Pcasso's Page: BACK IN THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT-CHAPTER 1

This is a delayed report since we had dial-up at our condo and it was so slow that I couldn't add photos very well as it took forever.

So .... at long last, we are in the Land of Enchantment and will be arriving at our little adobe hacienda in a couple of days. We left Arlington early on Friday morning and arrived at our niece and nephew's house in Tucumcari by noon.
He is the Superintendent of Schools in San Jon, New Mexico and they were working at a baseball tournament that day.

Teresa, Gary's wife, is the Principal of the elementary school in Edgewood, NM and they were on Spring Break.

It was very cold and windy, so Teresa and her daughter, Katlin rode back to Tucumcari with us. Her family was having a big gathering that evening, so we all got into Gary's car and headed for Logan, NM for a family barbecue.

There were about 20 of us there and we had a great time. The party was at her brother, Warren's home.(He's the one cooking the ribs) She has another brother, Wade, and Teresa's whole family was there. Warren and Angie's home is on Lake Ute Lake and it is a beautiful place.

He's an attorney in Logan and Teresa's father was a Supreme Court Judge. Warren has his "party barn" which is separate from the house and that is where the barbecue was held.

There is this large area inside that has a pool table, juke box, air hockey table, bar and every kind of game imaginable.

We stayed there until about 10:00 at night. The barbecue was delicious and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Here is a photo of us around the fire pit keeping warm while the ribs were cooking.

Teresa's daughter, Kaitlyn and Angie, Warren's wife were all there as well as Bonnie, Teresa's Mother, her friend, Ed, Janna (Wade's wife)and Teresa, our nephew, Gary, Frank, Wade (Teresa's other brother) and me.The gang was all there. Here I am with my favorite nephew, Gary.

We drove back to Tucumcari which took about 40 minutes and all fell into bed. It had been a long day for everyone and we were tired.
After breakfast on Saturday morning, we loaded the car and headed out for Santa Fe. There's still quite a bit of snow on the mountain. This was our view as we can through El Dorado, which is a small community outside of Santa Fe.

It was a nice drive without much traffic. We arrived in Santa Fe around 12:30 and headed straight for Tia Sophia's and an enchilada Christmas. We needed a chile fix in the worst way!
While we were waiting to be seated (the place is always crowded), Frank noticed a sign that said there was a new coffeehouse opening that is called Java Joe's.

Alex Maryol was going to be playing there. I have been a big fan of his for several years, so we went to our condo, unpacked the car, and headed for the DeVargas Center and Java Joe's to hear Alex play the Blues for a couple of hours. He is an absolutely wonderful guitarist and we had a fantastic time. Guess I'll always be "Groupie" at heart ;-)

These two hours of great music made the trip a huge success for me and it's only our first day in Santa Fe! There was this precious little baby there and she was having such a great time enjoying the music. I loved watching her. She couldn't take her eyes off of Alex.

We came home when the music was over, had a little rest, and then went to the Inn of the Governors for a bite of dinner. It had been another very full day and we were tired.
We got up fairly early Sunday morning and after church we joined Patty, our dear friend, at Quail Run for brunch. She lives there and they have a wonderful dining room in the clubhouse. We have know her for years. She was Frank's cousin, Frances' best friend.

After we had eaten, we went back to her condo and she and I looked at the DVD of out trip to China. Frank came back to our condo and read the paper, watched the ball game and the golf tournament (he can always watch several sporting events at once) and read the paper at the same time. I have never known anyone so multi-talented when it comes to sports. When he was in high school he played football and played in the marching band at half time as well. There was never enough time for him to change clothes, so he marched and played the trumpet in his football uniform. Only in Springer, NM!
We went to Vanessi's tonight with Ann and Walter. They live in Dallas but also have a home in Santa Fe. We always have a good time with them, and we were looking forward to being with them. Here are the entertainers that we heard. They were very good.