Sorry for the impromptu day off on Friday, I was off work cleaning the house and cooking for my Annual Knitting Brunch on Saturday! Thank goodness we had company a month ago, so the house was already pretty clean. Next year I am going to remember to make less food!

Monday, Memorial Day, Leaving Albuquerque: We weren’t in any particular hurry to get up and get on the road but of course I was up early. I think I managed to sleep in until 7:00. I got up and worked on blog entries and caught up on Facebook.

Ken got up about 8:00 and we went over to the main building and settled the bill and had breakfast. This morning the Canadian bacon quiche did NOT have green chiles in it (I asked to be sure.)

Ken had asked if I didn’t want to do something that morning, like go see the petroglyphs, but what I really wanted to do was go to more stores with Day of the Dead things. I found one that looked good, but we went over there, and it looked like it would be 10:00 or 11:00 before they were open, so we passed. According to the internet, the Jackalope stores also had Day of the Dead stuff, so we stopped at the one on the way out of Albuquerque, but it didn’t really have much. I will have to look around here in Denver, there are a lot of interesting shops on Federal. Need to add more to my glow in the dark Virgin Mary collection.

By the time we actually got out of Albuquerque (me driving so Ken could nap) it was 10:00. And we drove and drove and drove. We drove TO Santa Fe via Hwy 285, so going home on I-25, we had some different scenery. Drove through some pretty country.

We waited until we got to Trinidad, Colo. to eat lunch, because we were snacking on and off and not terribly hungry, but at that point we needed some time out of the car, and a gas stop as well. We ate at the Trinidad Diner. A sign in the window advertising “Menudo on the weekends” is usually a good sign. Not that I want to eat the menudo. It’s just a good sign.

Ken had the patty melt.

I had the hot turkey sandwich. Quite good. Not real mashed potatoes, but still good. And they don’t get carried away with the portion, you don’t need two scoops for lunch.

Then we got back on the road. We only really hit traffic coming out of Colorado Springs, otherwise it was not bad all the way to Denver. We were home before 6:00, even with a lunch stop. Of course I had a long list of things I was going to get done since we got home so early, but really, getting dinner together, unpacking and sorting laundry, and writing a blog entry, and then I was about ready for bed – especially since I needed to get up early the next morning for work, and go jaunting about the Eastern Plains.

Wrap up of the trip: We had a great time. We tried to do to much in a few days. Next time we will just focus on going to Albuquerque OR Santa Fe. We also need to go to Taos. Ken says we had a relaxing time, and there was interesting culture, and the Day of the Dead stuff was cool. It was really windy, not that we could do anything about that.  Ken’s favorite meals were the brisket in Albuquerque and the steak in Monte Vista. My favorite meals were the three different kinds of soup at The Shed and the country fried tuna at The Standard Diner.  And the huevos yucatecos at Tecolote. Best shopping: Santa Fe, in my opinion. Next time, we will budget more money for shopping and eating. Food cost as much or more than hotels. And we didn’t even eat at the most expensive place on our suggestion list. We need to figure out a different plan for golfing, because if I have to drive him too far and drop him off, it puts a crimp in my time for what I can do while he is golfing. And some things I want to tour with him, and don’t want to do while he is golfing. It will be a while now, because my work is super busy in the summer, and the next trip will be to South Dakota.