A Vacation for All

First, let me apologize for all the typos and errors in my last blog. It was a miscommunication between myself and my editor (my wife).  I will try harder to look smarter. Also, I would like to apologize for this long blog. I should have blogged during the trip but as you can see, I had no time.

Family Vacations… What can I say, they are a chaotic mix between what you want, what your kids want, and if you were traveling with close friends, what they want also. What I look for in a vacation is to try some new places to eat, be able to sit down and relax, and take a few days off from my busy home and work life to unwind and collect myself. My wife and friends however, they like to make sure they can jam pack awesomeness in every waking minute of the day until you fall asleep tired, dragging, and sore.

With that being said, here is my vacation in a nutshell. There are a ton of photos so this blog just looks a lot longer than really is. I hope you enjoy. Also, these details may be jumbled up and turned around some since so much was done and my mind never really got a chance to settle down.

Our first day in Farmington, NM, where my lovely wife is from, started off really early having our 4 year old boy come running into our room waking us up at 6:45 in the morning. And of course he was hungry… We ate breakfast and took the day easy trying to recover from our 17 hour roadtrip from the night before.

Monday:  Another early start to the day, eating at TJ’s in the downtown area. It was just a small quaint breakfast/lunch diner that serves up a descent breakfast for a fair price. After that, we all headed out to the Salmon Indian Ruins. Kids just ran amuck while Michelle was educating the grownups about the old Indian ways. Quick note, Indians used urine to help build their walls. That’s one of the few things I learned on this vacation.

We later went to Bar D Chuckwagon and ate a nice family dinner with my very nice father-in-law, step-mother-in-law and aunt-in-law, and listened to some oldtimers singing and joking around.

Father and Mother in Law with the hard to photo Aunt.

Michelle, the Rugrat and my father in law

A little bit of crazy must have mixed into our family gene pool.

Yeah the steak was really well done but it was a steak and I likes meat so I ate it all.

Tuesday:

We all headed up to Durango, CO where Michelle’s Mom was gracious and kind enough to watch the youngest child from our gypsy crew, a little over a year old, so that the rest of us could get our river rafting on. I didn’t take any photos of that trip since I didn’t want to get my camera wet but it was sure fun.  There was a stop during the middle of the trip for people to get out. With the 50  degree snow runoff water that filled the river, there were not many takers. Michelle actually jumped in and I pushed my 8 year old into the river too. They both got out pretty quick. The 4 year old also wanted swimming time and was adamant about it so I tossed him in there and you would have thought he was being electrocuted with all his flailing about but I pulled him right back in and he was just happy to be out of the water.

We then walked around Durango and did some shopping and goofing off.

We ran across this place. Didn't eat there but thought it was awesome nonetheless. 

We ate at a neat little brewery place while there in Durango called Steamworks. I had a plate of buffalo wings which were pretty good and a bowl of New England styled clam chowder which wouldn’t win any awards but was satisfying.

After lunch, Michelle’s Mom headed on home and our gypsy group figured since we had a  4 wheeled drive rental and some time on our hands, we might as well make use of it. We headed up the La Plata Mountains and the road I thought got pretty hairy and we made it up 11,500 feet or so and got out to take the trail to a lake Michelle knew of. Only she had us taking the wrong trail and we just wasted that time… It was pretty out there though.

That evening we went to watch a Connie Mack baseball game. I’m not going to explain to you what Connie Mack is or anything. It’s baseball, and no one really cares too much about baseball right?

At the game with Michelle's Mom.

Wednesday:

The family and friends wanted to take the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway up to Silverton so I took them to the train station and dropped them off. Since it was a 3 ½ hour train ride to Silverton and only an hour car trip, I took my time.  I stopped and ate a delicious shrimp, crab and avocado crepe and had one of the best views for eating breakfast that I’ve had in a while. That crepe man can pour himself a mean crepe!

The View

I then made a stop at Honeyville and picked up some fresh and whipped honey jars from them. Neat little store with a great product.

A few more stops along the way and some amazing views.

Finally, I was in Silverton. Small, quaint little tourist town that had a lot of really neat shops. There was a restaurant called the Pitts that Guy (host of Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives) visited and a few other neat stops. I stopped in at a few locations, and bought a shirt, bag of wicked spicy beef jerky and probably some of the best wings I have ever eaten at a place called Mother Kluckers. Raspberry Habenero wings are pretty dang amazing. That with the Silverton Brewery’s Brown Beer makes for a tasty combo.

After enjoying some alone time, the family arrived and we decided to stop in at Grumpy’s. The Piano lady that greeted us up front had a warm smile and friendly disposition.

The wait staff was attentive and friendly too. The food was good but not great. Still, for a tourist place, it was just about right.

