Happy New Year!
Today is January 9, 2020, and we've come quite a distance. Today is ALBUQUERQUE, but we'll digress for a time...
When last we left blogging, we were in Studio City and had met Gregory and Vati. We enjoyed a few days with Gregory, Kelly and Vati before they left town to meet Curt, Mary, Tate and Eden in Morrow Bay, CA, a few hours north on the California coast. They stayed right on the water in a lovely house and enjoyed the property and the area. Santa found Vati via Rudolph's instructions and that was a major plus. Meanwhile back in Studio City, Jack and I quickly found our routine and Jack found a new meeting for his mornings. This was a great positive for both of us and our 10 days flew by. We enjoyed a quiet Christmas with a Gelson's turkey plus meal Jack had pre-ordered for us. Days were filled in with rest and healthy meals and plenty of basketball and football entertainment. It was very low key.
When our Studio City family returned on December 30th we resumed our Christmas festivities, opening gifts and celebrating with newlyweds Brady and Luke. New Year's Eve gave Gregory and Kelly a chance to visit with friends while we kept tabs on sleeping Vati, but managed to enjoy Micheli's lasagna (me) and rigatoni (Jack) take-out. The New Year entered with everyone sound asleep.
Jack and I got our stuff together and re-packed everything to fit a bit better (We had distributed gifts and somehow acquired a few items along the way.). We said our good-byes and headed south to San Clemente to visit with Bob and Ann, our good friends from Hudson, Ohio, a bunch of years ago. We caught up on the comings and goings of our families and friends, learned a mean game of Mexican Train, had a quick tour of their adopted city, shared a bountiful breakfast, and headed NORTH EAST on January 4th.
January 4th and 5th
Las Vegas
Quick overview: Dinner at a dive owned by one of the Motley Crew...I guess that's it's claim to fame. It was noisy, but the ribs were good and the BlueGreen Club 36 property was very comfortable and pleasant, located a large block behind MGM Grand...a little bit too far for me to walk it...well, maybe not too far, but it was so windy and very chilly that we elected not to walk it. The second day we made our way to the strip, taking the shuttle. Note on the shuttle "schedule"...NOT! Supposedly on the hour and the half hour, but for two days it was never even close. We did get to the "miracle mile" shops and lollygagged a bit, checked out the nearby casinos but chose not to indulge this trip. We did arrange for dinner at Lombardi's and a show, VEGAS, at a nearby theater. Both were enjoyable.
January 6th and 7th
SOUTH RIM, Grand Canyon
BRIGHT ANGEL CABIN
Left our hotel and headed northeast again toward the Grand Canyon, arriving just prior to sunset. Settled in quickly and had a nice dinner at the Bright Angel restaurant recently renamed for Fred Harvey. JB enjoyed Corn Chowder which he said was excellent and a chicken dish with rice and beans while I had a decent burger. I should mention that we still maintain our normal (for us) eating habits of a nice breakfast, skip lunch, and a nice dinner. Three meals a day are just too much for us. We did break with this the following day and had a soup break around 2:00 for beef barley which was super...because we had late dinner reservations(8:30) at our next door neighbor hotel, El Tovar, which is considered the luxury on-site hotel at the Canyon Village location. Our reservations were changed to an earlier time which was appreciated (6:30). (We're usually pajama-ed by 8:30 these days.)
I should mention that Jack has been doing all the driving - and doing a wonderful job. When the GPS on the cell says there's a 50-100 mile stretch ahead, I often nod off for a bit. He carries on with no problems!
Our full day involved a nice walk along the South Rim Trail beginning just outside the door of our cabin. However, even though we were very careful getting to the trail because of thick ice from their last snowstorm, and even though I was holding Jack's arm, I slipped on the ice and went down on Knee One (the July replacement). Happy to report it held firm, and I survived with only a bruise and an even more wary attitude. We continued our hike carefully avoiding any other icy spots where possible.
Dinner was lovely...Jaegerschnitzle was the choice for each of us served with mashed potatoes and green beans. Dining next to us was a young couple from Las Vegas celebrating her birthday with their dog, a very well-behaved large, white, long-haired something who never made a bark, whine, or peep...and since they were sitting along a wall was never noticed by other diners. This was a very chic-chic restaurant with extensive offerings at high prices. That celebrating couple ordered a $300 bottle of champagne and we guessed that he either owned a suite there or had some substantial connection as many staff folks came to greet them.
A quick comment on the drive thus far from CA to NM...much of the countryside is barren and often there isn't a mountain in sight and then, almost suddenly, the landscape changes and included rocks and then a mountain is within sight, most often without snow. There was heavy vegetation on the 60 mile drive north to the canyon, and it looked as if some had survived recent fires as trees on that side of the road had blackened trunks and no scrubby vegetation growing low. I think, for me, a high point of this part of the trip was yesterday and an unplanned off-road stop at the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Park. For all the beauty and awesomeness of the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert was a notch up. The Grand Canyon is immense and the Painted Desert not nearly so huge, but the colors were just breathtaking. Pinks and corals and every brilliant shade in between. The wind was very strong all the time we were there and it was very cold, but my camera wouldn't stop taking pictures every moment. And, another amazing thing to me is that I always wondered what it looks like where the Grand Canyon or any other huge canyon starts...or ends. And this desert canyon allows you to see exactly where it ends (or begins). Just A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!
Dinner after arriving here in Albuquerque was in the hotel dining room, a most comfortable and friendly spot. I had a wonderful margarita and just made the cut off for Happy Hour! Dinner was discounted because we are hotel guests a fact that pleases JB at this point. The quesadillas were perfect and we each enjoyed a half of what we were served...the other halves will provide a lunch on wheels tomorrow as we head farther east to Amarillo, Texas, our next stop. Route 40 still looks OK lacking wintry weather for us as we continue home.
Today we had breakfast here at the Hotel Albuquerque in Old Town. I chose the oatmeal while JB had Eggs Benedict. Well, mine was special...oatmeal with fresh sliced strawberries, walnuts, slivered almonds, dried cranberries and cherries, brown sugar and apricots arranged on a small platter. I said to Jack that this bliss is the best $8 oatmeal I've ever had to which he replied, "This is the only $8 oatmeal you'll ever have. I don't pay $8 for a whole box of oatmeal!"
We then proceeded to exit the hotel and wander in and out of Old Town, purchasing little goodies here and there and adding to my debit card deficit.
