash and gave it a good scrubbing, inside and out. It’s always nicer to ride in a clean car. I made sure all of our electronics were charged and packed and Thursday night, packed up the car with as much as I could.

Friday, I packed up my CPAP and our work tech, took a half day at work and hit the road at 12:30.

On The Road

We drove for close to 8 hours, finding ourselves in Pratt, KS, right around 8:00. Brandy had booked us a room at the Evergreen Inn – Motel & RV Park.

The motel had an awesome vintage charm that I love. The bathroom was all tiled in pink with a lovely vintage sink that I got the biggest kick out of.

We were give room 34, the next to last room in the row of rooms leading toward the RV park portion of the property. Just around the corner of the building stood a full-sized train caboose that’s evidently been retrofitted as a rental. Yes, I would like to rent that room at some point in the future.

We hauled in our overnight bags and Googled something to eat, as we hadn’t eaten in several hours. The only thing that was open at almost 9:00 in Pratt, KS, was Humble Pie, a pizza joint that delivered. Sold!

I ordered a medium Meat Cravers pie, which was topped with beef, pork sausage, Italian sausage, pepperoni, salami, ham, cheese and bacon. We added mushrooms and onions as well. It was delivered in no time flat.

We both enjoyed the pizza and polished it off with no problems and promptly fell asleep.

Ash was kind enough to wake me up at 4:00 the next morning; someone had checked in next door to us and their comings and goings agitated Ash to the point of growling and barking every time footsteps shuffled past our window. I got up, walked him and went back to the room to get an early start to my day.

We were kind of on the outskirts of Pratt. To fill the car with gas would mean going back in to town, or heading several miles down the highway before encountering another gas station. Since I knew we were pretty low, and I had time to kill, I headed back into town and filled up. I stopped by Scooters for coffee for, a chai latte for Brandy and a pup cup for Ash, then headed to Rick’s, which shared a parking lot with the motel.

Rick’s is the very definition of a greasy spoon diner. You can tell it was a place that people smoked heavily in until laws were passed to stop it. It’s the kind of place frequented by truckers passing through town and locals. Sure enough, everyone in the joint seemed to know each other, even the one wait staff that was either the youngest 40 year old or the oldest 21 year old I’ve ever seen.

I waited for a fairly significant amount of time before she came to where I was sitting at the counter to take my order. I ordered the One Cake, Two Eggs with Bacon and got a half order of biscuits and gravy for myself, and a full order of biscuits and gravy for Brandy. After another extended wait, I got the order and took it back to the room where we ate. It was typical short order diner fare. Nothing spectacular or lacking. Brandy reported the biscuits and gravy tasted like flour and water (to be fair, that’s the majority of the ingredients in biscuits and gravy, but she said she detected NO flavor beyond that.) I didn’t experience that myself, I thought they were fine, maybe a little bland, but nothing a little salt and pepper wouldn’t fix.

After eating, we loaded up to start the rest of the journey into Albuquerque, hitting the road just after 8:30.

About 3 and a half hours later, we pulled into Dalhart, TX, to top off with gas, use the restrooms and grab a bite. We hit up the Which Wich that’s inside the Toot’n Totum where we’d filled up and continued on, making one last pit stop just inside New Mexico before arriving at Alan’s at a little after 3:30.

Our Arrival

Alan was waiting with his side gate opened. We made our way in and up to the casita where we usually stay on our visits to Albuquerque. After our normal pleasantries, we unloaded the car and I immediately poured myself a drink and we spent the rest of the evening in Alan’s back yard. Though, it wasn’t really much of an evening, 16 hours of driving has a tendency to wear one down so I wound up in bed and a sleep pretty early.

Our Return to Cedro Creek Nature Trail

Brandy insisted on hiking her favorite trail in the Albuquerque area, the Cedro Creek Nature Trail.

We set out just after 8:00 Sunday morning, stopping at the Blake’s on Isleta before heading out to Tijeras. We got to the trail a little before 9:00 and set out on our hike.

I’ve hiked this trail numerous times already but the timing on this hike was different though. Yes, I’ve hiked the trail in September before, nothing new there, but there was something just different this time. I don’t know if it’s because of the intense glee I’ve been feeling lately or what, but this time, the hike was more enjoyable than any other time I’ve done it. Albuquerque has seen quite a bit of rain this year, so the trail was well filled in with greenery, yet in the more exposed parts, the foliage was starting to show the early signs of fall with leaves and grasses taking on the most beautiful golden hues.