Here's some more Silverton shots:

We left Silverton and took the 4 wheel drive up to Animas Forks, a little ghost town up in the mountains. Now, if you plan on going there, make sure you bring bug repellent because they grow mosquitoes the size of darts there and they like the taste of human flesh. It was a really neat little location for sure.

After the ghost town we went up Cinnamon Pass… well we tried to at least. We made it up a ¼ of a mile and that was it. I high centered the big rig on a large rock there and there wasn’t a safe way to proceed so my buddy jumped into the cockpit and had to back down a very narrow, one lane, rocky trail all while a jeep was heading back down the pass.  It was about as nerve racking as it gets but we made it out safely.

We decided to enjoy some time on low, safe ground.

Thursday:

My buddy and I woke up at the crack of dawn with a huge grin on our faces because it was finally fly fishing trout day! Michelle’s Dad picked my buddy and I up at 5:45 and we stopped in at Burrito Y Mas to fill our bellies. I will spare you the gory photo of the 1 pound carne adovada burrito I consumed but it was mighty tasty for sure. They had other less awesome burritos that my buddy and father in law had too.

I wouldn't say it was fine Mexican food since it was part of a gas station but tasty for sure.

First off, I want to thank my great father in law for treating me and my buddy to a fishing trip of a lifetime. Now, I won’t bore you with the fishing details much like the baseball stuff because I know it ain’t for everyone but I will say I caught this:

Using this:

I know it doesn’t seem right at all that I used such a small fly but that’s what they wanted.

We got back and after a shower and a nap we met up for dinner at Si Seniors and I consumed shredded beef stuff sopahillas topped Christmas style and my wife had the always necessary green chile chicken enchiladas.

Christmas style is both green and red chile.

Michelle's hometown meal.

No meal is ever complete without the sopes.

Then another baseball game…

Yeah guy in the blue shirt and white hat. I know it's boring.

Friday:

I got up early and made my own crepes for everyone to enjoy. I forgot to photo my crepes because I was tired, and hungry and they didn’t last long on my plate. We then packed up the car and headed out of town. We stopped in at Blake’s Lotaburger, New Mexico’s version of Whataburger but a lot tastier. I got a green chile burger and a BBQ sandwich. Service was really poor there but the food was spot on. Driving through the small town of Cuba, I noticed a Navajo Fry Bread Gas station and we had to stop so Michelle could enjoy herself some more hometown foods.

That's about 1/4 the original size of that fry bread, and yes, she ate most of it.

We stopped next in Albuquerque at Trader Joe’s since we still don’t have one yet in my neck of the woods. I bought a case of my long missed friend Chuck and some of his lager buddies.

I sure have missed you my old friends.

It was then off to Tucumcari for dinner. We just ate at a small placed called Del’s. If you are looking for it, just look for the cow. After all the unhealthy meals, I just had a chicken breast and baked potato which was ho hum but not too bad.  Service was excellent.

Michelle ventured into the green chile beef stuffed chimichanga since she obviously wasn’t watching her calories. (She tells me it was baked but the mounds of sauce and cheese still doesn't make for healthy fare.)

At least it was baked...

We stayed the night in Amarillo, TX at a very nice Holiday Inn Express.

Saturday and the end of the trip finally:

We left after the Holiday Inn breakfast and headed to Quanah to eat at one of my favorite stops on the way home from west Texas, The Medicine Mound Depot… only to find this:

When I read the for sale sign, my heart just died a little.

Heartbroke and lacking interest in food, we backtracked some to eat at Dutch’s. It was once again some really good service and ok food. It was a buffet and a country one at that so the food wasn’t top notch nor healthy but it was fillin’ and served with a smile. The cook even came out to give all the kids a dollar each. He said it was just what he does.

After that, I made it home, laid down, and on Sunday, I rested.

I would also like to say a special thanks to Kathy and Steve, my mother and um… step father-in-law?, for their great hospitality.  We are all very grateful that you both let us invade your home and more importantly your refrigerator and putting up with our crazy munchkin crew of lunatics.  We hope to see everyone again soon.   

Road Tripping

Headed out of Texas on a hope and a prayer. 3 full functioning adults, one semi-incapitated and slightly ill one, 4 young kids one of which is just over a year. Our goal: Make it to New Mexico before we lose our sanity and without having to leave someone on the side of the road.

7:15 AM: "Let's stop at Chick-Fil-A or McDonald's for breakfast"... <-- Really people? Really? I was that close to just pulling the car over on the side of the road right then and telling them to go on without me.  Right then is when I realized this was the wrong road tripping crowd. This wasn't going to be a let's stop and have fun run, this was a we got kids in the car so let's get there group. No biggie, I can adjust. Some...

