Old Town Albuquerque, SoZo Coffee & a visit to the Boynes

Erica & Wes' belated honeymoon road trip, part 4 -
       TEMPE, AZ & ALBUQUERQUE, NM

I've tried to kiss this dog in every picture but she refuses to kiss me back!

The last installment of my travel journal is here!

Late night arrival

We arrived at my cousin, Dianne's, house late Saturday night.  I've visited her every year since she & her family moved from Oklahoma to Arizona and this is the second year that Wes & I have visited together. Dianne is awesome. She was the one to buy me a prom dress when I was the most unpopular kid in my class and didn't even think about going to the prom. She always brought Trevor (then only a baby) over to play and he was the only one who could get my dad up and smiling when he was very ill. Her two boys, Trevor & Andrew, are the only two kids I've actually loved for their entire lives (sorry to all my friends with kids).

It was too late to really hang out when we arrived in Tempe so we all just chatted a bit (thanks to Wes & Andrew, I learned the true definition of a box and that my laundry container is really not a box) and went to bed. The next morning, we had lunch at Red Robin and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing games with the boys. Sadly, I am horrible at board games. We played Gloom (a Christmas present from me a few years back), Risk & 4 player Connect4 and I came in at a dismal last place each time.

Risk lasted almost 5 hours. How is that even possible?

Playing games with Trevor & Andrew was a lot of fun even though strategy board games aren't a usual hobby of mine. I've known them since birth and it's always interesting to see how they've grown & changed each year when I visit them. I fear for the day that they're too cool to want to spend a weekend with me. (;_;) We had pizza for dinner and left at the boys' bedtime. It was a school night after all.

We spent the night at my friend, Christine's. I met Christine several years ago through another cousin of mine. I've also been visiting her and her husband each year for about 7 years now (convenient how everyone is located in Arizona). I told her that Wes was a huge coffee aficionado so she took us to her favorite coffee shop Monday morning.

I had a Thai chai. It tasted like a Thai tea with some chai tea spices.

SoZo coffee is all about local art and artists. If I lived in Tempe, I would be there every morning for my cup of joe. There was local art on the walls and they have free independent movie screenings each Monday night and a stage for nightly performances (live bands, acoustic sets and poetry readings!) Christine's piano students' recital was scheduled to be at SoZo that upcoming weekend. Feeling the artist love, I placed a RagsReborn card on their community board.

Then it was lunch time. Christine took us here last year and I should have remembered how big the sandwiches were but I didn't so I got a full sandwich instead of a half. It was so much food. And it's so so good so I wanted to eat it all. But in the end, I struggled and had to give up that last few bites of my sandwich. Forefather's has the best Philly cheese steaks that I've ever had!

I got cilantro jalapeno ranch on mine! 

Our last destination was Albuquerque, NM. I wasn't sure what was there but a friend I used to know almost moved there and recommended that I visit if I ever got the chance. We stayed at the Best Western Rio Grande Inn. Wes booked the hotel so I can't leave a review (unless I steal his user identity, hehehe) so I will leave a review on my blog.
       It was the best hotel we stayed in our entire trip. Even better than the fancy Las Vegas hotel! The room was clean & had signs everywhere boasting of their environmental friendliness and pleas for patrons to do their part. The hotel did its best to not waste water and electricity. Our room had a fridge but no microwave (which was odd because they usually come in a pair). The only food we had for the night was microwavable Easy Mac. I called the front desk and asked if there was a microwave I could use (thinking it was in some sort of community kitchen area by the lobby) but instead, the front desk sent a microwave to our room and had it installed for us! The guy who brought it up was super friendly, too. Not often do you encounter friendly hotel service at 11pm.

And I got a towel folded into a chicken.

While in Albuquerque, I decided on a trip to Old Town. Old Town consisted of a plaza, church and tons of gift shops. It reminded me of the small town I studied abroad in while in Spain. It was modeled after old Spanish towns so I guess that shouldn't have been a surprise. I had to pay for parking (which I hate) so we only paid for an hour but ended up staying for two. Luckily, the meter maids weren't very diligent in their patrols. I could have walked around the plaza and went into each and every gift shop (so many neat things!) but we left in the middle of the afternoon. They had a set of street performers who played movie soundtracks on the wooden flute and other Native American instruments. Wes recognized the score from the Karate Kid II. 

 The gazebo at the center of the plaza. Essential for every town square.

 The Catholic church; San Felipe, I think it was. The first adobe Catholic church I've ever seen.

 Rectory and church courtyards.

One of the many gift shops. Wes bought souvenirs for friends and a necklace for me. I once again sucked at shopping and gift giving.

Before we left, we dined at Sadie's. It's a local chain that is known for its super spicy chili and generous portions. The food was definitely spicy and the plates were loaded. It was pretty darn delicious. :)

I got the taco and Wes got the tamale. Both came with beans and smothered potatoes. 

Somehow, we both got sick on the last day of our trip. Maybe it was the change in altitude or just being in the desert for a week. Whatever it was, we were ready to be home. With sore throats and headaches, we drove home and were back by Wednesday. It was really nice to have the extra days to just stay at home and relax. Originally, I wanted our trip to last the full two weeks but I'm glad we got back early to recover. And we got to see the pups a few days sooner than expected. Athena has doubled in size!

The puppy is almost as big as Sadie is now!!