The weather was absolutely perfect- nice, mid-70s, not an ounce of humidity in the air. Ash was pretty well behaved on the hike, not pulling too terribly hard as he sometimes has a tendency to do. We stopped a LOT for pictures before reaching our goal just under a mile into the trail.

We stopped at the outcroppings and unwrapped our breakfast burritos only to be disappointed in the dip in quality of the one-time favorite of mine. We finished our breakfasts and made the return hike, finishing in just under an hour of moving time (an hour 20 minutes total, including our breakfast break.)

We got back on the road right around 10:30 and headed west into town taking Central this time, instead of the freeway. We were low on gas so we stopped to top off before heading the rest of the way back to Alan’s.

We dropped Ash off in his kennel and headed out for the rest of our adventurous Sunday.

Jarrod, Cottonwood Mall, and Green Chile

We headed up I-25 exiting San Mateo and made our way to Jarrod’s new apartment where he’s rooming with his friend Scott. We took a quick tour of the place and headed out to Cottonwood Mall to pick up some shoes I’d ordered from Iowa to be sent to the store in Albuquerque. While there, we went to JC Penney to get a belt, that I’d somehow managed to forget while packing, and Brandy picked out a nice coverlet in a burnt orange color that will fit in nicely with the decor in our bedroom in Iowa. Regular price on it was $125 but after sale and coupons, we paid around $65 for it. Nice!

After that, we headed out for a quick lunch at Red Lobster (I lie. It wasn’t quick at all. The service was very slow) then we headed into Corrales to Wagner Farm to pick up my green chile for the year.

We got there at around 2:45. I quickly selected a 40 pound burlap sack of medium heat Big Jim chiles, paid for it and the roasting fee, and headed out to the roasters. The smell filling the air and the sounds of the propane burners roaring and the seeds popping was exactly what I needed to set this visit off right.

My chile was roasted quickly and handed over in exchange for a $3 tip for the roaster. I set the plastic bag in the back of the car and we drove back down Corrales Blvd to the nearby Spirit Halloween store for my first visit in three years.

Jarrod and I went in (Brandy waited in the car) and perused the selection of decor and props that I have missed so much. I came across several items I would have loved to have picked up but I wouldn’t have any place to store them right now, much less display them. Maybe next year, when the basement/my office is finally done, I will make the purchases. This year though was a browsing year.

After we’d had our fill, we headed out and dropped Jarrod back off at his apartment before making the quick jaunt back toward Alan’s, stopping at the grocery store on the way and picking up a few items to hold us over for the week. Once settled back in at the casita, I set up our work computers in preparation for the week of work ahead and, exhausted from our big day, went right to sleep.

Monday

Monday was relatively uneventful. We worked from the casita, and after I logged off for the day, I set about the task of bagging the chile I’d gotten the day before. I wound up peeling two quart sized bags’ worth of chiles to take into Alan’s house-proper where I planned on dehydrating them and eventually grinding them into a seasoning powder. Once the chiles were topped and set into the dehydrator, Alan and I uncovered his pool table and we shot a couple of games of pool while having a few drinks. We listened to music and had great conversation while I got drunk (I hadn’t been drinking for over a month so it didn’t take much to get me there.)

After I knocked the 8 ball into the wrong pocket for my third loss of the night, I headed back to the casita and poperly passed out.

Tuesday

Tuesday was about more of the same. We set about working, then as the lunch hour approached, I headed to the other side of town near the Air Force Base where Brandy and I lived for a while, and I ordered pho from her favorite pho place, Pho Linh. I handed my phone to the lady at the front and had her transcribe the order from it, pho and spring rolls for Brandy and a rice plate and egg rolls for me. The order came out I got back on the road to head back to the casita, unbagged the food only to find they’d failed to get the order for my food. All I had was an order of egg rolls.

Ah well.

We continued on our respective work days and once Alan and Brittany got home from work, we all headed out for dinner. I selected Albuquerque City Limits, a nearby joint that offers carne adovada (yes please!) and meatloaf (Brandy: “As long as it’s not New Mexican food.”) Thankfully the drive was short, only 5 minutes or so, because when we pulled up, there was a big, green sign in the window that the restaurant is closed until September 19. There’s no mention of this on their Google hours, their main website or even their Facebook page.