8:00 AM: After searching the internet for a place to eat in Wichita Falls and talking the women out of McFil-A, we stopped in at the Burrito Shop. The line was long there and the place was tiny. The burritos were filling and tasty. Not the greatest burrito but an above average one. The tortillas were thick and had a chewyniess to them.  They offered three types of meats: shredded beef, bacon, and sausage. You can get them straight up or combo which means beans, cheese, and potatoes. I would definitely combo it up. A solid 3 out of 5 if I was judging.

Had our first casualty in the tear war at the Burrito Shop amazingly with the eldest having broken down. Seems like she's saddened that her little brother didn't let her help him with his food and straws anymore. I had to pull her into the back room and tell her that he's getting older and that she sometimes needs to let him manage for himself. She was crying about it and I couldn't help but smile because the poor kid just loves mothering the little ones.

 9:30 AM or about that time we were back up on the road again.  Had ol' Alan Jackson on the radio and feeling still fresh and looking forward to the only really thought out stop on our trip which was to Big Texan. With every passing sign showing the the 72 ounce steak you could get for free if only you could stomach it, my anticipation grew. The screaming kids, the yelling, the unrelentless ridiculing of the women and their "jokes" all just rolled off my back like water off a duck and we pulled up to our next destination.


12:30 PM:

Sitting there looking at the menu I started to think what happened to this place. The prices have gone up from the prices of my youth. I mean I remember coming here over a dozen years ago and the prices were reasonable and the food was really good even though it was a touristy designation.  Ah well, I'll just order off the lunch menu which was available even on the weekends and enjoy a nice steak...

Nevermind on the steak... this will be the lowlight of my road trip. The steaks there were just terrible. The seasonings were tasty still and not over done and where you could still taste the beef. The steak was cooked right to my order specifications and had a nice char on the outside of it. The problem was the beef itself. It was just gristled meat. Not a marbled or fatty steak but a gristlted steak where the fat was chewy.  My friend had to cut out more than half his steak to eat it. Everyone ordered a strip cut which should mean to me a nice leaner piece of meat with the fat on the outside of the steak not inside it. This wasn't the case. It was heartbreaking. I can forgive one steak being that way but all 4 steaks at our table were in this manner. The manager came by to ask us how things were and my friend told him about the gristled steak and the manager apologized for it but didn't offer to make it right. He just said sometimes the butcher, which is in house, ends up with these cuts. I'm sorry, these cuts should be made into chuck and not served but that's just my opinion if you are in the steak feeding business.

Sorry for the rant but it still bothers me to have recommended a place to eat and it be less than great. It put me in a fowl mood and I just wanted my alloted nap time in the car after that. 

2:15 PM: I rushed my picture taking group and headed to the car and laid my head down and passed out. I was in an out for the next couple of hours hoping that it was just a bad dream but my dissapointed stomach was the constant reminder it wasn't.

2:45 PM: Woke up abruptly from my nap with the urge to water some plants.

3:00 PM: Stopped the car to help water some plants on the side of the road. It's time like this that I do enjoy being a man.

4:15 PM: Made a pit stop in Tucumcari and since I was sleeping, I didn't have a say and where we stopped. When I woke, guess where we were. That's right McDonalds. I know, I don't get it either. Whatever. Rested and back at the helm, we made our way to Alburquergue having thoughts of green chile and New Mexican styled fare on my mind. It has always amazed me that my wife who is a New Mexico native and grew up less than three hours from Alburquerque doesn't have a clue as what places are good to eat there.  So we ended up Yelp-ing a place to eat and they picked Frontier Resturant.

6:30 PM:

After going inside, we found out that we entered our second resturant on this road trip that the famed Adam Richmond has eaten at. Yes, the Man Vs. Food guy that conqured the Amarillo 72 ouncer has a burger named after him here too. It sounded mighty tasty but I opted for a carne abdovada burrito, which is my favorite thing New Mexico has to offer, and a greene chile burger, which was great after that dissapointing steak.  My wife had the Frontier burrito which was pretty dang good. It was really affordable and tasty.  It's not the best I've had in that city but it is a great one for a family.

7:45 PM: We head out from the restuarant and a little worn from the trip I tried to take the same closed road in three various spots. That egged on relentless badgering from the rest of the car of course. It was well deserved for sure.

8:15 PM: Traffic Jam...

8:30 PM: Filled the tank for the final stretch and my favorite part of this trip with a lot of beautiful scenery. 

Sometime after 8:30 PM: Natives in the car are getting restless. All sense of time is slowly fading away. "Are we there yet" quickly became the mantra for the entire car. The beautiful scenary faded to the blackness of night and my once excited disposition of the road trip slowly faded away with them. My only thought, "get there...quick."

