Becky and I just got back from vacation. Since she's still in school, we waited until spring break and took a week to drive around New Mexico and see the various sights. Here's the basic itinerary:
- Carlsbad Caverns
Truly a natural wonder. A must see if you are in the area.
- Snowboarding in Ruidioso
We signed up for beginner lessons as I had only boarded once and Becky never had. The lessons were tough and we tired quickly because of the 10,000 ft altitude. On top of that, I got sunburned on my neck and ears and both of us were terribly sore for three days afterward. Much of the soreness was due to the fact that we were falling down every 10 feet. Towards the end of the day I was doing runs with only 1-2 falls which were much more fun and relaxing.
- White Sands and Alamagordo
These dunes are spectacular in that they don't seem to belong. Also worth seeing. Alamagordo has a nice space museum worth seeing.
- Albuquerque
We visited downtown (not much going on at 7pm on a Tuesday!), Old Town, the art museum, the natural history museum and the aquarium/botantical gardens. If I had to give them thumbs up/down, here's my call: down, down, up, up and way up. The aquarium and gardens were fabulous; I've seen a few aquariums in my day so I went in with the attitude of "ho-hum, another aquarium..." but I was blown away by the exhibits.
- Visiting Becky's Aunt Pam
Not much to say: good food and good folks.
- Santa Fe
Santa Fe turned out to just be a quick stop so we could get back to Austin that night. We strolled around the Plaza, saw the "miraculous" staircase in the local chapel and Becky bought some jewelry for herself. We then headed out and drove about 800 miles in 13 hours to get into Austin at 1am. In all we put 2100 miles on our rented minivan during the week.
I couldn't use my digital camera due to various issues so the pictures will take a while to get up. I'll let you know when they are ready.
Posted by mike at March 15, 2003 05:07 PM