We called an audible and instead walked to the corner of the strip mall to Gold Street Pizza & Brew. We were seated and ordered water all around to start. The other three adults got their waters but I was left without for a while. We discussed what we were going to get, made our decisions, and I left the table to use the restroom, asking Brandy to order me the Burque Blue (rum, blue curaçao, pineapple and coconut puree) and to remind our server that I ordered water (which we all saw sitting unattended on the bar.) I went to the one-at-a-time restroom, which was occupied. When it freed up, I went in, used it, washed my hands and went back to the table to see that our server hadn’t been back by yet.

When she finally did come back, we ordered everything, our food and drinks, and I reminded her that I’d ordered water. That finally prompted her to grab it from the bar and bring it to me.

Slowly, or alcoholic beverages started to arrive, one by one, then the food started coming out. First the appetizer platter for Alan’s daughter and Brittany’s sandwich. She was reluctant to start eating as none of the rest of us had our food yet. Our server, who by this time we’d realized was the only server in the place, walked by numerous times helping the other tables around us, before Brittany stopped her asking about the rest of our food. She said, “Oh, I think I see the other sandwich sitting there…” At this time, I ordered a second drink and Alan ordered another water, which were made, then, again, sat on the bar, unattended before Alan, out of frustration, walked up and grabbed them on his own.

After an interminable wait, the rest of our food finally arrived.

I ordered the 505 Italian Beef Calzone:

Italian beef served with sautéed onions, bell peppers, stuffed with mozzarella cheese w/ your choice of hot or mild giardiniera. Option of pizza sauce, butter base or garlic butter base. Complimented with au jus, marinara and ranch.

Gold Steet Pizza Menu

It was actually pretty good. It was hot and fresh, and the au jus was an interesting accompaniment to the calzone.

As we finished our meals, we asked for the check and she left her little wrist-held phablet that she used to enter our orders, I checked myself out and we left her device on the table on the way out the door.

Overall, the food was pretty good, but the service left a lot to be desired. If they were better staffed, it would have been a five star visit.

We got back to the casita and again went right to sleep.

Wednesday

The day started as it had the two days prior. We got up and got to work. At 9:00, Brandy headed out toward the Coronado Mall to visit the hairdresser that used to do her hair while we lived out here. This is the hairdresser that she’s been happiest with as the ones she’s visited in Ottumwa haven’t quite cut it for her (ha! See what I did there?) so it was fortuitous that Chris was able to get her in on such short notice.

Meanwhile, I set to work on clearing out my work computer as I was on my last week with UnityPoint Health while in Albuquerque.

That’s right, I started a new job on the 19th. I am now employed by the University of Washington (state) as an Epic Analyst, focused on supporting Phoenix, which is what I was certified to do just before I left Presbyterian in February of 2022. The offer was extended to me on Thursday, September 7, I put in my notice the next day and my last day with UPH was the 18th, which I took as a half day so I could return my equipment in Des Moines. I am now a member of the fabled six-figure club, taking a 46% increase in pay, better benefits and better PTO. The only downside is I’ll be working on Pacific time from the Central time zone, so I’ll be working until 6:30 at night, but that’s offset by the fact that I will be able to work 4 tens if I desire (and believe me, I will desire.) Between the increase in pay and the flexible schedule, traveling will be much easier for us once we get some of our debt paid down.

Anyway, on to the goings on in Albuquerque. I spent the better part of the day Wednesday deleting all the unnecessary files off of the computer, clearing the cache and cookies from Chrome, as I won’t be using that any more, clearing out my calendar of all recurring meetings, deleting all of the Teams conversations I will no longer be a part of and otherwise just ticking the hours off of the clock. I’d taken my last call shift Monday and cleaned up most of my tickets before Wednesday so I just worked on this post.

When Brandy got back from her hairdresser, I immediately left to pick Jarrod up and we headed to Flix Brewhouse for the 4:00 showing off The Nun II. I’d just watched the first Nun film a few weeks ago so it was nice to watch the sequel so quickly.