Bright lights on the horizon which I used to view as we are getting close in my glass half full days have now been replaced with a digsuted thought that we had close to an hour left...

What Mrs. GPS lady? Only 12 miles left? Why yes, that is great news.

Michelle: "Tom turn here instead."

Me: "But the GPS lady said up there."

Michelle: "It's the same thing."

GPS lady: "12.2 miles now...don't listen to her. She's evil."

Me: "You just added 2 tenths of a mile to my trip."

Michelle: "Oh my goodness, 2 tenths of a mile."

Me to myself: "That is the differnce between you making it there in one piece and me running this car into the side wall of that upcoming house lady."

Michelle reroutes me a few more times against my GPS lady's recommended route to show our friends around and stuff. Each additional tenths of a mile and added turn making me wonder how much a divorce attorney might cost during this downturn economy. Surely it would be cheaper right?

11:00 PM Texas time: Finally, I remembered where I was, and I made sure to get there as fast as I could without any more help from Michelle and when my feet hit the pavement all I could think about is get the stuff in the house and chill out.... That's when the kids exploded and for the next hour a filled the once quiet sanctuty of Michelle's parents house with screams of joy, pounding running feet and chaos. Poor couped up kids.

12:30 AM Texas time: Kids finally down and out. Most of the road crew were off to bed and I was free to relax.

1:45 AM Texas time: Finally relaxed and rested and laid down for a good well deserved night's sleep.

6:35 AM New Mexico time: Vinh comes into the bedroom wide awake...

On the Road again, just can't wait to get on the road again...

Am I the only one that maps out a road trip according to places that I would like to eat at? I am heading out west soon for a gypsy family vacation. Loading up 8 people (4 of them being young ones) into an Excursion and heading to the Land of Enchantment.  Total distance one way: 812 miles.

It’s on these road trips that I am torn about what to do. On one hand, it’s hard to imagine not going back to some of the places I have been before and then on the other hand, there are so many more places out there that I have not tried. Decisions, decisions… I do know I want to go back to the home of the 72 ounce steak. It’s actually pretty dang good eats and not just a gimmick restaurant. Shoot, depending on how hungry I am I might try to conquer the 72 ounce myself, probably not though since my wife frowns upon that sort of thing and for the sake of my traveling companions.

I am almost elated with anticipation for this road trip though. It’s been far too long since I have been on any that have been eating worthy.

In case you ever find yourself on a road trip with me, there are a few rules.

1. No one can complain if I stop the car or yell for the driver to pull over so I can run out and grab myself a bite at some hole in the wall place I just noticed on the side of the road. This will most likely occur when I see a large BBQ smoker just sitting by itself billowing out clouds of flavor, anything that says deep fried pies, if a building has a “World’s Best Chili” sign on it, if you have a cool name like Mojo Burrito (which was excellent), or if you have no sign out front but there is a line of people waiting to get in.
2. You can make fun of me for how much I eat or what I eat but you can’t tell me that I shouldn’t eat something. So pickled pigs feet, my 5^th pulled pork sandwich in 45 minutes or those delicious slivers of deep fried bacon are all within striking distance of comments like, “geez, you sure about that one man?,” “I hope you have good health insurance,” “I’m full just watching you,” Gawd I’m about to get nauseous. Hurry up and finish that thing fast,” are all acceptable but comments like, “please don’t eat that,” “oh no you won’t,” “Are you stupid or something?” are not acceptable. Well… maybe that last one because I have had a habanero pizza on a bet before and that really had me questioning myself.
3. No stinky foods in the car. That’s a closed environment. If one or more people turn their head and starts mouth-breathing then that’s not an inside the car item. Only exception is beef jerky. That’s meat and meat’s meat.
4. If you are riding in the shotgun seat, your job is to keep the driver entertained and informed of the directions.  No reading or video watching is allowed. You are only allowed to sleep if the driver is fresh in the seat. (My wife breaks all of those rules but I can’t just kick her out of the car now can I?)
   
5. Bring a blanket. I like it stupid cold in the car. It keeps the brain fresh. Whatever the lowest temperature setting is in the car, that’s what it will be turned onto. If you don’t enjoy driving in Arctic climates, blanket it up or wear a sweater. You can always add layers but no one wants me to be driving shirtless and in my boxers.
6. Finally and maybe most importantly, on road trips, the only allowable breaks are for relief, food and landmarks. There won’t be any shopping or antiquing allowed because I don’t care about your spoon collection or outlet shopping addiction.

In the end, a road trip is what you make of it. You can just drive from point A to point B and have fun at your designation or if you are like me, make the time on the road into an adventure in enjoyment and use your designation as a resting and recovery period and maybe do a few sit-ups too because it’s not like many of us eat veggies on the road.