A road less traveled by...or not traveled

Stan and I went on the longest adventure we have gone on this past Saturday. There are a lot of titles that I could give this blog post. We talked about stickers we should get for the back of our car: "back road junkies" "wilderness adventurers" "get out of the way, we're crazy". The last one was Stan's suggestion, and probably most accurate. 

We left Albuquerque about 9am and drove up to Santa Fe, an hour north. We attempted to go up one side of the mountain but were stopped at the ski resort. It was a beautiful view. 

Who's watching the road??...jk we were pulled over.

Since we couldn't go farther into the mountains that way, we resorted to finding other ways to get our adrenaline high. We drove back down through Santa Fe and drove through a number of small random towns and pueblos. On the way, we read the history of New Mexico and learned about the culture here. It was fun and this place has a TON of cool history. There have been people here FOREVER! 

Finally we got to a road that led into the back land of America. The result was a 30 mile drive along a mountain range that was out of this world! Stan mastered that road...even as we drove through some crazy muddy snowy rocky terrain...Maybe kinda shoulda turned around, but we have lived to tell the tale and show proof through pictures, which hardly do the beauty justice.

the beginning 

we started to get into some snow and the creek along road was frozen

the higher we climbed, the more snow

so we got out for a little hike, the next few pictures are from that...

then we went over a mountain into some scary snowy terrain...that's maybe where we should have turned around

this was the drop off on my side of the car for the majority of the drive. I was scared for my life a little bit...only sometimes because it was pretty steep. I just kept praying that we didn't slide my way :)

This is the valley we came out into and were able to make our way back to paved road.

We drove back into Albuquerque at about 8:30, a pretty crazy day is right! So fun though. Driving with Stan is always fun!

The grand move

It seems like forever ago already that I moved down here. Here are pictures proving I was packed to the brim. (HUGE thanks to Amy and Carie who helped me pack up the night before...ok, basically they did it for me. I have the best friends!)

Don't worry though, I could see out of all of my mirrors. Believe it or, my drive between Mesa and Albuquerque, I had more stuff in the car. Driving alone was actually quite pleasant. I enjoyed every view and the time to ponder on the past and anticipate the future. 

I LOVE Arizona! It is so beautiful. 

Being in Albuquerque has been so good and wonderful. I've been getting accustomed to the streets, the people, and, most importantly, the heat. I'm not talking weather heat. I'm talking about food heat. It looks like this:

Red or Green? I prefer green if I had to choose between the two, but they are soooo good in the "Christmas" fashion, a little of both. I could get really used to this...