I had a couple of 10 Day Scottish Ales and the Tombstone burger:

A blend of short rib, chuck & brisket beef, Cheddar cheese, bacon, slow-roasted pulled pork, crispy onion strings, BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomato on a brioche bun.

Flix Brewhouse Menu

I was hoping for more BBQ sauce on the burger, but it was fine. The beers were pretty good though.

I thought the movie was fine, a fitting follow up to the first Nun movie. After the movie, I dropped Jarrod back at his apartment and fought traffic all the way back to Alan’s.

I stopped into the house and ground up the chiles that were now adequately dried and Alan sharpened my pocket knife on his new super-expensive toy. The knife wound up sharper than it was when it was first gifted to me by Brandy for Christmas 2020. I gathered some cleaning supplies from Alan, said my good-byes and headed back into the casita for our last sleep in Albuquerque.

Thursday’s Departure

We got up and started work as we had all week. After an early morning meeting, I headed over to see my friends at Presbyterian. I hung out in the transplant office for a bit, catching up with the few former co-workers that were there that day, then headed back to the Casita, stopping at the grocery store on my way for a handful of supplies to restock the casita- paper towels, K-cups, water, etc.

I got back and started packing up the car, cleaning as I went. I had a couple of late meetings to attend before I signed off for the day and we headed out at just after 3:00.

After stopping for gas, we hopped on I-25 north, getting out of Albuquerque, through Bernalillo and Algodones before exiting at the exit before Santa Fe. We were looking for something to eat but the exit I took was devoid of any dining establishments. We wound up driving about 20 minutes out of our way before giving up and heading back to the freeway.

The GPS took us through a residential area rife with speed humps but ultimately dumped us on St Francis Dr in Santa Fe. I knew we’d find something to eat there. Sure enough, we happened upon a Burger King that took entirely too long to get our food, then we got moving again.

All told, the detour added about 45 minutes to our trip so we wound up arriving at the Best Western in Walsenburg at about 8:00.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Best Western that was something like half hotel, half motel. I checked into a standard, average, every day, run-of-the-mill Best Western hotel but our room was in a row of rooms woth parking directly in front of them.

The room itself was fine. A little bare and the decor was oddly sized and placed, but the AC was already set to 62 when we walked in, the bed was comfortable and it was quiet.

After hauling in our overnight stuff, I ran over to the Taco Bell in the same parking lot as our lodging. We ate and went to sleep.

Friday in Walsenburg

I woke up earlier than I wanted but still slept enough. I took a shower, walked Ash around the hotel and left him with Brandy before heading in to the main building for breakfast. I had a made to order omelet and a standard issue hotel waffle, and lots of coffee. When Brandy got up, we headed out, dropping her off at Christy’s while Ash and I headed to Lathrop State Park, mere minutes from Christy’s house.

The plan was to hike the three trails AllTrails lists at the park. In total, they report around six miles of trails, I thought it’d be no problem.

There was a problem though.

It was raining. It had been raining pretty much the whole time we were in Albuquerque and it followed us north into Walsenburg. For the most part, we were contending with nothing more than a heavy mist, but it was still enough to get me wet. Eventually, it got heavier and turned to true rain. I typically wouldn’t have minded but the first trail I picked was Hogback Nature Loop Trail, which is mostly dirt. Some gravel, but mostly dirt. Which, as most realize, turns to mud when it gets wet.

Anyway, we jaunted on down the trail, which AllTrails reports as an easy 1.5 mile loop trail with 177 feet of elevation gain. The loop starts pretty level, but then takes a fairly significant upturn in elevation, climbing 150 feet in a quarter of a mile. At elevation, it was a challenge, but I didn’t struggle. I was breathing hard but I never had to stop to catch my breath. I was super proud about that.

As we continued on, the trail changed from a southwestern hike through cactus and juniper trees to a rocky climb up what I imagine is the hog’s back. It turned into a relatively technical hike, at least more technical than the hikes I encounter in the midwest.

Ash and I climbed over rocks (never really scrambling, though I did have to use a tree trunk as a hand-hold to get around a tight section and while stepping down off of some stones) and dodged tree limbs. Honestly, it was the most satisfying hike I’d taken in a while. I’ve taken some beautiful hikes, like at Backbone State Park and Maquoketa Caves, both in Iowa, but those weren’t really challenging in the way Hogback was.

At the top, we had what would have been a great view f the two lakes in the state park, if not for the low clouds obstructing the view.

We made our way back down, dodging more obstacles along the way, the whole time reminding Ash that he has four legs and I only have two, and he can take the steps down from rocks and ledges much faster than I can.

We finally made it back to the car; all told, it took us almost an hour 20 to finish the nearly mile and a half hike and by the end of it, I was soaked and muddy and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.

I decided to try one more. We left the parking area and headed to the head for Lake Meriam. AllTrails list that trail as an easy 1.7 mile out and back trail with 22 feet of elevation gain. Sure enough, we pulled up to the trailhead and quickly found ourselves on an elevated gravel trail on the east bank of what is appropriately called… Horseshoe Lake…

uh… ok…?

Anyway, the trail was pretty straight and level. We finished that one in under 40 minutes.

Just as we were getting back to the car, Brandy messaged saying she was about ready to hit the road. After changing out of my muddy hiking boots and getting Ash all settled in, I headed back over to Christy’s, popped in to say hello to her, then Brandy, Ash and I hit the road for the long drive home.

We didn’t have a set destination in mind when we set out. We just decided to drive as long as we could and stop. Turns out, I was ready to call it a day when we hit Hays, KS. We pulled off the freeway and drove around looking for a suitable place to spend the night. We settled on the Days Inn just off Interstate 70. We checked in with no trouble, we dropped everything we’d need for the night, then I headed to the nearby Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill for dinner. I got a quite unique sandwich called The Smokin’ Pig:

Slow smoked pulled
pork paired with a
spicy, locally sourced
jalapeño and cheddar
stuffed smoked
sausage topped with Whiskey Creek® housecured peppered bacon, Pepper Jack cheese,
flash-fried onion strings, ketchup and our
Signature Legend BBQ Sauce

Whiskey Creek Menu

I would have liked it with a little more BBQ sauce on it, but as it was, it was a fine sandwich.

Brandy got a mushroom and Swiss burger that she wasn’t too thrilled with (but really though, is she ever impressed by anything she eats?) and we got an order of calamari to split (she DID like the garlic aioli that it was served with.) I was beat, after waking up way too early, taking TWO hikes in the rain, and driving for 6 hours, so, true to form, I fell alseep almost immediately.

The next morning, I got up early, showered, got dressed, took Ash out, and went and hung out in the lobby where I had breakfast until Brandy woke up. She got dressed, we packed up and hit the road, pulling into our driveway at around 1:30.

Conclusion

This was, I think, the best trip I’ve taken. Like, ever. The time I got to spend with Alan and Jarrod and the things we did, like hiking, driving to Corrales for green chile, going to the Spirit store, shooting pool with Alan, going to the movies with Jarrod, and hiking some more in Colorado, did absolutely nothing but boost my serotonin.

As kind of a post-script, I roasted a head of garlic and mixed it into a stick of softened butter along with some of the ground, dried green chile and some salt to make a compound butter.

I used it for the first time Tuesday on some toasted biscuits left over from Sunday’s breakfast and found that a whole head of roasted garlic to one stick of butter was too much. The garlic completely overpowers the green chile. I feel that adding enough green chile to overtake the garlic would be overkill but I think less garlic and a little more green chile would make it perfect! Great thing is, I have plenty to do it again!

Photos, as always, are up on my Photo Diary. We have some minor events coming up at the end of November, traveling to Omaha to visit Christy as she returns home for Thanksgiving, and shortly after that, we will be headed to Waukee to see Blue October from FRONT ROW SEATS! Aside from that, I signed off from UnityPoint for the last time on Monday, unplugged my computer to take it to Des Moines, and dropped Brandy at the Holiday Inn across from Des Moines International Airport. She flew out Tuesday morning for a three day meeting at her corporate office in San Diego – her third trip to the city in like four months.

I started my new job at University of Washington on Tuesday. I still don’t have computer equipment from them yet so I did some onboarding stuff from my personal computer. I was told that there’s a shortage of equipment so there’s no real ETA on getting UW-branded tech to me. We will see how that pans out.

Aside from Brandy being gone, it’s raining diamonds for me lately. The week after our trip has promised to be dingy and gray with threats of rain all week. The temperatures are dropping rapidly and I can smell the fall coming.

Life is great.

-Phil